134 



Morten P. Porsild. 



4. Quasasiorneq or qiiasalineq. Hunting on glassy ice. 

 When suddenly extremely cold weather and calm sets in, for instance 

 at the heads of fjords or off the coasts, when the ice there had been 

 broken up and had drifted away, then the new ice immediately becomes 

 dry and quite glassy, so that no snow can accumulate upon it. Then the 

 breathing holes are easily found, and as there is no snow to creak under 

 the feet, the seal cannot hear the footsteps, especially if shoes with the 

 hairy part outside are worn over the boots. Then several hunters in 



company place themselves 

 at various breathing holes, 

 each with a toq and a 

 thrusting harpoon with a 

 short line attached. A 

 hunter can run to and fro 

 between several holes. The 

 gain is divided among the 

 hunters when the day's 

 work is finished. This 

 method can give very good 

 results and is therefore still 

 used whenever an oppor- 

 tunity presents itself. But 

 a hunter may very well 

 use his common kayak- 

 harpoon for this. 



Figured by Egede 

 (1. с); moreover, an ex- 

 cellent illustration by Lyon 

 is to be found in Parry, 

 p. 173. 



The hunters are called 

 quasasiortut from quasasior- 

 poq, 154, he practises hunt- 

 ing on glassy ice. 



5. A or ne q. In the spring, when the sun is higher in the heavens 

 and the ice is thick, and its surface, in addition, covered with a thick 

 layer of snow, the seal widens its breathing hole and comes up 

 upon the ice, partly to be delivered of its young, but more particularly 

 to sun itself. Formerly the hunter tried to creep up to it and thrust 

 the harpoon into it. The harpoon shaft was fastened to a small sledge 

 which had often a small screen of white skin to hide the hunter. Or, 

 also, he tried to imitate the movements and the appearance of the seal, 

 and took with him, for instance, the paw of a seal, or an artificial seal 

 claw, with which to scratch upon the ice. As the whole thing was a 

 slow affair, which, after all, in the majority of cases ended in the seal 



Fig. 6. An itsuarneq. 

 From a drawing by G. Kleist. 



