204 THE OX FAMILY 



the only game-birds. One day they secured a large 

 bear which the dogs chased and brought to bay. 



As they neared the ground where they expected to 

 find the musk-oxen, they moved forward, carefully 

 approaching the ridges until they found a trail. The 

 dogs were then unleashed, and soon their yelping and 

 howling indicated that the game was in sight. Before 

 long the dogs overtook and held the herd until the 

 hunters approached quite closely, when the animals 

 stampeded, and as they rushed over a near-by ridge 

 the writer fired at the bull and shortly afterward 

 found him Ijang dead just over the ridge. He describes 

 the shaggy wild creatures as turning and facing the 

 dogs when brought to bay, and using their horns on 

 any dog which ventured too close. 



There does not appear to have been any exhibition 

 of ferocity or any charging of the hunters by the oxen. 

 On the contrary, the timid creatures seemed most 

 eager to escape. While engaged with the dogs they did 

 not seem to notice the hunters until they approached 

 quite close; as soon as they were observed, however, 

 the game broke away fi-om the dogs and ran rapidly 

 over the rocky snow-clad ridges. 



These accounts give us a fair impression of the musk- 

 ox as a game animal and of the methods of its pursuit. 

 The trip with the Eskimos and dogs has much that 

 is picturesque and interesting, which is offset, however, 

 by much hardship and the danger of travelling in a 

 country where there is but little game, where the ther- 

 mometer registers 60 and 70 degrees below, and where 

 the wind usually is an icy gale from the Arctic Sea. 



For my part, I am quite satisfied to "hunt the musk- 



