188 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
fishing line attached to it about fifty fathoms long. 
The Eskimo would whirl this ball around and 
around by the handle, sometimes first putting 
lumps of ice on the slack line near the handle to 
add to the weight and thus increase the momentum, 
and would then let it fly out beyond where the body 
of the seal was floating. By carefully drawing in 
the line he would hook the seal and pull it along to 
the edge of the ice. On this occasion Kataktovick 
had to lie down and worm his way out on thin ice to 
get near enough to the water’s edge to make his 
cast, which he made when he found a piece of 
heavier ice on which he could stand. I had him 
fastened to me by a rope, so that when he finally 
hooked the seal, he hauled it in hand over hand to 
the place where he was standing and then, while he 
kept his feet firmly together and slid, I hauled him 
back on to the solid ice where I was, while he in turn 
was towing the seal. 
Our hope of better weather proved to be short¬ 
lived, for as the day wore on the wind increased to 
a living gale from the east. The ice was con¬ 
stantly in motion and we had many wide leads to 
negotiate. With the open water the air was filled 
with condensation and the light was very bad. 
When it came time to build our igloo we had made 
only about five miles to the good. 
Shortly after midnight the wind veered sharply 
