Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1861-08-29
The EsQuimanx.

| IN most localities is as follows In the month
of September, the band, consisting of, perhaps
| five or six families, moves TO some well known
pass, generally some narrow neck of land be-
tween two lakes, and there await the southerly
migration of the reindeer. When these ami.
mails approach the vicinity, some of the young
men go out and gradually drive them towards
the pass, when they are met by other hunters,
who kill as many as they can with the bow and
arrow The bulk of the herd is forced into
the lake, and there the liers in-wait at the
hajacks spear them at leisure Hunting in this
way, day after day, as the deer are passing,
| large stock of veniSion is generally procured.
As the country a5ounds in natural ice cellars,
or at least everywhere affords great facilities
for constructing them in the frozen subsoil,
the venson might be kept sweet until the hard
frost sets 10, and so preserved throughout the
winte" but the Esquimaux takes little trouble
in this matter If more deer are killed in
summer than can be then consumed, part of
the flesh is dried, but later in the season ir is
merely laid up in some cool cleft of a rock,
where wild animals cannot reach it; and should
it become considerably tainted before the cold
weather comes on, it is only the more agreea-
bic to the ESquimaux palate.
In the autumn, also, the migratory hocks of
geese and other birds are laid under contribu-
ton, and salmOn-trout and fish of various
kinds are taken. In this way winter stock
of provisions is procured, and not little ia
required, as the Esquimax being consumers
of animal food only, get through surprising
quantity. In the autumn, the berries of the
arctic fruit. .bearing-plauts are eaten, and the
half.digested lichens in the paunch of the
! ho
other seasons this people never tastes yegeta-
bles, and even in summer animal food is alone
deemed essential. Draughts of warm blood
/ from newly killed animal, are considered as
contributing greatly to preserve the hunter in
health. No part of the entrails is rejected as
unfit for food little cleanliness is shown in the
preparation of the intestines, and when they
are rendered crisp by frost, they are eaten as
delicacies without further cooking On parts
of the coast where whales are common, August
aud September are devoted to the pursuit of
these animals, deer-hunting being also attend
ed TO at intervals. The killing of a whale
secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for
the lamps of whole village, and there is
great rejoicing. On the return of light. the
winter houses are abandoned for the sea hunt
on the ice, sooner or later, according to the
state of the larder The party then moves off
seaward, being guided in discovering the
breathing holes of the seal or warus by their
dogs At this time of the year huts are built
of snow for the residence of the band and in
no season is the hunters skill more tested, the
seal being a very wary animal, with acute
sight, smell and hearing. 1t no match,
however for the Esquimaux hunter, who.
from the keen blast ty semcircuar wall of
snow, will sit motioness for hours, watching
for the bubble of air that warns him of the
seal coming up to breathe And scarcely has
the animal raised its nostriis to the surface
before the harpOOn enters in its body.
This sport is not without the danger that
adds to the excitement of success The line
attached to the point of the harpoon is passed
in loop round the hunters loins, and should
the animal he has struck be large seal or
walrus, woe betide him if he does not instant
| ly plant his feet in the notch cut for the pur.
pose in the ice, and throw himself in such
position that the strain on the line is as nearly
as possible brought into the direction of the
length of the spine of his bach and axis of his
lower limbs. A transverse pull from one of
these powerful beasts would double him I'D
across the air hole, and perhaps break his
o"|N VI " 'no OPepiuS o0 ldISc, AS IL oIteu
is when the spring is advanced, he would be
dragged under water and drowned. Accidents
of this kind are but too common When the
seals come out on the ice to bask 10 the power
ful rays of spring sun, the Esquimaux hunter
knows how to approach them by initiating
their forms and motions so perfectly that the
poor animals take him for one of their own
species, and are not undeceived until he comes
near enough to thrust bis lance into one. The
principal seal-fshery ends by the disruption of
the ice. and then the reindeer are again nnmer-
ous on the shores of the Arctic Sea- the birds
are breeding in great locks, and the annual
routine of occupation, which has been briefly
sketched, commences anew.