An ingenious way of walrusing during this season is described by Lyon (p. 330):
When the hunters, in their canoes, perceive a large herd sleeping on the floating ice, as is their custom, they paddle to some other piece near them, which is small enough to be moved. On this they lift their canoes, and then bore several holes, through which they fasten their tough lines, and when everything is ready, they silently paddle the hummock towards their prey, each man sitting by his own line and spear. In this manner they, reach the ice on which the walruses are lying snoring; and if they please, each man may strike an animal, though, in general, two persons attack the same beast. The wounded and startled walrus rolls instantly to the water, but the siatko, or harpoon, being well fixed, he cannot escape from the hummock on which the Eskimo have fastened the line. When the animal becomes a little weary, the hunter launches his canoe, and lying out of his reach, spears him to death.
When the ice is gone seals are shot or harpooned with the igimang and the agdliaq. The float prevents their escape and they are killed with the anguvigang or the qapun. Later in summer, when they begin to shed their fur, they lose almost all their blubber and sink when shot; therefore they must be hunted with the harpoon and the float. As the walrus is a dangerous foe should it turn upon the hunters in their light boats, the harpoon is thrown from a great distance, and the animal is not attacked at close quarters until it is well nigh exhausted by dragging the float and the niutang and by loss of blood. A great number of walrus are shot or harpooned while basking on the low islands and rocks.
There are a few shoals and narrow inlets in Frobisher Bay and Cumberland Sound in which great numbers of seals are caught during the summer. In hunting them at those places some of the Eskimo in kayaks occupy the shallow entrance of the inlet, while others scare the seals from its head. As the seals approach its outlet they are speared by those who are lying in wait for them. Since the natives have procured firearms seals are shot from the boats, and in whale boats they even attack the walrus, though they prefer to have drifting ice near at hand in case the fierce animal should turn upon them and tear the boat with its powerful tusks. This method of hunting is very successful in openings which intersect the land floe in spring. To these places an enormous number of seals and walrus resort, and they are shot either when basking at the edge of the water or when blowing.
In the fall, when the small bays are covered with ice and newly formed floes drift to and fro in the open sea, the natives go sealing at the edge of the land ice (Fig. 435). The seals are shot on the drifting ice or in the water and are secured by means of the unang, in the following manner: The hunter jumps upon a small cake, which he pushes on with his spear until he is near the body of the animal, and then drags it upon the land floe with the harpoon line. This method is almost the same as the one used in sealing and walrusing during the winter wherever the open water is close to the shore.
Fig. 435. Sealing at the edge of the ice. (From a photograph.)
This hunt is described by Gilder in the following words (pp. 182–184):
Usually there are two hunters who approach the walrus, one hiding behind the other, so that the two appear but as one. When the spear is thrown, both hold on to the line, which is wound around their arms so as to cause as much friction as possible, in order to exhaust the animal speedily. ***When the line is nearly run out the end of the spear shaft is passed through a loop in the end of the line and held firmly by digging a little hole in the ice for the end of the spear to rest in, the foot resting upon the line and against the spear to steady it. This gives the hunter an immense advantage over his powerful game, and if he is fortunate enough to secure this hold there is no escape for the walrus except that the line may cut on the edge of the sharp ice, or the thin ice break off, and hunter, line, and all be precipitated into the water—a not unusual experience in walrus hunting. Another cause of misfortune is for the line to become entangled around the arm of the hunter so that he cannot cast it off, in which case he is most assuredly drawn into the sea, and in nine cases out of ten drowned, for his knife is seldom at hand for an emergency and no amount of experience will ever induce an Inung [Eskimo] to provide against danger.