THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 289 



where the element of chance plays such a part that no one should 

 use it where another method is available. 



So instead of stopping to hunt in Victoria Island when our 

 food-supplies began to run low, we turned back to Banks Island 

 toward open water observed on the way along the coast east from 

 De Salis Bay. One reason why supplies began to run low was 

 that we had taken but little food with us from camp, even though 

 we realized that midwinter darkness was going to make hunting 

 precarious. It was imperative to travel light if we were to cross 

 a range of mountains, climb steep ridges and make precipitous 

 descents into valleys, in daylight insufficient for the selection of 

 better courses. A light sled could be managed; a loaded one could 

 not be moved by the combined strength of men and dogs. I had 

 also felt certain of finding the Eskimos who would have had stores 

 of food from which to supply us. 



When we turned back from Victoria Island I had no immediate 

 intention of giving up the search after Eskimos, but expected 

 merely to replenish food stores at De Salis Bay. January 12th 

 was our first day of hunting. A clear day at noon, it gave day- 

 light enough to see the sights of the rifles for about two hours, al- 

 though not clearly enough for good shooting. It is never really 

 safe to leave a camp unguarded, with the dogs subject to attacks 

 of wolves and bears, but we took the chance, and went in dif- 

 ferent directions to search for game, I to find none, Natkusiak 

 to kill one seal. 



For three days after that both of us continued to be unsuc- 

 cessful in our hunting. Both of us killed seals, but the ice was 

 moving so rapidly that before we could secure them they had been 

 buried under crushing heaps. Tracks of polar bears were numer- 

 ous, and it was only a question of time when one would be en- 

 countered. On the fourth day I had just killed a seal and secured 

 it when over my shoulder I saw three bears approaching. It was 

 past the twilight noon and their yellowish-white outlines against 

 the pure white ice were so indistinct that they could not be seen 

 except when they were moving, or at least their bodies could not, 

 except for the shiny black noses. When bears are on the alert 

 and when they either see something indistinctly or are expecting to 

 see something the presence of which they suspect, they move their 

 necks and their whole bodies to peer about in a peculiar snaky 

 way. Then they give about the effect of railway men's signal lights 

 that are being swung on a dark night. These particular bears 



