THE MUSK-OX. 



811 



They are easy to ax^proach and kill, and when a party of 

 skillful and well-armed hunters lind a herd of these ani- 

 mals, it is seldom that one of the latter escapes alive, 

 unless, f(jr some reason, the hunters do not wish to kill 

 them all. Tliis result is largely due to their habit of 

 standing at bay, as already described; and even if they do 

 stampede (which rarely happens), they will, in the majority 

 of instances, soon return to the place where one or more of 

 their comrades have been killed. Sergeant Long once 

 found a herd of thirteen Musk-oxen at the head of St. 

 Patrick's Bay, and succeeded in killing nine of them and 

 wounding another. The other three only escaped on 

 account of Long's ammunition having given out. 



The most exciting chase after these animals in which I 

 participated occurred on June 13, 1882, on w^hich day Ser- 

 e:eant Connell killed two Musk-oxen within a mile of the 

 station. While carrying the meat of these animals to our 

 tpiarters, we discovered a herd of them on the summit of 

 the Sugar Loaf, about eighteen hundred feet above the sea. 

 Lieutenant Kislingbury, Frederick, Cross, Linn, and myself 

 started at once to capture them. We deployed, and Cross 

 came upon them first; but they showed such a bold front that 

 he was afraid to attack them alone, and cautiously retreated 

 nntil Kislingbury and myself came up, when, together, w^e 

 killed five of them in short order. At this Juncture, we 

 discovered that there were four little calves, about four 

 weeks old, which we decided to capture alive. Two cows 

 were still left, and we sliot them so as to cripple then, thus 

 preventing their escape. We then surrounded the calves. 

 Lieutenant Kislingbury keei)ing his eye on one of the 

 wounded cows, while I covered the other, so that we might 

 dispatch them in case they showed light. Three of the 

 calves were captured quite easily, but the fourth was 

 wild, and an exciting chase was the result. We killed the 

 two wounded cows, and then tried to encircle the remaining 

 calf, which, however, always found some means of escape, 

 until at last it jumped into the arms of Frederick, who 

 commenced shouting joyfully over his success. 



