The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-04-12

Esl<imo's Cry of "NanooksoahW "a
Polar Bear)-odd Feature of Hunt.
A most graphic account of polar
bear hunt appears in the April INSTALL
ment of Commander Robert E. Peary's
story of the Discovery of the North
Pole" in Hamptons Magazine. 1t be-
gins
@After few hours sleep we started,
straight as a crow flies, across the
eastern end of the great glacial fringe,
headed for the mouth of Clements
Markham inlet Reaching the mouth
of the inlet, we kept on down its east
ern shore, finding very good going, for
the tides rising in the crack next the
shore had saturated the everything
snow; then, freezing, had formed a
narrow but smooth surface for the
sledges. A little farther on we were
electrified by a tense whisper from the
ever sharp sighted E-gingwah:
"'NanooksoahH
"He was pointing excitedly toward
the center of the ford, and, following
the direction of his finger. we saw a
cream colored spot leisurely moving
toward the mouth of the florida polar
bear!
.sWhile | stood in front of the dogs
with whip in each hand to keep
them from dashing away, for the Es-
kimo dog knows the meaning of ma
nooksoah' as well as his master. the
three men were throwing things off
the sledges as if they were crazy.
Hot After the Bear.
"When the sledges were empty
lowered the whips and stood to one
side. Oob-loo-yah's team shot by me,
with Oob-loo-yah at the upstanders.
E-ging-wah came next, and l threw
myself on his sledge as it few past.
Behind us came Koo-la-too-nah with
the third team.
''The bear had heard us and was
making for the opposite shore of the
ford with prodigious bounds. l jump
ed to the upstanders of the flying
sledge leaving E-ging-wah to throw
himself on the bottom and get his
breath, and away we all went, wild
with excitement, across the snow COW
cred surface of the ford.
"Oob-loo-yah, with a crazy team and
only himself at the upstanders, dis
tanced the rest of us, arriving at the
farther shore almost as soon as the
Ieaping bear He loosed his dogs i'm
mediately, and we could see the bear
in the distance. followed by minute
dots that looked hardly larger than
mosquitoes swarming up the slope.
Chasing the Devil.
"a most peculiar circumstance, COM
mented on by E-ging-wah as we flew
along, was that this bear, contrary to
the invariable custom of bears in Es-
kimo land, did not stop when the dogs
came toward him, but kept right on
travelling. This to E-gingwah was al
most certain proof that the great devil
himself-the terrible Tor-nar-suk-wa
in that bear. AT the thought of chas-
ing the devil my sledge companion
grew even more excited.
when we reached the western shore
of the ford, up which we had seen
from a distance the bear and Oobloo-
yahs dogs slowly climbing, both we
and our dogs were pretty wen winded
"a little farther ON we came to a
deep canyon, and, as we could tell by
the sounds, the dogs and the bear We're
at the bottom. But where we stood
the walls were too precipltous for even
an Eskimo to descend, and we could
not see the bear He was evidently
under some projecting ledge on our
side.
Its Escape From Peary.
Moving up the, canyon to find q
place of descent, I heard E-ging-wah
shout that the bear had started down
the canyon and was climbing up the
other side, Hulrying back through
the deep snow and over the rough
rocks, suddenly saw the beast per
haps a hundred yards away and raised
my rife. But ! must have been too
much winded to take good aim, for,
though ! fred two shots at him, the
bear kept right on up the canyon side,
Surely Tor-nar-suk was in him!
Il found chat had given the stumps
OF both my feet-my toes were frozen
off at Fort Conger in 1S99--some pref
ty severe blows against the rocks, and
as they were complaining with vehe-
mence decided not to follow the bear
any farther
Handing my rifle to E-ging-wah, !
told him and Koo-la-too-nah to go after
the bear while l went back down the
bluffs to the sledges and followed
along the bay ice, But before had
gone far along the bay ice / heard
shouting in the distance, and soon an
Eskimo appeared on summit and
waved his hand-a signal that they
had bagged the bear.
"Just ahead of me and abreast of
where the Eskimo had appeared was
the mouth Of ravine, and 1 stopped
the sledge there and waited. In a
little while l saw my men slowly
working their way down the ravine.
The dogs which had been in at the
death were attached to the bear as
IL he had been a sledge, and they were
dragging him after them"
Don't Tell All You Know.
The little daughter of the hostess
looked long and inquiringly at the
guest who she had been told was a
very learned man and professor.