THE NEW BRUNSWICK SEA-LIONS. 235 



The winter fishing, however, is attended with con- 

 siderable peril ; but neither the tears of their families, 

 nor the fear of the death which so often threatens 

 them, can restrain the inhabitants of Kamanatignia. 

 Accustomed to danger, they have only the profits of 

 their adventure in view. They start from home in 

 bands, carrying with them the necessary implements 

 and provisions. After two or three days' march, 

 they commence operations on the large bay which 

 extends northwards from about thirty miles above 

 Kamanatignia. This is a vast expanse of frozen 

 water ; under its surface large numbers of sea-lions 

 are to be found. When the females have brought 

 forth their young, they make holes in the ice by 

 melting it with their warm breath, and when they 

 have accomplished this they mount up upon the ice, 

 taking their little ones with them, which are then 

 quite at the mercy of the fishermen. 



Sometimes it happens that, whilst the Esquimaux 

 are in pursuit of their prey, the ice breaks up and 

 they are carried out to sea on the' great ice floes. 

 Only imagine the fate of a poor wretch, floating hope- 

 lessly on, the mere sport of the current, and with 

 nothing to expect but a dreadful death; the very 

 ice beneath him wearing away, and melting gradually 

 day by day and hour by hour. 



Usually the ice breaks up so quietly that man can 

 perceive no symptom of it. If a horse be with him, 

 however, he gives the first warning by sniffing the 



