ARCTIC HUNTING ii 



addition to its ordinary use, this anchor is employed as a 

 fulcrum by which, with the aid of the blocks and rope, a boat's 

 crew can haul a dead walrus out of the water on to a suitable 

 piece of ice, to be flensed. 



The fore and after peaks are provided with lockers, which 

 should contain a hammer, pair of pliers, nails, and some sheet 

 lead — for patching holes which a walrus may make with his 

 tusks — matches, spare grummets, cartridges, &c., and a small 

 kettle — a small spirit lamp would also be useful — together 

 with coffee and hard bread sufficient for two or three days. 

 An axe and one or two rifles, which lean against the edge of 

 the forward locker, in notches cut to take the barrels, skinning 

 knives, a whetstone, and a compass, which should be in a box 

 fitted under the after thwart, and one or two spare oars com- 

 plete the list of articles, without which a ' fangstbaad ' should 

 never touch the water. Nevertheless, it is usual to find that 

 two most important items, viz. food and a compass, are miss- 

 ing. This is surprising, for in this region of ice and fog no 

 one knows better than the walrus hunter when he quits his 

 vessel's side how uncertain is the length of time which must 

 elapse before he can climb on board again, even though he 

 may merely, as he thinks, be going to 'pick up ' a seal, lying 

 on an ice cake a few hundred yards away. 



A boat's crew consists of four or five men, and the quick- 

 ness with which they can turn their boat is greatly accelerated 

 by their method of rowing and steering. Each man rows with 

 a pair of oars, which he can handle much better than one long 

 one when amongst ice. The oars are hung in grummets to 

 stout single thole-pins, so that when dropped they swing along- 

 side, out of the way, yet ready for instant action. The steers- 

 man, called the * hammelmand,' sits facing the bow, and 

 guides the boat by rowing with a pair of short oars. I think 

 this is preferable to steering either with a rudder or with a 

 single long oar, as the whalers do, as it not only enables a crew 

 to turn their boat almost on her own centre, but economises 

 nearly the whole strength of one man. As there are six 



