THE ESQUIMAUX. 



297 



eitement of success, particularly if the creature struck by the hunter be a large 

 seal or walrus ; for woe betide him if he does not instantly plant his feet firmly 

 in the ice, and throw himself in such a position that the strain on the line is as 

 nearly as possible brought into the direction of the length of the spine of his 

 back and axis of his lower limbs. A transverse pull from one of these power- 

 ful animals would double him up across the air-hole, and perhaps break his back ; 

 or if the opening be large, as it often is when the spring is advanced, he 

 would be dragged under water and drowned. 



As the Polar bear is as great a seal-hunter as the Esquimaux, one of th« 

 usual methods employed by the latter to catch these bears is to imitate the mo- 

 tions of the seal by lying flat on the ice until the bear approaches sufficiently 

 near to insure a good aim ; but a gun is necessary to practise this stratagem 

 with success. Seeman (" Voyage of the Herald ") mentions another ingenious 

 mode of capturing the bear by taking advantage of the well-known voracity of 

 the animal, which generally swallows its food without much mastication. A 

 thick and strong piece of whalebone, about four inches broad and two feet long, 

 is rolled up into a small compass, and carefully enveloped in blubber, forming 

 a round ball. It is then placed in the open air at a low temperature, where it 

 soon becomes hard and frozen. The natives, armed with their knives, bows, and 

 arrows, together with this frozen bait, proceed in quest of the bear. As soon 

 as the animal is seen, one of the natives discharges an arrow at it ; the monster, 

 smarting from this assault, chases the party, then in full retreat, until, meeting 

 with the frozen blubber dropped in his path, he greedily swallows it, and con- 

 tinues the pursuit — doubtless fancying that there must be more where that 

 came from. The natural heat of the body soon causes the blubber to thaw, 

 when the whalebone, thus freed, springs back, and frightfully lacerates the 

 stomach. The writhing brute falls down in helpless agony, and the Esquimaux, 

 hurrying to the spot, soon put an end to his sufferings. 



The Esquimaux of Smith Sound hunt the bear with the assistance of their 

 dogs, which are carefully trained not to engage in contest with the bear, but to 

 retard his flight. While one engrosses his attention ahead, a second attacks 

 him in the rear, always alert, and each protecting the other; and thus it rarely 

 happens that they are seriously injured, or that they fail to delay the animal un- 

 til their masters come up. If there be two hunters, the bear is killed easily ; 

 for one makes a feint of thrusting a spear at the right side, and as the animal 

 turns with his arms towards the threatened attack, the left is unprotectedj and 

 receives the death-wound. But if the hunter is alone, he grasps the- lance firm- 

 ly in his hands, and provokes the animal to pursue him by moving rapidly 

 across its path, and then running as if to escape. But hardly is its long, un- 

 wieldy body extended for the chase, than, with a rapid jump, the hunter doubles 

 on his track, and runs back towards his first position. The bear is in the act 

 of turning after him again, when the lance is plunged into the left side below 

 the shoulder. So dexterously has this thrust to be made, that an unpractised 

 hunter has often to leave his spear in the side of his prey and run for his life ; 

 but even then, if well-aided by the dogs, a cool, skillful man seldom fails to kill 

 his adversary. 



