230 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



About seven o'clock in the morning, Maroali pre- 

 sented himself at our hut, whistling an air, which, 

 as I afterwards learnt, was the national air of the 

 country. He found us already risen, dressed, and 

 ready to start. The Esquimaux carried in his hand 

 two weapons sharpened like a baker's peel {pelle), 

 with this difference only, that they were made of 

 one piece of wood. Fastened to his girdle he had 

 a third weapon of the same kind. 



"Good morning, gentlemen,'^ he cried; "every- 

 body is ready and only waiting for you. Here are 

 your two knock-em-downs, and be sure you hit the 

 sea-lions hard over the head. If you don't, you'll 

 have to come back empty-handed." He then ex- 

 plained to us that these weapons were for the purpose 

 of striking the sea-lion across the face, so as to 

 stun him and render him as incapable of resistance 

 as a rabbit when he has been hit behind the head. 



On quitting the hut, a strange spectacle presented 

 itself. Nearly two hundred skiffs were floating on 

 the sea, all made of branches of trees, with sea- 

 lions' or cows' skins stretched over them, and sewed 

 together with great care, so as to be quite impervious 

 to water. In these, were about four hundred and 

 fifty natives, aU armed with weapons similar to our 

 own. 



The leader of the expedition, Tucurora, was in a 

 canoe of birch bark, a much larger boat than the 

 others, in which three places were reserved for Tevis, 



