HOW I LEARNED TO HUNT SEALS 267 



therefore, (and long experience has verified it) that when 

 I came to play seal it would be advisable for me to squirm 

 and scratch myself as I had seen him doing. 



When my hour of study was over, I began the hunt 

 with every rule in mind which Natkusiak had given me 

 and not forgetful of the things I had just learned by 

 watching. Knowing that he could not see more than at 

 most five hundred yards, I walked to a spot directly to 

 the leeward of him five hundred yards away. I now saw 

 that the ice between him and me was not quite level. 

 This would be bad, for if he once saw me I must keep in 

 sight all the time. If I had any hollows in the ice to 

 crawl over, I should disappear from his sight occasionally 

 and this might scare him. I therefore stepped a few 

 yards to one side and examined the ice between him and 

 me with the glasses. This was still hummocky, so I 

 kept going a little more to one side until I found that all 

 the ice in a direct line to the seal was level. Then I com- 

 menced the approach. 



It may seem that it would be advisable to dress in 

 white clothing for this sort of hunt. That would be the 

 worst thing you could do. The seal is continually watch- 

 ing for polar bears. If he sees something that is suspicious 

 and white, he takes it to be a polar bear and dives into 

 his water hole at once. The seals themselves are grey 

 and when they have just come out of the water their sleek 

 sides look black at a distance. The hunter may, there- 

 fore, wear any color between grey and black. I have 

 used blue and it seems the seal cannot distinguish between 

 this and black. Green I have never tried because I never 

 had green clothes, nor have I heard of it being tried. 

 Eskimos have told me that red will not do, and that seems 

 reasonable. I have tried to get at seals when dressed in 



