Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-08-06

shores the foe; sometimes, others call
ing it simply the shore ice. The
largest ice-foes are those in the packs
farthest from the storm, when they
are the least liable to be broken up.
Along the outer edge of this I'M
movable shore ice is where the walrus,
spends his few minutes of time in the
air. If very cold, as in winter, he re-
mains on the,edge of the ice foe but a
minute before he again plunges into
toe water to warm his tough hide. but
in the pleasant sunny days of the
spring-pleasant for the Arctic.
though it may be so cold that if one
of my readers suddenly found himself
there he would probably be stamping
his feet or blowing on his fingers to
keep them warm-Mr. Walrus takes
many long nap of an hour or two
near the edge of the ice; so very near
that he has to roll only about half
way over before he splashes into the
water. Here the Esquimaux, who
live along the coast, hunt this MONS
ter of the deep-for he is truly a
monster, weighing nearly ton on an
average-ana the state of the ice is
very important for them if he is their
daily food. If the "pack" is gainst
the shore ice, or in other words the
wind is toward the shore, then he
must struggle over the moving, rolling
ice>cakes of the ''pack" to the outer
edge of it, for the walrus is always
near the water. where he can in an
instant escape his enemies. If the
"pack" has foated out to sea, or the
wind is blowing in that direction, then
he looks for the sea horse--as the wal
rus is sometimes called-along the
outer edges of that ice; but his chances
of seeing him have now very much
diminished, for the floating ice took
the most of them with it to sea. and.
worst eff all, if the wind is at all
strong. he does not know at what ms
slant the ice on which he is walking
may break off behind him, and he
may be sent drifting out to sea in
boat without rudder, keel, or COM
pass.
It is to tell you a most startling
story of this kind that [ started upon
in this article, a story told me by an
old walrus-hunter among the Exqul-
maux in the northern part of Hudson's
bay, and which thought was thrill,
ing enough at the time, and only hope
I can convey it to you as well as he
told it to me. There had been pinched
times during the winter at Pikkenlik,
the little island where he had built
his little snow~house, Or igloo, as
they call it; no real starvation, but
aftentjmes on rations SO low that to
catch any game, as even a little seal,
sent a thrill OF jog among the poor
natives, while to capture walrus
would have been enough to have
made them fire cannon or indulge IN
a torchIight possession had they
known anything at all about such a
method Of jollifcation, bat they SIM
ply grinned-grinned a little when
they killed seal, nearly grinned
their head off when they got a walrus.
But there was not much grinning
that winter; the corners of their
mouths, like their spirits. were droop
ing, Day and night, fair or stormy,
wind inshore or off, the hunters pa
trolled the ice edge looking for wal
rus.
The gale at times was fearful. Those
who slept in their SNOW houses near
the sea could hear the terrible ripping
sound, like q volley Of musketry from
a big brigade of soldier, as piece after
piece Of ice broke from it's fastenings
from the shore, and mary supplica
tons went up from those at home
that po unfortunates hunter were
on those slippery and unstable ships.
One middle-aged hunter, however,
duaing one of these nights, was pac-
ing the floor, having his two SMALL
boys on either side of him, watching
for walrus, which, if seen, they were
to their father In front of them was
the appearance of small, submerged
reef, which they identified by the
bullying up of the ice over it when the
tide was low, and this they thought
ought to be good anchor to
hold the shore ice to its
place, otherwise they would not
have been lin such a dangerous
place during such terrible of>shore
gale. Their ideas were good enough
when the tide was low, but as the ice
only formed ten or twelve feet deep at
it's thickest, and the tide rose and fell
over twenty feet, they should have
known the top of the reef could not
touch even the bottom of the ice when
at high tide, and their anchor Of rock
would be of no use to them. Poor
savagesl They seldom do much
thinking that reqnires addition and
subtraction, even to determine such
an important thing as whether their
lives are in danger. They only con-
sidered that the reef was in front of
them and thought in a general way
that it ought to protect them. Shoe
Koke, for such was the Esquimaux
hunters name, thought he saw an ob-
ject near the reef taat might be a
walrus, but, creeping nearer in the
rapidly diminishing twilight, he saw
it was but heap OF seaweed, kind
of kelp so abundant in the Arctic,
that had been washed on cake of
ice, and when it turned over, rearing
It's head In the air, it deceived even
the expert Esquimaux hunter as to its
+r11n pat11ra He was inst tIIrninp