EXCITING BEAR HUNT. 465 



most unfortunate. A succession of northerly winds drove the ice down upon 

 the shores, along which we had to pass, and our days were frittered away in 

 vexatious detentions or useless toil amongst rugged ice masses or shallow 

 waters." 



In the neighbourhood of Cape Dalhousie ice was seen on the 3d August, 

 piled up in hummocks from fifty to sixty feet high. On the evening of the 

 6th the party had reached Maitland Island. On the 8th the voyagers 

 crossed Harrowby Bay, and in the afternoon, when approaching Cape 

 Bathurst, they came within sight of an Eskimo village of a dozen tents. 

 Immediately a score of kayaks and a number of oomiaks pushed off" from 

 shore — the women in the latter shouting and vociferating in the merriest 

 and most friendly manner. " We were quite overwhelmed," writes Hooper, 

 "by their amicable demonstrations. The single boats hung upon the 

 gunwales of our craft, the oomiaks got athwart our bows, and the crews 

 of both threw in meat, fish, skins, dresses, or whatever else they possessed, 

 pell-mell. These were, however, all rejected," and nothing received except in 

 barter for knives, needles, and other British goods. Landing here, the explorers 

 enjoyed a plenteous and a peaceable dinner, which was heartily enjoyed by 

 aU, and by no one more than Captain PuUen. " I have now seen more than 

 twenty-three years of a sailor's life," vrrites the gallant captain, " and can 

 safely say, I never was engaged in such laborious and disheartening work as we 

 went through" during the few days prior to reaching the vicinity of Cape Bath- 

 urst. On the evening of the 8th August the party encamped upon the larger 

 of the Baillie Islands. Here they found the shores hampered with heavy ice, 

 which they learned from the Eskimos would completely close up the passage to 

 the eastward. On the 9th they pushed along the shore for some distance, until 

 progress was finally checked by rugged, massive, and compact ice. The captain 

 was therefore obliged to give orders to land and encamp anew. In the after- 

 noon a woman, running into camp, brought news of a huge bear which she had 

 seen on the higher ground above the beach. Of coiu'se the voyagers, as well 

 as the Eskimos who had followed them to their encampment, immediately 

 sprang up to go in chase. As this hunt after Bruin illustrates the ingenuity 

 and bravery of the Eskimos, it is considered proper to quote the description 

 of it given by Lieutenant Hooper, who himself assisted at the capture : " The 

 brute was discovered on a huge mass of ice, which, with others, had grounded 

 at some distance from the beach ; one party started in the ' Logan ' to cut 

 off his retreat by sea ; another, which I joined, made for the summit of the 

 bank, which we hoped he would endeavour to ascend. First blood was 

 drawn by our party ; a ball from my fowling-piece struck him in the shoulder, 

 and he fell for an instant on the ice and began to suck his paw, which made 

 us think it was there he had been wounded. Speedily rising, he ran on along 

 the hummock, taking to the water, and climbing the sides of the masses of 

 9 3n 



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