Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1896-08-22
EsaUImAU WOLF DESTROYER
with the Taste Of Their Own Blood
He Maddens Them TO Death.

He Maddens Them 10 Death.
II ia from Alaska that these vol
skins come that furnish the material
for the rugs now 80 popular in house
furnishings.
They are shipped thence by tens ol
thousands, and il may be imagined
that the Esquimaux who kill the ami
mails get an extremely small price for
the pelts, which are sold at SO low a
figure after being cured and made up
into rugs. The secret Of it lies in a
scheme by which the wolves are in
duced to destroy each other whole
sale.
The method is very simple. The
Esquimau takes thin blade Of flint,
Clipped SO as to be sharp as razor
along the edges. This he fastens se-
eurely TO the end OF a wooden stake
and drives the latter deep into the ice,
so that the flint blade projects above.
Then he binds piece OF seal blubber
around the flint blade with string OF
sinew. thus concealing the sharpened
instrument within.
By and by along comes q big gray
wolf. He is hungry, as wolves always
are. His nose is supernaturally keen
and he has scented the dainty morsel
Of blubber from afar. Eagerly he be-
gins to lick the fat, which is frozen
hard. This process melts the blubber
little and ii tastes delicious. After a
short time his tongue comes into con-
tact with the keen edge Of the flint and
is cut. The blood flows. Ali The
favor makes him wild, for he does not
know that it is his own blood.
By this time other wolves have ar
rived on the spot. These animals
travel in packs, for only thus can they
assail the reindeer and other large
beasts with success. They likewise
lick the blubber, cut their tongues on
the flint and taste the flavor OF blood.
1t maddens them, and in a few min
utes the stake in the ice is the CEN
ter OF crazy mob of ravening wild
dogs. They attack each other and
fight to the death. II is fearful spec
tacle. They go on fighting till they
are all dead or desperately wounded.
Some hours later the Esquimau APP
pears on the scene and surveys it with
satisfaction. The ice around the flint
headed stake is Redeemed with blood.
All about are scattered the bodies Of
dead wolves. The ingenious hunter
calmly proceeds to skin his four
footed victims and carries the pelts
away on his sled.
This process OF destruction is univer-
sally practiced by the Alaskan natives,
and is many fold more efficacious than
any ordinary method OF hunting could
be. A party of hunters can set out on
even brief northern day an infinite
number OF these awful battle stakes
and the next day, and the next, and
the next will not suffice for them TO
gather up the wolf skins which are the
harvest of that stupendous slaughter.
The Alaskan plan Of wolf hunting
has a charm peculiarly attractive to
the leisure-loving Esquimau-it re-
duces the work to a minimum. His
only objection to it is that, after the
wolf gets himself thoroughly killed, he
can't skin himself and convey his hide
to the market town. His system is
a more deadly and more wholesome
one than that used by the Indians still
further south in driving the buffalo out
OF existence.
But the wolves multiply fast enough
to meet any demand.
That is why wolf-skin robes are
cheap.-N. Y. Journal.