The Portland daily press., 1897-12-24
PEARy's MUsK-ox HUNT.
A Hunt Not for Game, but for Meat
Charged'by the Herd of Shaggy Beasts
suspense After sh ot-Luxury for Dogs.
(From the Youths Companion,

| CpAEcu Ii,
myself prisoners for two days upon the
Independence Bay moraine, the northern
shore of the 'Great Ice," more than four
thousand feet above the level of the sea.
Then in very short time, completed
all the preparations for trip down over
the land in search of the musk oxen
which would be our salvation. Matt and
all the dogs were to accompany me. /
! took the little "Chopsie" sledge, our
rifles, four days supply of tea, biscuits,
and olive had had no meat for several
days-and the remainder of the dog food,
which was lump of frozen walrus meat
somewhat larger than q mans head. Lee
was to remain at the tent during our alb
sence. :
| The almost total lack of snow on this
| northern land was surprise as we'll as
! an annoyance to me, since 1t threatened
to damage my sledges seriously. But by
keeping we'll ahead of the dogs, l was
able to pick out fairly good though
cirouitous path along the numerous snow
drifts which lay on the leeward side of
the hills and mountains. After som
twelve hourssof steady marching, we were
close to MuskOx Valley, where, three
years before, Astrup and myself had erst
seen and killed some of these animals.
| Leaving Matt with the sledge. and dogs.
| 1 took my rifle and entered the valley,
hoping tosfind them there again. So far
we had not seen the slightest indication
| % nnh fo1l
the same route where, on my previous
visit, their traces had been visible on al
most every square rod of ground. In the
| valley found no trace of their presence.
and returned to the sledge in gloomy
mood. Gould it be that the musk oxen of
this region were migratory? Did they re-
| treat southwark along the east coast in
the autumn and return in early summer,
and were we too early for them? Or had
the sight and smell of US and our dogs.
and the sound of our guns and the sight
of carcasses of the oxen we had slain three
years before, terrified the others SO that
they had deserted this region completely? (?
These questions disturbed me deeply.
We had now been marching for long
time; we were tired with the unaccus-
toned work of climbing up and down
hills, and were weak and hungry from
our long and soant diet of tea ana bis
| cults. Our hunger was partially an
| peased by the dog food, True, this was a
frozen mixture of walrus meat, blubber,
hair, sand, and various other foreign sub
stances, but we hadato eat something, and
| the fact that the meat was "hieh'' and
| ltIh hHp a
deter us. Yet we dared not satisfy our
selves, even with dog food, as we were
dependent on the dogs, and they were
N ore in need Of food than we.
| A few miles beyond Musk-O Ok Valley /
eaw fresh hare track leading in the
ane direction in which we We're going,
and within five minutes / saw the hare
1 itself squatting among tho rocks few
PAGES distant. | called to Matt, who
was some little distance back, to stop the
dogs and come up with his rifle.
He was SO affected by the prospect of q
good dinner that his first and second bull
| let's missed the mark, although usually
he was q good marksman. But at the
| third shot the beautiful, spotless little
animal collapsed into a shapeless mass.
and on the instant gaunt hunger took
| from rs the power Of further endurance
We must stop at once and cook the hare
Near us was little pond surrounded
/
| ages of ice, from which to melt water for
cooking purposes. So here we camped
lit our lamp, and cooked and ate the en-
| tire hare. 1t was the hrst full meal we
had had for nearly six weeks-the first
meal furnishing sufficient substance and
nourishment for the doing of heavy
| days work.
process OF digestion made us drowsy.
Lying down as we were, upon the snow
| covered shore of the little pond, Without
tent or sleeping bag or anything except
the clothes we wore, we slept the sleep of
tired children in their cozy beds, though
the snowflakes were falling thickly upon
| US.
/ The next morning we pushed on for a
valley near Navy. Cliff, where Astrup and
myself had seen numerous musk-ox
tracks. At the entrance of this valley I
came upon track, so indistinct that 1t
might have been made the previous fall
Following 1t a short distance, / saw the
accompanying tracks of calf, showing
at once that the tracks were of this season
and little further on there were traces
but few days old.
Fastening our dogs securely to a rock
and muzzling them so that they could
i neither gnaw themselves loose nor make
a noise to disturb the musk oxen, we
| passed rapidly down the valley Winches
upon the tracks. Soon we reached the
/ feeding ground of the herd on the preced-
ing day, and knew by their tracks and
the places where they had dug away the
snow in search of grass and moss that
there was quite herd of them.
We oircleo the feeding ground as rapid
ly as we could, and at length found the
tracks of the herd leading out of the
labyrinth and up the slopes of the sur
rounding mountains. Following these,
our eyes were soon gladdened by sight of
q group of black spots on a little terrace
jus. below the crest of the mountain.
Looking through the field glass, we
saw that some OF the animals We're living
down Evidently the herd was begin.
ming it's midday snooze. We moved
cautiously up to the edge of the terrace to
leeward of the animals, and sought shelter
behind a big boulder. The musk oxen
were about 200 yards distant, and mum
bered twenty-five.
4 wonder if one of my readers knows
what hunger is. Hensen and / were worn
10 the bone with scant rations and hard
work, which had left little on our bones
except lean, tense muscles and wires of
sinew. The supper from the hare-that
| Ir0aI of Rresh hot lusoious meat-the