4 o TRIBES OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA 



hard to sustain life in a severe and inhospitable 

 climate. On some occasions the hunter finds only 

 the skin of a young seal in one of these burrows ; 

 the foxes have arrived first and devoured the carcase. 

 With the advance of summer the young seal breaks 

 from its snow burrow, and, until the end of June, 

 the mother and her calf may be seen basking together 

 on the ice, where they are shot or harpooned by 

 the hunter, who, clad in seal skin, can approach to 

 very close range. Many men still prefer a harpoon 

 to the guns which may be obtained from whalers 

 in exchange for skins, but nowadays the head of 

 the harpoon is usually made of iron, which is more 

 effective than sharpened ivory. This method of 

 stalking the seal may produce a bag of from ten to 

 fifteen animals in a day, whereas the winter tactics 

 rarely result in the capture of more than one 

 animal even after twelve hours of weary waiting 

 by the breathing hole. 



When the ice breaks, &quot; kayaks &quot; are launched, 

 and the summer hunting of the seal and walrus is 

 soon in full swing. The double pointed canoe, 

 which is widely distributed between the shores of 

 Greenland and Alaska, consists of a stout framework 

 of wood and whalebone, twenty-five feet long, over 

 which are stretched seal skins, sewn firmly together 

 with the sinews of reindeer. The top is covered 

 by skin, with the exception of a small hole just 

 large enough to accommodate a man s body ; a 

 double paddle serves to propel the craft, which is, 

 of course, provided with a large harpoon when used 

 for pursuing a seal or walrus. 



Sometimes a framework covered with skin is 



