184 Stoning the Dogs. ijuiy, ises. 



however, was not the cause oi E-vit-skimg^s, fearful pounding. Wlien 

 she arrived where some of the dogs were constantly kept fast to the 

 rocks b}' long tliongs, she stopped and commenced pelting one of the 

 largest with stones. Every time she made a throw, she spoke to the 

 dog as tliough he could comprehend Innuit speech. What she did 

 say amounted simply to this : 



" Here you are, old dog, and all the rest of you, sleeping aud basking in the 

 hot sun's rays all day, and at night wide awake, howling, barking, and crying, 

 keeping me and all others about from getting any quiet sleep; and now, old fel- 

 low, I am giving you tiiese stones for pay. As for the rest of you brutes, I will 

 give you some another time." Her throws were of some account so far as this 

 goes. She hit every time, and made the dog cry wofidly. Each time she picked uj) 

 a stone and licld it in her hand, the dog watched her closely. Several false-throw 

 niotit)ns were tirst made by the old woman, and when the dog ceased dodging, out 

 would lly the huge stone from her hand, hitting him on the head, nose, or other 

 parts of the body. My laughing so heartily was from the business-like manner 

 in whirli tlie old lady addressed the dog during the severe castigation she 

 was administering to it. If JE-vit-shioig can wMyt Innuit dogs a long time after 

 they have done their evil work and make them understand just what their chas- 

 tisement is for, then either she has a supernatural power, or the Innuit dogs are 

 intelligent iM-ings. moral agents, so to call tliem. 



The old woman had been doing better service in the early part 

 oftlu^ day by bringing word to Hall of the blowing of a whale, which 

 slie and her companion in the tujjik had heard. 



Hall .says that the dogs are both a blessing and a curse; — almost 

 constantly in mischief, opening seal-blubber drugs, howling all night, 

 and ofttimcs stealing into tents and abstracting meat, eating harness and 

 walrus-lines. There is no end to the damage these brutes are all the 

 time surreptitiously doing. P,ut, on the other hand, in winter which 

 iiiclii«l<- about thi-('(-fourtlis of the year, they are of such value as 

 (bauglit animals, and as bear, musk-ox, and seal-dogs, that, with all their 



