214 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



distance, returning from their unsuccessful walrus 

 hunt. They had been absent twenty-one days, and 

 when they arrived each of them had two seals left 

 of what they had killed as the reward for the hard 

 experience through which they had passed. They 

 had seen large numbers of walrus in the water, but 

 the conditions of the ice were such that none could 

 be secured. Two big bulls had, indeed, been killed, 

 but a southerly wind suddenly sprang up, the ice 

 upon which the men were hunting went abroad, driv- 

 ing them out on a pan of young ice so flimsy that 

 it could not support the weight of both men and game 

 with safety, and the walrus carcasses had to be thrown 

 into the sea. Oxpuddyshou lost two dogs, Awhella 

 one. Finally, after a period of great suffering from 

 intense cold and exposure, the men effected their es- 

 cape when the floe upon which they were drifting 

 providentially came in contact with the main ice. 



The supply of food at the settlement was nearly 

 exhausted, with now almost nothing remaining to 

 feed the dogs. On the thirty-first, two of Kulu- 

 tinguah's young dogs developed rabies, doubtless 

 brought on by lack of nourishment, and it was found 

 necessary to shoot them. Earlier in the day one of 

 them, foaming at the mouth, attempted to bite me 

 as I was entering its master's igloo, but I had no 

 thought at the time that the animal was mad. In 

 view of these conditions the Eskimos were planning 

 to move their families to the southward with the com- 

 ing of the light, as at this season hunting there was 

 more likely to yield results than at Annootok. 



