4 HUNTERS AND HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



even needles to sew the skins together, the 

 tendons of the reindeer providing thread. 

 Armed and fortified in this way, the men made 

 war on the bears. For six years they lived on 

 the island, during which time only one of the 

 four died. Their signals were observed by a 

 passing Russian vessel in 1749, and the men 

 returned to Archangel in excellent health, 

 carrying with them a small fortune in fat and 

 skins. 



Not for an instant had Himkof lost heart. 

 He had called his companions to prayer, allotted 

 them daily tasks, and kept them constantly 

 occupied. That alone saved them. 



In concluding his little history, M. Leroy 

 adds that when the vessel bearing these men 

 drew up alongside the quay at Archangel, 

 Himkof s wife, who was awaiting her husband, 

 fell into the sea when she recognised him on the 

 bridge and was drowned. Excessive joy, the 

 writer asserts, caused this sad fatality. 



The fate of other sailors who have been 

 cut off in this way has not always been so 

 happy. 



In 1850, according to Lamont, who visited 

 the spot and viewed the hut, eighteen trappers 

 met at Whale Point, the southern extremity 

 of Edge Land, to await the arrival of the vessel 



