San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-07-25

"AtiA nv heAA eA NN~ ~
terror. His wife, who was covered with q
number of tunics, tied at the hem so as to
form pantaloons and with sleeves open at
the wrists, had her face tattooed with stripes
OF dark blue.
Despite the hunger which tortured him,
the ~Tchouktchis seemed deeply impressed
by Nadege's beauty which was altogether
new to him. He could not take from her
his admiring and curious eyes, and, as he
examined her, he entered into a talk with
his wife in which the word kamakay was
often repeated. "a kamakay is a chief Of a
tribe.)
Then, after having noticed M. Lafeur's
harpoon in a corner, the Tchouktchi SEEM
ed astonished that he had not been given
slices OF seal fat to eat. NJ. Laf1eur made
him understand by gestures that he had
tried to capture seals, but without success.
AT this, the native, designating himself by
striking his chest and pointing to the har-
poon and dogs, promised to give, as soon as
day dawned, a lesson to the Partisan whom
he took for a Russian.
The next day, in fact, the native was not
long in harpooning a seal. Guided by the
dogs, he reached a breathing hole of these
creatures. Then, he sounded the snow with
the harpoon to the depth Of two or three
feet; for the seal cuts its breathing hole
through the ice, but stops at the coating Of
snow. The little opening found, the fisher
man waited patiently and in silence until
the seal came to breathe the air. At the
second or third breath, the harpoon. swiftly
penetrating the snow, plunged into the head
Of the animal.
The seal dived. and drew out to its full
length the line prepared in advance, which
was fifteen yards long. This line is fasten-
ed to the iron of the harpoon and the other
extremity is in the hand of the %harpooner.
The breathing-hole of the seal, Immediately
cleared Of the snow which covered it, was
enlarged so as to permit the passage of the
body Of the animal when it should become
exhausted. The native speedily drew the
seal from the hole and carried it to their
hut.
There, after the lesson in fishing, TOOK
place the lesson in cooking.
While the man cut up the seal, the woman.
in order to be useful, made oil for the lamp
by chewing pieces of the fat of the animal.
She toiled so ~arduously at her singular work
that she soon filed a wooden jar with oil Of
her manufacture.
The seal cut W, the native, by way Of
example, stretched himself upon his back
to be fed by his, wife with pieces of the fat,
which she stuffed in his mouth as one stuffs
. chicken.
'It's all over!' cried NJ. Lafleur, after par
taking of the seal fat. you no longer need
be uneasy about my food, my friends. As
long as there are ice and seals, I shall not be
a burden to you and will abandon to you my
share of everything else2"
Yermac, who had allowed to be piled up
before him seal steaks, raw liver, and slices
of fat, hesitated what to do. He had not
tasted of the deer strangled by Wab, and
for very many days his food had been ter
ribly lacking both in quality and quantity.
At length, he decided to taste the seal
flesh, and followed the example Of the Paris.
ian.
The Tchouktchi, having met with success,
no longer hesitated about swallowing all
the pieces Of the seal within his reach. He
ate pounds and pounds of it, and, when he
had reached the last stages Of repletion,
threw himself fiat upon the floor Of the hut,
abandoning himself to the gigantic work Of
digestion.
The next day, the natives, revictualled for
a time, departed without ceremony, carrying
away the remains of the seal and stealing q
small and curiously worked skin bag in
which matches were kept.
The fugitives soon had reason to repent
of the kind reception they had given them.
Meanwhile, M. Lafieur profited by their
teachings. One day, after having harpooned
a seal, he drew it out Of its hole. As he
knelt upon the ice, he felt himself Familiarity
tapped upon the shoulder and thought that
Ladislas had come up behind him. He
pulled the harpoon from the flesh of the an.
imal, but the hand upon his shoulder grew
heavier. The Partisan turned and nearly
fell backward on perceiving a huge white
bear which had watched thed details of the
h%arpooning and shamelessly claimed the
animal captured. The bear, taking advant'
age of the Difference shown it by M. Laf-
leur, who yielded place to it, as may readily
be believed, seized upon the seal and carried
it off, without as much as a growl OF thanks,
in the direction of its den. From that mo-
ment, M. Lafleur no longer went harpoon-
ing unless armed with his gun.
The chief of police had, itseems, acquired
a taste of seal flesh. After having followed
/ thC L dilSldu SuCO VI bNlCc, hO
harpoon and succeeded in capturing a superb
seal, the best cuts of the fat of which he
carefully laid aside.
This astonished Yegor.
"What does he want with that supply OF
| fail" asked he of M. Lafleur.
What did he want with it, Seeing thai
the Yakoutes did not return, he was reso-
lutely thinking of fight and getting ready
" =