CATCHING AUKS. 
203 
the dolce far niente of the shortlived Esquimaux sum¬ 
mer. Provision for the dark winter was furthest from 
their thoughts; for, although the rocks were patched 
with sun-dried birds, a single hunting-party from 
CATCHING AUKS. 
Peteravik could have eaten up their entire supplies 
in a night. 
There was enough to make them improvident. The 
little auks were breeding in the low cones of rubbish 
under the cliffs in such numbers that it cost them no 
* 
more to get food than it does a cook to gather vege- 
