Summer Ldfe 137 



side there was a cliff that formed a natural barrier. Between the stone 

 fence and the cliff the hunters concealed themselves at short intervals 

 from each other, Ikpakhuak with his rifle at one end of the line and myself 

 at the other, while the rest of the natives, armed with bows and arrows, 

 were spaced between us. When all was ready Milukkattak and Kanneyuk 

 howled like wolves behind the deer to set them in motion towards us, but 

 the animals broke back past them and fled in the wrong dirfection. 



August 7 : The Eskimos had run out of food, so we broke camp breakf astless 

 and trekked west. Coming to a swift-running stream about three feet 

 deep, the natives removed their trousers and footgear, tucked up the long 

 tails of their coats and waded across. Some brant were sighted in a lake 

 and the natives shot six of them with their arrows. Part of the meat, 

 raw though it was, they ate immediately, having fasted since the day 

 before; the remainder was kept for the evening meal. After camp had 

 been made Higilak held a stance to find out why the caribou were so scarce. 



August 8: After a breakfast of back-fat and a little raw brant we broke camp 

 and moved westward again about fifteen miles. As soon as the tents 

 were pitched the men went hunting in different directions, but without 

 success. Tutsik saw an old-squaw duck swimming in a pond with its 

 young, so he took off his trousers and waded about in the water, shooting 

 arrow after arrow till at last he transfixed it. . The young birds he scorned 

 to trouble about. 



August 9 : Avranna and his wife, who had moved along parallel to us the day 

 before two or three miles farther inland in order to scour the country more 

 thoroughly, brought some cooked deer-meat over to our camp about 9 a.m. 

 I had given him a -22 automatic rifle and he had shot a caribou with it. 

 All the men went hunting during the day and secured a large bull. 



August 10: Pissuak and his family, who had separated from us in the middle 

 of June', joined us again this day, so our little party was once more united. 

 Pissuak and his people had been very successful in their hunting and fishing, 

 and had left two or three caches of food in the Colville hills and one on the 

 coast. The whole party moved west again after this union. The weather 

 was very sultry all day and our packs heavy, so when we reached a lagoon 

 of clear sparking water most of the natives stripped and bathed. This 

 was the only occasion during the whole summer on which the adults bathed, 

 though the children often played in the water. 



August 11: We moved west again, Avranna and Okalluk keeping a mile or so 

 north of the main party. A caribou was sighted after a few miles; so 

 we made camp and most of the men went hunting. Three small deer 

 were killed. During the day Itkellrok, Pissuak's wife, carried not only 

 her usual pack, but her little girl Hanna as well, sometimes astride her 

 bundle, sometimes across it. This must have brought the weight of her 

 load up to more than 100 pounds. 



August 12: We broke camp and began to move west again, despite a westerly 

 gale. Crossing a broad sandy plain named Kiasiktorvik, we sighted a 

 herd of fifteen caribou grazing quietly on a grassy slope. A drive was 

 organized and eight of them shot, Avranna securing four, and Ikpakhuak 

 and myself each two. Pissuak fired several shots at the deer with his 

 rifle, but always missed. He was so disappointed that he would have gone 

 out hunting again immediately if his wife and the other natives had not 

 dissuaded him. Avranna and his wife, on the other hand, were greatly 

 elated, and maintained a constant chorus of congratulatory remarks with 

 each other in their tent. 



August 13 — 14: We remained at this place (beside Lake Kiasiktorvik) for two 

 days, the meat we had accumulated being too heavy to carry along with 

 us. On the 13th the men went out hunting again, and Pissuak and Avranna 



