UNDISCOVERED SHEEP IN ASIA 71 



these were a male and female eider duck, the former 

 brilliant in white and green, the latter a modest brown 

 in color. We also secured one crested auklet, a httle 

 plump bird, distinguished by an erect tuft of feathers 

 rising just back of the beak. Two gray and white 

 speckled murrlets were unable to dive in time to escape 

 our lead. We chased a merganser for nearly a mile 

 before securing it, as it swam rapidly through the water, 

 but ran into a flock of pintail ducks and brought down 

 six of them. Two white Point Barrow gulls and one 

 glaucous-winged gull were among the handsomest birds 

 in the bag. These birds were destined for museums. 



We bought a few more ivory trinkets from the 

 Chukchi, and Elting secured for a pound of tobacco an 

 old bow and arrows in a quiver crudely embroidered 

 with rectangular designs. Since the introduction of 

 firearms by traders, the natives had abandoned their 

 primitive weapons, and good specimens were difficult to 

 secure. Most of those shown us had deteriorated very 

 much for lack of care. 



We were getting uneasy, for our time was becoming 

 limited, and the season open in the Arctic is but a short 

 one at the most. Collins and Lovering gave the decid- 

 ing impetus to move on after returning with a dis- 

 couraging report from the head of the river valley which 

 Elting and I had partially explored. There had been 

 absolutely no sign of sheep, though they had gone ten 

 miles from the head of the bay, and though the fog had 

 lifted somewhat and given hopes of fine weather. It 

 seemed certain that we would have to march several 

 days inland and take a week or two for a fair chance 

 to secure the game. We did not have so much time 

 at our disposal, for we were bound far north where the 



