GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



blot on the whiteness ; and then the good bear-dogs which fly 

 across the ice like a tempest, out-distancing all the rest ! This 

 is one of the culminating points in life which every young Polar 

 Eskimo dreams about. 



From May until the middle of July is the period during 

 which the seals crawl up on the ice to sun themselves and laze 

 about in spring drowsiness. Then the Eskimos creep up close 

 and harpoon them before they can pull themselves sufficiently 

 together to wake up and slide down under the ice through the 

 breathing-holes. If, however, it so happens that the sleep is 

 light and the animal wakes up, every hunter knows to such per- 

 fection the art of imitating the sounds and movements of the 

 seal that the animal imagines it sees a comrade lying there, 

 happy in the warmth, and brushing its coat on the snow. The 

 Eskimo continues his tricky advance, and the alarmed seal soon 

 lies down again, to continue the sleep from which it will never 

 awake. 



Previously only harpoon and line were employed in this 

 work, but now the rifle, and the stalking-sail which has been 

 imported from the South of Greenland, are used. This stalk- 

 ing-sail consists of a cloth of white skirting, large enough to 

 cover a creeping man ; it is fixed to a small sledge which the 

 man, lying on his stomach, can push in front of him together 

 with the gun until he is within shooting distance. 



The Utut-hunting, as they call the method described above, 

 gives the foundation for the very important winter-stores, which 

 during the dark period free them from cares. 



Of the land game, the reindeer was of great importance 

 before the time of the Peary Expeditions, not only because of 

 their meat, but also for the sake of their skins. These were used 

 both for coats and for bedding. Unfortunately the surround- 

 ing land is not extensive, and the Eskimos had not for long been 

 possessors of American magazine-guns when the whole stock 

 was exterminated. At present one very rarely sees a reindeer. 



Hares, on the contrary, are plentiful in some districts. 

 The flesh is considered a tit-bit, and the skins are indispensable 

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