THE ESKIMO AS A HUNTER 47 



Hunters do not consider wolves sufficiently 

 valuable to repay the trouble of pursuit, and these 

 creatures are ignored unless they prove dangerous 

 to the Eskimo encampments. Traps for wolves 

 consist of a hole ten feet deep, very small at the 

 bottom, but gradually widening towards the circular 

 top, which is surrounded by a snow wall. A thin 

 sheet of ice covers the wide top, in the centre of 

 which some strongly smelling meat is placed. In 

 order to get the bait, the wolf must leap the snow 

 wall, with the result that he crashes through the 

 thin covering of ice, and is- soon trapped at the 

 narrow base of the pit. A very cruel method 

 of killing wolves consists of rolling a very 

 sharp piece of whalebone inside a piece of meat, 

 which is eagerly gulped down by a hungry 

 animal. The meat digests and dissolves, and 

 before long the wolf suffers very great pain,, for 

 the whalebone coil unwinds and the sharpened 

 ends penetrate the walls of the stomach and 

 intestines. 



Small game, such as foxes, hares, ermines, and 

 lemmings, are caught in snares, while for birds the 

 following clever contrivance is frequently employed. 

 &quot; It consists of seven or eight sinew cords, nearly 

 three feet long and tied together at one end, while 

 to the opposite ends weights of ivory or stone are 

 attached. Before being launched at the bird, the 

 sling is whirled round the head, so that when it 

 leaves the -hand a rotatory movement is imparted 

 to it, and all the weights fly apart, the striking 

 diameter of the weapon covering five or six feet. 

 The bird is thus brought to the ground, whether 



