68 HUNTING IN THE ARCTIC 



In proof of their statements they pulled out of a sack two 

 small sheep horns, of an animal evidently freshly killed, 

 and about two years of age. These horns were secured 

 from them. We bargained with them to pack for us and 

 guide us in a quest for more of these animals, but they 

 would not start in foggy weather. We had been treated 

 to such most of the day. Accordingly it was decided to 

 wait and hope that the sun would dispel the mist which 

 hung about the mountain tops everywhere from three 

 hundred feet of altitude upward. 



But the next day the fog still lay low around the 

 hills and precluded hunting until it should clear. Our 

 camping equipment was overhauled and made up into 

 packs with sufficient clothing and provisions for four men 

 for seven days, and we waited for the weather to turn 

 favorable. Our plan was to have two or three local men 

 take us to a likely place about a day's march inland, leave 

 us there to hunt for a few days and to return to carry in 

 our things. We traced maps of the coast to be ready to 

 take compass bearings, but the day passed in waiting, 

 and no lightening of the enshrouding mist encouraged us. 



In the afternoon I went to the village with a pocketful 

 of chewing gum and bought several interesting native 

 utensils: a fire bow and spindle with which the natives 

 kindle fire upon a piece of dry wood by making the 

 spindle whirl rapidly with the bow. It was equipped with 

 a socket to hold the top end of the spindle in the shape of 

 a knuckle of a reindeer. Among other things I secured 

 were a bone beater for flogging the frost out of the sleeping 

 robes, reindeer bits made of horn, the double points of a 

 walking stick for traveling on the ice, a reindeer whip 

 with bone goad, a foot brake for a sled, and a bola for 

 kilUng birds. This last instrument was very interesting 



