The uncivilized races of men in all countries of the world; vol. 2 of 2 / Being a comprehensive account of their manners and customs, and of their physical, social, mental, moral and religious characteristics

by J. G. Wood

Sometimes the seal hunter actually stalks the wary animal on the ice. The seal has a strange way of sleeping when lying on the ice. It takes short naps of only a few seconds’ duration, and between them raises its head and looks round to see if any enemy be approaching. The Esquimaux takes advantage of this habit, and, lying down on the ice, he waits for these short naps, and hitches himself along the ice toward the animal, looking himself very much like a seal as he lies on the ice, covered with seal skin garments. Whenever the seal raises its head, the hunter stops, begins to paw with his hands, and utters a curious droning monologue, which is called “seal talk,” and is supposed to act as a charm. Certain it is, that the seal appears to be quite gratified by the talk, is put off its guard, and allows the hunter to approach near enough to make the fatal stroke.

The same kind of “talk” is used when the sealer goes out in his boat, and some of the hunters are celebrated for the magical power of their song. In seal hunting from a boat, a different kind of harpoon is employed. It is longer and slighter than that which is used for ice hunting, and is furnished with a float made of a leathern bag inflated with air. This is fastened to the shaft, and just below it one end of the harpoon line is secured, the other end being made fast to the head of the weapon.

When the seal is struck, the shaft is shaken from the head, so that there is no danger of its working the weapon out of the seal by its leverage, and it acts as a drag, impeding the movements of the animal, so that the hunter is able to overtake it in his boat, and to pierce it with another harpoon. When the seal is dead, the float serves another purpose. Seals, when killed in the water, almost invariably sink so rapidly that they cannot be secured. The float, however, remains at the surface, so that the successful hunter has only to paddle to it, take it into the canoe, and haul the seal on board. Perhaps the most curious part of the business lies in the skill with which the hunter carries the seal home. The boat in which he sits is entirely covered with skin, except a small aperture which admits his body, and yet he lays the body of the seal upon this slight platform, and manages to balance it as he paddles homeward, regardless of the waves upon which his light little canoe trembles like a cork.

Of these boats we shall presently see something, and will now merely look at the weapons which are employed by the Esquimaux in hunting.

It is worthy of remark that war is totally unknown among the Esquimaux, who are perhaps the only people in the world who possess no war weapons, and have no desire to do so. Generally, when a savage obtains for the first time possession of fire-arms, he uses them in warfare, and by the superiority of his weapons raises himself to eminence. The Esquimaux cares for none of these things. He is essentially a family man, and when he is fortunate enough to procure a musket, he simply uses it for hunting purposes, never wasting the precious powder and lead upon the bodies of his fellow-men. Of fame he is totally ignorant, except that sort of local fame which is earned by skill in hunting. He finds that all his energies are required to procure food and clothing for his household, and therefore he does not expend them upon any other object.

The weapon which is to the Esquimaux what the rifle is to the backwoodsman, the boomerang to the Australian, the sword to the Agageer, the lasso to the South American, and the sumpitan to the Dyak, is the harpoon, a weapon which undergoes various modifications, according to the use to which it is put, but is essentially the same in principle throughout.

The first example is the typical harpoon. It consists of a long wooden shaft, with a float attached to it, as has already been described on [page 1339]. Owing to the great scarcity of wood in Esquimaux land, the greater part being obtained from the casual drift-wood that floats ashore from wrecks, such a weapon is exceedingly valuable. The shaft is generally made of a number of pieces of wood lashed together in a most ingenious fashion.

The barbed head is but loosely fitted to the shaft, a hole in the base of the head receiving a point at the end of the shaft. It is held in its place by leathern thongs, so arranged that, as soon as the wounded animal darts away, the shaft is shaken from the head. The arrangement of the leathern thongs varies according to the kind of weapon. The [illustration] on page 1337, shows the head of the harpoon which is used for spearing the walrus.

It is about nine inches in length, and is made of ivory, either that of the walrus or the narwhal, probably the former, as it partakes of the curve of the walrus tooth. It consists of two pieces, which we call, for convenience’ sake the body and the head. The upper part of the body is slightly pointed and rounded, and is meant to be fixed to the shaft of the harpoon. About an inch and a half from the end two holes are bored, through which is passed a double thong of leather about as thick as a goose quill. Next comes the head, which is a triangular and deeply barbed piece of ivory, armed with a thin, flat plate of iron, almost exactly like the armature of the Bosjesman’s war arrow. Through this head is bored a hole, and through the hole passes the loop of the double thong already mentioned. At the butt of the head there is a hole, into which is fitted the conical termination of the body.

By reference to the [illustration], the reader will easily comprehend the arrangement. Fig. 1 shows the entire instrument, the head fitted on the body, and held in its place by the double thong. Fig. 2 shows the head disjointed from the body. The reader will now see what a perfect barb this instrument forms. When the harpoon is hurled at the walrus, the head penetrates through the tough skin, and, becoming disjointed from the body, sets at right angles across the little wound which it made on entering, and effectually prevents the weapon from being withdrawn. Fig. 3 shows the upper view of the head, and fig. 4 shows the hole at its base, into which the conical end of the body is loosely fitted.