Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-07-23

1
to 90 hunting; for it must always bt
borne in mind. that nearly all the
Eskimo are sea-coast abiding people
going into the interior only in tenn.
porary pursuit of land animals at GER
tain seasons of the year. The dog:
are packed" comewhat similar TO the
packing of a horse or mule, without
the pack-saddle, the load being kept
on the dogs slippery hide by most
intricate system of lashing, that only
reaches perfection in the old reindeer
hunters Of the tribe. / have never
seen them attempt to put the load on
the tent poles dragging behind, as
have often noticed the Indians of the
plains do when moving, They prefer
to readjust the load on the dogs back
every ten or fifteen minutes, while en-
route, unless they are skillful in lash
ing it on. An Eskimo dog will carry
about thirty pounds for six or eight
miles, which is their usual Summer
marches, and, if we'll fed and strong,
probably double that amount or dis
tance. The dogs not used in packing
| for the Summer reindee, hunters are,
of course, burden on their hands for
the time being, and they have an
ingenious method of disposing of
them during that season. In northern
Hudsons Bay the tide rises and falls
about twenty feet, and its waters
abound in masses of kelp, lining the
shores and little inlets, and in these
masses of kelp abound hideous look
ing small fish, called kelp fish by the
whalers, that makes excellent food for
the dogs. If an island can be found
fully a mile to the nearest land flor if
nearer the dogs are liable to swim to
it if anything there attracts them)
where little inlet puts back, whose
rocky mouth is between high and low
tide, and whose bottom is drained at
low water, there the dogs are put for
the Summer to shift for themselves.
The incoming tide brings in numbers
of these kelp fish, and as it recedes
the kelp forms over the stones at the
mouth, making a perfect seine or net
work of stems, through which the wa
ter drains and the fish are imprisoned.
The kelp is moist enough to keep the
fish alive until the next tide; but in
the meantime the dogs walk over it as
fast as the tide leaves it bare, and by
the struggling motions of the fish un-
der the kelp, which the keen eyed
dogs detect, even the faintest, they
paw down and capture their prey, and
by the time the keen Winter frosts
bar their fishing grounds they are all
in fine condition. There are only two
or three islands thus favorable for the
dogs in north Hudson's Bay, but
along the coast are many such places
where the wolves, wolverines, foxes
and polar bears find good fishing
places by this means.
Their hunting in Summer differs
radically from that In Winter with
nearly all kinds of game. Aquatic
fowl are flying in myriads in every
direction; and for a few weeks the
natives may live on devekie and elder
duck eggs culled from the islands of
the inland lakes, and the off shore
islands of the bay, where they breed.
The birds themselves are not much
hunted; but, late in the Fall, when the
duckllngs and the devekie squads
have hard work escaping the ravenous
hands of the little children, large
numbers of them are caught and de-
voured. About the lst of September,
the reindeer skins are in their finest
condition for underwear (the Eskimo
has two suits OF reindeer clothes, an
inner one with the hair turned toward
the body, and an outer one with the
hair turned outward), and every good
hunter in the tribe is inland trying to
secure them about then, the meat be-
ing put under huge stones, to prevent
the depredations of the wolves and
wolverines, especially the latter, which
is said to be the strongest animal of its
size in the world, and which, the
Eskimo claims, can destroy one Of
these stone cairns almost as readily as
the polar bear, probably fifteen or
twenty times as large. This reindeer
meat is their luxury in that line-their
fine Southdown chops, their canvas
back duck, so to speak--while their
standard beef is found in the walrus
meat. Camping on the little islands
just off the mainland, or on the points
jutting out therefrom, from the high
est point near camp a lookout is kept
for walrus during the early Summer,
when the ice is yet floating around in
great foes of many acres, or cakes as
big as rural front yards; for here the
walrus stays as long as the ice lasts
(until about the lst of August), and
his huge, swarthy carcass of dark
brown is plainly visible for miles on
the edge of the white ice. Once dis
cerned, away they go with their light
skin canoes, and even larger boats;
and one active hunter crawls up on
him, half asleep in the warm sunshine,
spearing him with sort of harpoon, to
which is attached line and huge
inflated seal skin float nearly AZ bip as