296 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



rougher, more difficult country in which to hunt than 

 this in Ellesmere Land. Ordinarily, I should have 

 believed these mountain-sides, with walls of smooth 

 rock sheathed with a crust of ice and hard snow, 

 quite unscalable. In places they were almost per- 

 pendicular. Rarely did they offer a crevice to serve 

 as foot or hand hold, and jutting points and firm-set 

 boulders were too widely scattered to be of much help. 



In his native land the Eskimo has a decided advan- 

 tage over the white hunter. His life-time of ex- 

 perience has taught him to scale these ice-clad heights 

 with a nimbleness and ease that are astounding. He 

 is quite fearless, and even the mountain-sheep is not 

 his superior as a climber. As if by magic, and with 

 little apparent effort, the two Eskimos flew up the 

 slippery walls, far outstripping me. How they did it 

 I shall never know. Now and again I was forced to 

 cut steps in the ice or I should inevitably have lost 

 my footing and been hurled downward several hun- 

 dred feet to the rocks beneath. I was astonished even 

 at my own progress, and when I paused to glance 

 behind me felt a momentary panic. But there was 

 no turning back, and one look down robbed me of 

 any desire to try it. 



I had made but half the ascent, exhausted by the 

 tremendous effort, when Eiseeyou, already at the top, 

 was shouting to me, "Tieitie! Tieitie!" [Hurry up! 

 Hurry up!] But I could not go faster. I was al- 

 ready doing my best and I called to him to try to 

 keep the musk-oxen rounded up a little longer. 



As I struggled toward the summit of the ridge 



