264 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



killod with a sfoiu'liOiKlod arrow, which we were told was iipoessary 

 for the purpose, and tiieir siviiis di-essed aud cut into strips wliich were 

 sold around the vilhiji*'. Sii])ersriti(>n required tliat the man who killed 

 these wolves should sleep outside of the house iu a tent or snow hut for 

 "one moon" after kiJlin.ii' tlieni. We did uot learn the reason for this 

 praeticH'. beyond that it would lie '-bad" to do otherwise. 



The fox. — Foxes are sonietiiaes shot, but are generally taken in the 

 trai)s described above, wliicii are usually set some distance from the 

 villajre so as to a\oid catching- prowling dogs. Though generally ex- 

 ceedingly shy. tiic to\ is siinu'tinies rendered careless by hunger. One 

 of the women at tlic decr-iiunters' camp in the spring of 1882 caught 

 one in the little snow house built to store the meat aud killed him ^A^th 

 a stick. 



The reindeer. — Keindeer are comparatively scarce within the radius 

 of a (lay's march from Point Barrow, though solitary animals and small 

 parties are to be seen almost any day in the wnter a few miles inland 

 from the seacoast. In the autumn, which is the rutting season, they 

 occasionally wander down to the lagoons back of the beach. Nearly 

 every day in the autumn and winter, when the weather is uot stormy, 

 one or more tuitives are out looking for reindeer, usually traveling on 

 snowslioes aiul carrjing their rifles slung on their backs. The deer are 

 generally very wild and often perceive a man aud begin to run at a dis- 

 tance of a mile or two. tliough a ruttini; bu<k will sometimes fancy that 

 a skill-clad Eskimo is a livai liuck. ;ind <'ome toward him, e.specially 

 ii"fhe hunter crouches down aud keeps |»ifcctly still. 



The usual metiiod of hunting is to walk off inland until a deer is 

 sighted, when the hunter moves directly towanl him at a rapid pace, 

 without regard to tlie wiud or attempting to conceal himself, which 

 w(»uld l)e almost luiijeless in such open country. As soon as the deer 

 starts to run, tlie hunter (piickeus his pace — to a run, if he has "wiud" 

 enough — and follows the game as long as he can keep it in sight, trust- 

 ing that the well kuowu curiosity of the deer will induce it to " circle" 

 round, in order to see what it is that is following him with such ]wrti- 

 nacity. Shcmid the deer turn, as often happens, espe<nally if there is 

 more than one of them, the huuter alters his course so as to head him 

 ofi; and as soon as he gets within long rifle range opens fire, and keeps 

 it up till the animal is hit or escapes out of range. Strange as it may 

 seem, a number of deer are killed every winter in this way. 



If a deer be killed, the hunter usually "butchers" him on the spot, 

 and brings in as much of the meat as he can carry on his back, leaving 

 the rest, carefully covered with slabs of snow to protect it from the foxes, 

 to bo brought in as soon as couvenieut by a dog sled, which follows the 

 hunter's tracks to tiie place. 



Duiing the spring the deer retire some distance from the Point, and 

 the docs then diop their fawns. At this seascm nearly all the natives 

 are busily eugaged in the whale fishery, and pay Uttle attention to the 



