500 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



to the edge of it, to wait there till the Innuits should get the wal- 

 rus cut up. At about ten o'clock at night it was announced that 

 the party was returning ; then the cry of the dogs was heard, and 

 soon Koojesse entered, dragging after him a huge cut of walrus. 

 The news he communicated was cheering. He had struck and 

 secured one, and Annawa another. Five had been struck through 

 the clay, though only two had been secured. Ooksin struck one, 

 but his iron " drew ;" Kook smith lost one by the breaking of his 

 " gig." A considerable portion of the next day was consumed in 

 bringing in the meat. The walrus struck by Annawa was of 

 good size, weighing not far from 1500 pounds; that of Koojesse 

 was not so large. 



The manner of taking the walrus is as follows : The hunter has 

 a peculiar spear, to which is attached a long line made of walrus 

 hide ; this line is coiled, and hung about his neck ; thus prepared, 

 he hides himself among the broken drifting ice, and awaits the 

 moment for striking his game. The spear is then thrown (as 

 shown in the accompanying engraving), and the hunter at once 

 slips the coil of line off his head, fastens the end to the ice by 

 driving a spear through a loop in it, and waits till the walrus 

 comes to the surface of the water, into which he has plunged on 

 feeling the stroke of the harpoon ; then the animal is quickly dis- 

 patched by the use of a long lance. The recklessness and cool 

 daring of the Innuit is forcibly shown in this operation, for if he 

 should fail to free his neck of the coil at just the right moment, 

 he would inevitably be drawn headlong beneath the ice. 



At length, on the morning of April 7th, I resumed my trip. 

 Ebierbing had come over with the sledge on the previous day, 

 and I made an exchange with him, taking his, and giving him 

 that belonging to the ship. My company consisted of Koojesse, 

 his wife Tunukderlien, Kar-nei-ung ("Sharkey"), his wife Noud- 

 larng ("Jennie"), and young Henry Smith. We proceeded on 

 the sea-ice, nearly northwest, for Chapel's Point, at the west side 

 of the entrance of Wiswell's Inlet. Our sledge was heavily laden, 

 especially with how (walrus hide) for dog food, and walrus beef 

 for our own eating; but the traveling was good, and we made 

 better progress than I had expected, arriving at the place named 

 at about 4 P.M. 



Then Sharkey and Koojesse proceeded to build an igloo in the 

 regular manner, which may be described thus : They first sound- 

 ed or "prospected" the snow with their seal-spears to find. the 



