THE MUSK-OX. 309 



until some hunter shoots the juggling brute that is tossing 

 the dog on its horns. There are some good Musk-ox 

 hunting-dogs that seem to be alwaj^s getting into this 

 sort of trouble, and their owners then learn to tie their 

 harness-traces in a bundle on their backs, just before they 

 slip them. 



"When the native hunters reach the herd they make 

 sure of every shot, as the only danger is in wounding 

 an animal, which, by its frantic efforts, might stampede the 

 herd, and they are then exceedingly hard to bring to bay 

 again; for not only are they more wary, but the dogs are 

 hard to coax away from the bodies of the first victims to 

 pursue the others. With Winchester rifles, such as my 

 party had, a herd would go down like the typical grain 

 before a reaper, and the tragedy would soon be over; but 

 with muzzle-loaders, and one or two hunters to a large herd, 

 it is slower and correspondingly more careful, but also 

 more exciting work. Some of the bravest of them, in the 

 days before fire-arms, would, knife in hand, pass through 

 the circle of defense, fatally stabbing an animal at each 

 passage until all were down. The battle over, the hides 

 and horns are secured, and the party returns to its snow- 

 village." 



And now to return to the experience of our own party 

 in hunting this game: 



When, in the afternoon of August 11, 1881, the good 

 steamship Proteus, having on board the members of the 

 Lady Franklin Bay Expedition (of wiiich I was a mem- 

 ber), Lieutenant (now General) Greely commanding, neared 

 Discovery Harbor, in Lady Franklin Baj^ we caught the 

 first sight of one of these remarkable and little-known ani- 

 mals, grazing on the steep sides of Cairn Hill. With his 

 long, shaggy, matted hair and short legs, he looked, at this 

 distance, somewhat like a huge caterpillar, as he slowly 

 moved about, picking up his food — dryas octojyetala, saxi- 

 fraga oppositifolla, salix arctlca, and here and there a tuft 

 of grass. A party of us started at once to capture this, our 



