HARPOON HEAD. (From my collection.)
(See [page 1340])
CHAPTER CXLI.
THE ESQUIMAUX—Continued.
HUNTING—RELIGION—BURIAL.
MODES OF HUNTING — SEAL HUNTING IN THE SNOW — THE INFANT DECOY — THE SEAL’S IGLOO — AN IVORY FLOAT — SEAL “TALK” — THE HARPOONS AND SPEARS — SPEARING THE WALRUS — THE ICE RAFT — THE BOW AND ARROWS AND WRIST GUARD — DEER HUNTING — GROUSE SHOOTING — THE WOLF AND FOX TRAPS — THE BIRD SLING — BEAR HUNTING — THE MEN’S AND WOMEN’S BOATS — CONSTRUCTION OF THE KIA, AND MODE OF USING IT — AQUATIC FEATS — THE WOMEN’S BOAT AND ITS USES — THE SLEDGE — THE VARIOUS RUNNERS — SLEDGE DOGS AND THEIR TRAINING — EXAMPLES OF THEIR CLEVERNESS — BARBEKARK AND THE CAPELINS — MARRIAGE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN — GAMES AND DANCING — RELIGION — THE ANGEKO AND HIS MYSTERIES — “IN VINO VERITAS” — HONESTY — HOSPITALITY — DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD.
Depending wholly upon the products of the chase for their food, the Esquimaux are most accomplished hunters, and in their peculiar way are simply unequalled by any other people on earth. Take, for example, their mode of seal catching. The reader is doubtless aware that the seal, being a mammal, breathes atmospheric air, and that in consequence it cannot remain very long under water, but is obliged to come up at certain intervals for the purpose of breathing. When it dives under the ice, it would therefore be drowned did it not form for itself certain breathing holes in the ice. These are very small, not more than an inch and a half, or at the most two inches, in diameter, and do not penetrate through the coating of snow that lies on the ice.
The hunter’s dog, which is specially trained for this purpose, detects the breathing hole, and the master then reverses his harpoon, which has a long, spindle shaped butt, and thrusts it through the snow in search of the concealed hole, which often lies under some two feet of snow. When he has found it, he seats himself by the hole, with his harpoon ready; and there he will sit until he hears the blowing sound of the seal, when he drives the harpoon into the hole, and invariably secures his prey. This is the more difficult, as, if the stroke be wrong by even a quarter of an inch, the seal will not be struck, and the man is often wearied with waiting and need of sleep.
The patience with which the Esquimaux hunter will watch a seal hole far surpasses that of a cat at a mouse hole. Captain Hall mentions one case, where an Esquimaux, a notable seal hunter, actually sat watching a seal hole for two and a half days and two nights without either sleep or food. Considering the nature of the climate, such a feat as this is almost incredible. The poor man, after all his trouble, failed to secure the seal, but was not disheartened, and, after taking some food, went off again to the seal hole to renew his watch.
Some of the Esquimaux seal hunters use a singularly ingenious instrument for enabling them to detect the approach of the animal. It consists of a very slender ivory rod, about twelve inches in length, pointed at one end, and having a round knob at the other. It is about as thick as a crow quill. When the hunter has found a seal hole, he ties to the upper end a very fine thread made of sinew, and lowers it into the seal hole, where it is allowed to dangle by the thread. When the seal comes to breathe, it takes no notice of so small an object, but rises as usual for air, pushing the little rod before it. As soon as the hunter sees the rod rise, he knows that the seal is there, and drives his spear down the hole. Even a larger float—if we may so call it—might be unseen by the seal, but it would interfere with the passage of the spear.
There is another mode of catching seals, in which the young acts as a decoy for its mother. The seal, when she is about to produce her young, scratches away the ice until she comes to the snow, which lies deep upon it. She then scratches away a quantity of the snow until she has made a dome-like chamber, in form exactly like the snow hut of the Esquimaux. The tunnel through the ice is just large enough to allow the passage of the seal, while the chamber is about five feet in diameter, so that a tolerably large platform of ice is left, on which the creature can rest. Here its young is produced, and here it remains until the sun melts away the snow covering of the chamber, or igloo, as it is called, by which time the young animal is able to take care of itself.
At the proper season, the Esquimaux set off in search of these seal igloos, and when they are detected by the dogs, the hunter flings himself on the snow, thus beating down the roof of the igloo. He then thrusts his sealing hook into the igloo, and drags out the young seal. It is remarkable, by the way, that the polar bear acts in precisely the same manner, crushing down the walls of the igloo, and dragging out the young one with its paws.
When the Esquimaux has secured the young seal, he ties a long line to one of the hind flippers, and allows it to slip into the sea through the tunnel, while he creeps into the igloo with his hook, in hopes of catching the mother as she comes to help her young one. The Esquimaux always kill young seals by putting the foot on their shoulders, and pressing firmly down, so as to suffocate it. This is done for the purpose of preserving the blood.