276 THE LABRADOR ESKIMOS AND THEIR FORMER RANGE. 



follows for from three to four weeks the season of the 

 cod fishery. 



"As already stated, the codfish appear in such vast 

 quantities that it would be easy for the Eskimos to 

 gather enough provision for the winter for themselves 

 and their dogs, were it not for the innate thriftlessness 

 of the Eskimo, which leads him as soon as, with the fish 

 he has caught, he has paid to the mercantile house the 

 remainder of the debt contracted in the foregoing win- 

 ter, to again renew his credit, and to forthwith abstain 

 from further fishing, which he might very well carry on 

 until the end of September. In autumn the season of 

 reindeer-hunting again returns, whereupon from Novem- 

 ber till Christmas-time the Eskimos set out upon the 

 autumnal seal fishery, when they seek to kill them in 

 their kayaks through the thin ice, or to catch them in 

 nets. This mode of hunting is extremely toilsome and 

 dangerous. The temperature of the air is usually at this 

 time far below the freezing point, sinking to from — 10° to 

 — 20° C. and in December seldom rises above —20° C. In 

 this temperature the Eskimo sits for hours at a time, 

 fcound fast in his kayak, paddling back and forth in the 

 bays and straits, wet through by the icy spray of the 

 waves, which at once freezes on his skiff and his clothes. 

 If overtaken by a storm or the darkness of the night he 

 must seek shelter in any station on the coast and there 

 remain through the night watches or await the cessation 

 of the tempest. In like manner must those work who 

 have set their nets. Often on taking up the nets the 

 seals fall out through the meshes, and must, with great 

 pains, be fished out again. Even hauling the net out 

 from the water is in the extreme cold very disagreeable 



