ESKIMOS 153 



of patience and some excellent mimicry is displayed in killing 

 seals at this time. When one is seen lying near its hole, the 

 native approaches as near as possible, say within 500 yards, 

 when he lies down and crawls and wriggles the remainder of 

 the distance. During this operation great care is taken not to 

 excite the animal's suspicion, and an advance is only made 

 when the seal's head is down. A seal appears to sleep in short 

 naps, and raises his head every few minutes ; when he does so 

 the hunter immediately hides his face, and with his arms and 

 legs imitates the motions of a seal scratching or lazily rolling, 

 at the same time mimicking the blowing and other noises made 

 by the seals ; by so doing he soon lulls suspicion, and is enabled 

 to crawl a little closer. By advancing in this manner he can 

 get within fifty yards of his prey, when he shoots it. When the 

 native has no gun, he continues to close in until sufficiently 

 near to kill with his lance ; this must, however, be done quickly, 

 for the seal displays wonderful agility in falling into the water 

 when disturbed. 



Early in May the few families who intend to pass the 

 summer inland leave the coast and hurry to their destination 

 before the sun melts the snow. The greater number pass the 

 early summer on the coast. 



With the advent of June the snow begins to melt, and soon 

 after the land becomes bare. This is a period of trial for the 

 house-wife ; the warmth causes the roofs of the snow-houses to 

 leak, and they can only be kept up by a daily patching with 

 loose snow, while the ground is not sufficiently bare for the erec- 

 tion of the summer tent; it becomes a constant fight with the 

 heat and water, terminated only by the roof falling in. The 

 smell and general filthiness of one of these deserted spring 

 houses is better left to the imagination; it is indeed beyond 

 description. During this time, while the ice on the coast still 

 holds, the men are busily employed killing seals, whose skins 

 are needed to repair the summer tent and to cover the Eskimo's 



