136 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



to do what he wants of it. The hunter sits 

 balanced in his dancing kayak, and flings his 

 harpoon at the fat neck of the seal as it pops 

 up for a breath of air. 



Down goes the seal with a rush, striving 

 to shake itself free from the something that 

 is stinging its neck. The hunter, calm and 

 cool, balanced in his dancing kayak, reaches 

 for the blown-up skin that lies behind him, 

 and drops it on the waves. The harpoon 

 bends where the head is jointed : the point 

 of the tusk slips away from the socket in the 

 barbed tip ; the line swiftly unloops itself 

 from the knob on the shaft ; away dives the 

 seal, intent on freedom, with the barb secure 

 in its plump flesh, while the long line drags 

 after and the blown-up skin bobs upon the 

 water as a float ; and when the hunter has 

 picked up the shaft of his spear he paddles 

 towards the float and waits for the seal to 

 come up again. There is no great risk of the 

 barb slipping why, strong fellows like Julius 

 and Paulus can throw the harpoon with such 

 terrific force that the barb sometimes goes 

 clean through the seal. The rest is easy ; the 

 seal comes to the surface, dead, maybe, or 

 dazed and faint, and an easy target for the 

 killing dart. Then the hunter's pulses throb. 

 " Puijesimavok " (he has caught a seal), and 

 he seizes it with a long hook with notches in 



