350 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



the ice-foot for a short distance we turned out upon 

 the frozen sea and, when a few miles were behind 

 us, halted for Abidinguah to arrange his little sledge, 

 which he used as a blind. Under cover of this, and 

 with much crawling and manoeuvering, he and Penni- 

 par each succeeded in killing two seals. I took three 

 long shots, and though I hit all the seals, killed but 

 one of them, which we secured; the other two, 

 wounded, escaped in their holes. I believed when I 

 fired upon the one I killed that the animal was not 

 over sixty or seventy yards away, but upon pacing 

 the distance off afterward .found it to be one hun- 

 dred and twenty yards, so deceptive are distances on 

 the ice. 



The snow was damp and slushy and it was very 

 wet work. One has to approach seals with great cau- 

 tion, crawling forward on hands and knees, or prone 

 upon the stomach, and I was pretty thoroughly 

 soaked when the hunt was over. A brisk wind 

 sprang up from the north'ard, and a severe chilling 

 followed as a natural result. 



We were a long way from land, and upon our 

 return encountered a lead of open water some sixty 

 feet in breadth, necessitating a long detour. In 

 many places the snow was deep, but I had taken the 

 precaution to provide myself with snow-shoes at An- 

 nootok, which relieved the labor considerably. The 

 lead at length narrowed down until finally we were 

 able to bridge it with a sledge. Here, after crossing, 

 I remained alone for several hours with one team of 

 dogs and komatik, while the two Eskimos with the 



