40 KXi'KDl'J'JON TO POINT BAK11OW, ALASKA. 



Borne emergency. "When a landing is made the boat is hauled up above high wafer, and turned 

 over and serves temporarily for a tent. By the 1st of October all have returned to their winter 

 huts, and are busy getting them in order for the winter; all the inside timbers aud tloors arc 

 carefully scraped, 1 lie passages which have become tilled with ice during the summer are picked out, 

 windows of walrus intestines are stretched over the openings, and by the 15th all are housed for 

 the winter. And the seal nets and spears are repaired and madp ready, and. as soon as the ocean 

 is fiw.cn over, parties are constantly out on the ice. hunting for air-holes where the seal come to get 

 air. As soon as one is discovered a number of families go off to it in the following manner: tho 

 nets arc twenty-live feet long and fourteen feet deep, with meshes large enough to admit a seal's 

 head, and are rigged with stone sinkers along the bottom, and at the two upper corners arc attached 

 two rawhide thongs about forty feet long, one of which has a light weight attached to the end. Holes 

 twelve inches in diameter, about thirty-live feet apart, are drilled through the ice about sixty feet 

 back from the air-holes; the weighted line is dropped through one hole, and hauled up through tho 

 other by a long pole with a hook attached; this pole is made from small pieces of drift-wood care- 

 fully spliced together with lashings of whalebone; by this line the net is hauled underneath tho 

 ice, hanging down like a curtain between one of the holes and held in its place by the lines being 

 attached to a wooden pin. In this manner the air-hole is surrounded by nets as far as practicable; 

 one man or boy is left to attend to each net, and the strictest silence enjoined ; no word is spoken ; 

 the watcher, wrapped in his heaviest coat, patiently awaits through the long hours ; he occasionally 

 scratches the surface of the ice with a scratcher, which is made of a set of seal claws attached to 

 a piece of wood. The seal, in coming to the hole for air, strikes into the net; the strain loosens 

 the lines from the peg and he entangles himself and soon drowns, when he is hauled out through 

 one of the sealing holes and the net reset. Over one hundred seal are sometimes taken at a 

 single air-hole within twenty-four hours, but they can be taken in this manner only during the 

 dark of the moon any light will betray the presence of the net. During May quite a number arc 

 taken at their breathing-holes, which have become enlarged, and through which they haul out on 

 the surface of the ice at that season, by removing the weights from the nets and setting it across 

 the hole with four lines on the under side of the ice. 



At this season, also, many seals are taken with the hand spear, at thc'-adlti," the brea thing-hole 

 of a single seal. It is usually detected by an excessive deposit of hoar-frost on the surface of the snow 

 over the hole; the snow is cleared away down to the solid ice, and in the hole, which is about one 

 inch in diameter at the surface, is placed an ivory needle about one foot long and one-eighth of an 

 inch in diameter; to the tipper end a small cross-bar is attached, to prevent it dropping through, 

 aud a small feather, and the hunter takes his stand on a three-legged stool, which is always a part 

 of his regular equipment, and patiently awaits the coming of the seal, of which tha feathered needle 

 gives warning; after the stroke is delivered, if he succeeds in fastening to the seal, he proceeds to 

 enlarge the hole until it will admit hauling him to the surface; this is usually done with an ivory 

 pick attached to the shaft of his spear; as soon as a seal is taken its mouth is fastened open with 

 a piece of ice, and a slot cut through the lower jaw before it becomes fro/en. Should he be far 

 out in the pack, where the ice is too rough for a sled to be used, the seal is dragged home by a 

 hand drag, which is a strong loop about two feet long, made of walrus hide thong, fitted with an 

 ivory toggle or handle, generally carved in imitation of two seals fastened together; this loop is 

 passed through the slot in the seal's jaw and over the toggle; each hunter must be supplied with 

 at least one of these drags, as it is not considered proper to fasten to a seal with a line that is used 

 for any other purpose; when they get near shore the drag is removed and a few drops of fresh 

 water is poured into tho mouth of each seal before it is taken from the ice to the land; they gener- 

 ally go through with the same ceremony with ducks that have been killed at sea, but never with 

 those that have, been killed over the land, and the bones of seals are carefully preserved unbroken 

 and returned to the sea. if possible, either by being left in a crack in the ice, far out. from the land, 

 or dropped through some open hole in the ice. I!y so doing they believe that good fortune will 

 follow them in pursuit of seal, which is their main dependence, for from its skin they make their 

 summer boots and soles for their winter boots; its blubber supplies the oil for their lamps during 

 the long night, and with any surplus they may have they purchase deer-skins for clothing from 

 the natives from the interior, and its flesh when cooked is an excellent article of food. The few 



