ESKIMOS AT HOME AND AT WORK 63 



time is not larger than a crown piece and drives 

 his deadly weapon down through the hole. 



If he is fortunate enough to have struck the seal 

 (and they really make comparatively few misses), 

 he clears away the ice round the tiny orifice with his 

 tok (ice chisel) until the hole is large enough to haul 

 the seal through on to the surface of the frozen 

 sea. 



If the hunter possesses a sledge and has it with 

 him, he loads his game upon it, and with the Eskimo 

 equivalent for " Now then, away with you ! " to 

 his dogs, he is soon tearing homewards with a ten- 

 pound-weight-of-seal-meat appetite. If he has no 

 sledge with him, he secures his harpoon line to the 

 game, and with the line over his shoulder he hauls 

 home his catch. 



It is not at all an uncommon thing for an Eskimo, 

 sheltered only by his wall of snow, to wait a whole 

 day, and even through the night, at a seal-hole 

 while the temperature is ranging from 30 to 40 

 degrees below zero. 



Cases are not wanting where, sleep having over- 

 taken the hunter, he has become partially or wholly 

 lamed for life from frost-bite in his feet. 



After all his watching, should he not succeed in 

 capturing his game he will even then return to his 

 snow-house, bright, cheerful, philosophical, making 

 some common, free-and-easy remark in reference 

 to his non-success, and then proceed to repair or 



