HOW I LEARNED TO HUNT SEALS 273 



time of year the hunters must arise before dawn, have 

 their breakfast of seal meat and start out on the ice with 

 the earliest light. When I had my first lesson in the 

 mauttok hunt the conditions did not differ except that it 

 was spring with daylight at night — or with no night, if 

 you prefer to put it that way. Each man took with him 

 a dog in leash and our trails led away from the village 

 in all directions like the spokes of a wheel. The ex- 

 perienced hunters went singly, each with a dog, but I 

 accompanied my host for I knew the hunting method 

 only from description and before trying it I wanted to 

 see how it was actually carried out. 



Salt ice is sticky. On a lake there may be patches 

 of bare ice where the wind has swept the snow away, but 

 this can scarcely occur on the ocean for a certain amount 

 of snow must adhere to the sticky surface of the ice. As 

 a matter of fact, there was a fairly uniform layer of 

 snow everywhere. It varied from something like six 

 inches in most places to a depth of several feet if drifts 

 had been piling up in the lee of a snag of ice where a 

 fracture of the surface had taken place in some autumn 

 gale. We walked slowly as if strolling at leisure. Our 

 dog was mildly excited for he knew there was food to be 

 secured. Ke would, therefore, tug on his leading string 

 and walk ahead of his master, pulling him this way and 

 that. Now and then he would stop and sniff at the snow. 

 I thought then that this was the result of his special 

 training, but I know now that any dog of keen scent will 

 do about as he did. I should imagine that a spaniel or 

 bloodhound from a southern country would make a good 

 sealing dog the very first day. 



We had gone about a mile when the dog stopped to 

 sniff carefully on a drift about two feet in depth. This 



