ANVIL. — THE WALRUS HUNT. 



499 



rocks, and she directed my attention to a certain level spot of 

 land not far off, where the natives sometimes build their igloos 

 or erect tupics. She said that, when she had a nu-tar-ung (babe) 

 yet unborn, the " heavy stone" (anvil) was there, and was used as 

 a seat by herself and many Innuits who at that time had their ig- 

 loos on the spot. On inquiring which of her sons was the nu- 

 tarung to which she referred, she replied Kod-la-ar-ling, a young 

 man I supposed to be about twenty -five years of age. Her moth- 

 er had also seen it there ; but, after a time, her people had brought 

 it away to the locality indicated by Artakparu, and had finally 

 tumbled it into the sea. 



In the evening Koojesse came home, drawing into his igloo 

 three seals and a fox. One seal, I should think, weighed 200 

 pounds. The two others were young ones, of but two or three 

 days old, both as white as snow. He caught the mother and one 

 of the young ones in a seal's igloo, which was on the ice and over 

 a seal-hole. 



Just before sundown I took a walk to the top of the hill at 

 Oopungnewing, and saw Jones's Cape, and many other places 

 where I had previously been. Kingaite's rampart of mountains 

 also stood up in grandeur before me. The Bay of Frobisher was 

 filled with fragments of ice, sending forth thundering noises as 

 the swift tides dashed piece after piece upon each other. I was 

 delighted to see on the north side an unbroken pathway along the 

 coast upward. 



That evening a great seal-feast took place in Koojesse's igloo, 

 old Artarkparu and his family being present. Of course I joined 

 in it, and participated in eating the raw, warm-blooded seal, tak- 

 ing it Innuit fashion — that is, disposing of several pounds of raw 

 meat at one sitting. The young seal (which I tasted at supper 

 on the following day) was tender and fine, eating like a spring 

 chicken. 



Owing to various causes, I had to stay at Oopungnewing for 

 several days, and during that time I occupied myself with writ- 

 ing and making observations. On April 5th, Koojesse, with sev- 

 eral others of the natives, went out on a walrus hunt, and in the 

 afternoon I spent some time watching them in their operations. 

 They were about four miles out, walking in Indian file, making 

 their way on drifting, broken ice. Soon after, one of the Innuits, 

 looking at the party, said they had killed a walrus, and the dogs 

 were at once harnessed to the sledge and sent out on the ice-floe, 



