MURDOCH.] SEAL HUNTING. 'if^t 



with tlie riric and rctrioviiiy- harpoon, travclini; many niih's anionj; tlic 

 ice hiininioL-ks in search of such liolcs. VVlicn a seal siiows iiis licad he 

 is shot at with the lifle, and the hunter, it snccesslul, secures iiis -anie 

 with the harpoon. Tliis method of hunting- is i)raelice<l (hrouKliont tiie 

 winter wherever open holes lorm in the ice. A native jjoiny to visit iiis 

 nets or t(t examine tiie condition of the ice always carries his ritle and 

 retrieving- harpoon, in case he should conu' across an open hole wliere 

 seals uught be found. The hunt at this season is accompanied witli 

 con.sideralde danger, as the ice pack is not yet firmly ((insolidated and 

 portions of it ii-equently move offshore with a- shift of the wind, so that the 

 hunter ruus the risk of being carried out to sea. The natives exercise 

 considerable care, and generally avoid crossing a crack if the wind, 

 however light, i.s blo-mng offshore; but in spite of theii- pre<antions 

 men are every now and then carried off to sea and ucNcr return. 



The hunters meet with many exciting adventures. On the morning 

 of November 24, 1882, all the heavy ice outside of the bar broke away 

 fi'om the shore, leaving a wide lead, and began to move rapidly to the 

 northeast, carrying with it three seal hunters. They were fortunately 

 near enough to the village to be seen by the loungers on the village 

 hill, who gave the alarm. An umiak was immediately mounted on a 

 flat sled and carried out over the shore ice witli great rajiidity, so that 

 the men were easily rescued. The prom])tiu'ss and energy with which 

 the people at the village acted showed how well the danger was appre- 

 ciated. 



At this sea.son of the year a single calm night is sufiicient to cover all 

 the holes and leads witii young ice strong enough to suiiport a man, 

 and occasionally before the park comes in tlu' open .sea freezes over. 

 In this young ice the seals make their breathing holes (adlu), "about 

 the Bigness of a Halfiienny," as Egede says, and the natives employ the 

 stabl)ing harpoon for their capture. At the present day this is seldom 

 used alone, but the seal is shot through the head as he comes to the 

 surface, and the spear only used to secure him. Seals which have been 

 shot in this way are sonietinu^s carried off by the cm-rent before they 

 can be iiarpooned. As far as 1 can learn, this practice of shooting seals 

 at tiie adlu is peculiar to Point Barrow (including probably the rest of 

 the Ai-ctic coast as far as Kot/.ebue Sound), though the use of the una, 

 as already stated, is very general. 



This method of hunting can generally be jirosecuted only a few days 

 at a time, as the movements of the pack soon break up the fields of 

 young ice, though ih-w lields frequently form in the course of the season. 

 After the .Tanuar\ gales the pack is so firmly consolidated that there 

 are no longer an\ ojieu holes or leads, and when the spring leads open 

 young ice seldom lornis, so that tins method of hunting is as a rule con- 

 iined to the period l)ctween the middle of October and the early part of 

 January. 



With the departure of the sun, about the middle of November, begins 



