THE ESQUIMAUX. 



295 



that the hate of the Esquimaux is no less intense, and that they also pursue the 

 Indians, wherever they can, with their spears and arrows, like wild beasts. 



" Year after year," says Sir John Richardson, " sees the Esquimaux on the 

 Polar coast of America occupied in a uniform circle of pursuits. When the 

 rivers open in spring, they proceed to the rapids and falls to spear the salmon, 

 which at that season come swimming stream upward. At the same time, or 

 earlier in more southern localities, they hunt the reindeer, which drop their 

 young on the coasts and islands while the snow is only partially melted. Where 

 the open country affords the huntsman no opportunity of approaching his game 

 unperceived, deep pits are dug in the snowy ravines, and superficially covered 

 with snow-tablets. The wind soon effaces the traces of the human hand, and 

 thus many reindeer are snared." 



In summer the reindeer are killed partly by driving them from islands or 

 narrow necks of land into the sea, and then spearing them from their kayaks, 

 and partly by shooting them from behind heaps of stones raised for the purpose 

 of watching them, and imitating their peculiar bellow or grunt. Among the 

 various artifices which they employ for this purpose, one of the most ingenious 

 consists in two men walking directly from the deer they wish to kill, when the 

 animal almost always follows them. As soon as they arrive at a large stone, 

 one of the men hides behind it with his bow, while the other, continuing to 

 walk on, soon leads the deer within range of his companion's arrows. 



The multitudes of sv^^ans, ducks, and geese resorting to the morasses of the 

 northern coasts to breed, likewise aid in supplying the Esquimaux with food 

 during their short but busy summer of two months. For their destruction a 

 very ingenious instrument has been invented. Six or eight small balls made of 

 walrus-tooth and pierced in the middle are separately attached to as many 

 thongs of animal sinew, which are tied together at the opposite end. When 

 cast into the air the diverging balls describe circles — like the spokes of a wheel 

 — and woe to the unfortunate bird that comes within their reach. 



On the coasts frequented by whales, the month of August is devoted to the 

 pursuit of these animals ; a successful chase insuring a comfortable winter to 

 a whole community. Their caj^ture requires an association of labor; hence 

 along the coasts of the Polar Sea the Esquimaux unite their huts into villages, 

 for whose site a bold point of coast is generally chosen, where the water is 

 deep enough to float a whale. 



When one of these huge creatures is seen lying on the water, a dozen kay- 

 aks or more cautiously paddle up astern of him, till a single canoe, preceding 

 the rest, comes close to him on one quarter, so as to enable the men to drive 

 the spear into the animal with all the force of both arms. This spear has a 

 long line of thong and an inflated seal-skin attached to it. The stricken whale 

 immediately dives ; but when he re-appears after some time, all the canoes again 

 paddle towards him, some warning being given by the seal-skin buoy floating 

 on the surface. Each man being furnished like the first, they repeat the blow 

 as often as they find an opportunity, till perhaps every line has been thus em- 

 ployed. After chasing him in this manner sometimes for half a day, he is at 

 length so wearied by the resistance of the buoys and exhausted by loss of 



