HOW I LEARNED TO HUNT CARIBOU 249 



said he thought I had done so. This Kunaluak evidently 

 took for an amiable fib on the part of Ilavinirk and so 

 as not to hurt my feelings he did not argue against it. 

 But when it came to the skinning, it turned out that the 

 bull had a peculiar wound that could not have been caused 

 by their black powder r ifks_,and must have been caused 

 by my more powerful soft-ncsed bullet. This evidence 

 compelled Kunaluak to admit that I had killed the bull. 

 But he seemed to consider it only a lucky stray shot. 



A week later I had a chance about forty miles east of 

 there to kill a caribou when I was off hunting alone. In 

 that case there was no arguing as to who had been respon- 

 sible. 



We were camped on the coast and had gone hunting in 

 different directions. The Eskimos had invited me to go 

 along with them but I had preferred to hunt alone. The 

 weather was so beautiful that it was impossible to con- 

 ceive of any one getting lost. The topography, too, was 

 simple. The mountains were in sight inland and from 

 any small hill the coastline could plainly be made out even 

 when you were three or four miles inland. Our camp 

 was perched conspicuously on a high cutbank and both 

 the tent and the smoke could be seen from afar. Even 

 a sailor ashore could not get lost in such country and such 

 weather. It seemed to me a good chance to try myself 

 out and see if I could really stand on my own feet. 



I had hun'ed inland seven or eight miles and had seen 

 some caribou which I could not approach. The weather 

 was very still, they heard my footfalls half a mile off 

 and v . •!-. On 1 y~way back to the coast I noticed 

 at a distance of two or three miles a small speck moving 

 over the snow. My glasses showed this to be a big bull 

 caribou. He was traveling in a straight line. I watched 



