May, 1S65. 



Comjrutidalions. 



1G9 



happy .souls tliaii were these Inmiits on liiulinj;- I was really fast to a seal. 



Laiij^hter, hilarity, joyous ringing- voices abounded. Almost the last Innnit Avho 



arrived to congratulate me was my good friend Ou-e-la, act;omi)anied by his dog, 



dragging a seal which he liad Just 



captured. Last ot all came the young 



ladies, Tul-too and XoH'-?/e/', with dogs 



and sledge, and a seal which Ar-mou 



had taken a liftle while before. All 



this time nobody had seen my seal, 



for it was flipping away down in salt 



Avater beneath the snow and ice of 



AVager River, still fast to one en<l of 



my line while I held on to the other. 



Nu-l^er-zhoOj with his pelong (long 



knife), then cut away the snow, two 



feet in depth covering the seal-hole, 



and removing still more with my 



sj^ear, he chiseled away the ice-lining 



just above the hole. Soon the seal 



came up to breathe, and then the 



death-blow was given to it by a thrust innuit hakpoon-ukads. 



of the spindle of the spear directly into the thin skull. The jirize was drawn 



forth — a larger seal than either Ou-e-lah or Ar-monh. Again the air resounded 



with shouts and joyous laughter. 



It was tlie first case among them of a white man's success in har- 

 pooning. 



The party of fourteen immediately cut out the Hver and a little 

 of the blubber of each seal for their lunch, and carefully sewed np the 

 slits, that none of the blood, so valued for soui), shonld lu' lost. They 

 then buried the animals in the snow, to prevent their skins from blis- 

 tering in the sun's rays, and still further prosecuted the hunt, dragging 

 to their kom-mongs in the evening seven seals, the average weight of 

 which was 200 pounds each. From that date, the living was on seid- 

 meat exclusively for a number of days. It was a fair exchange for 



