278 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



a large flat piece of ice from the main floe, and on 

 this the}' make their way to the seal, often using 

 the butt ends of their guns for paddles. As might 

 be expected terrible accidents sometimes occur 

 through these dangerous exploits. Several men 

 have been carried out to sea by the force of the 

 wind and have thus been lost." 



The day following this last entry in the diary 

 there occurs another : "A few Eskimos arrived 

 to-day from the north. They brought sad news. 

 No less than four of the band who left here to go 

 to the reindeer country have been starved or frozen 

 to death." 



Hunger was not the only suffering that followed 

 the failure of seals. Cold also was a result. " A 

 fine day, but only one seal caught. Some of the 

 people keep in bed all day, as they have no oil to 

 warm their snow dwellings." 



One's sympathy is called forth by these records, 

 and one feels a great sorrow for those who eke out 

 such a precarious existence as that of these ice-dwellers. 

 At the same time, however, it is possible that the 

 inhabitants have brought on themselves to some 

 extent the trials which they have to suffer. For 

 in a time of plenty Mr. Peck mentions in his diary 

 that " the people seem to have got what we might 

 almost call the seal fever. Morning, noon and night 

 they seem to delight in slaying these creatures, 

 and although in some cases the meat is actual!} 



