[2] These birds breed in great numbers among the rocks in Orkney, and are much attached to their young. By chasing the latter in a boat they become so fatigued as to be easily caught. When one of them is taken into the boat the parent bird approaches within a few feet, dives under and around the boat in all directions, and whenever it comes up to the surface utters a peculiarly melancholy note, at the same time turning its head in a listening attitude as if expecting to hear an answer from the prisoner. The anxiety of the mother has always the desired effect, and it is pleasing to observe the joy with which she swims away with her recovered young one, nestling it under her wing and never permitting it to stray a foot from her.
[3] An excellent plan of shooting these birds, and one that I have often successfully practised, is to roll up a bit of fur or cloth about the shape and size of a mouse, and drag it after you with a line twenty yards long. The owl will soon perceive the decoy, although half-a-mile distant; and after moving his head backwards and forwards as if to make sure of his object, he takes wing, and making a short sweep in the rear of his intended prey, pounces upon and seizes it in his claws, affording the sportsman a fine opportunity of knocking him down. I have sometimes missed my aim, leaving the owl to fly away with the false mouse (which the sudden jerk had torn from the line) in his claws. The Indians, taking advantage of this bird's propensity to alight on elevated spots, set up pieces of wood in the plains or marshes with a trap fastened to the top. In this way I have known as many as fifty killed in the early part of winter by one Indian. The owl is very daring when hungry. I remember seeing one of these powerful birds fix its claws in a lapdog when a few yards distant from the owner, and only let go his gripe after a gun was fired. The poor little dog died of its wounds in a few days.
CHAPTER III.
Receive a visit from a female party—Their persons and dress described—Crossing the Isthmus—Drag one of the boats up a stream—Succession of rapids—North Pole Lake—Find a plant fit for fuel—Christie Lake—Flett Portage—Corrigal Lake—Fish—Deer-scaring stones—White wolf—Stony Portage—View of the sea—Exploring parties sent in advance—Their report—Long Portage—Difficult tracking—Miles Lake—Muddy Lake—Rich pasturage and great variety of flowers on its banks—Marmot burrows—Salt Lake—Visit Esquimaux tents—Discouraging report of the state of the ice—Esquimaux chart—Reach the sea—Ross inlet—Point Hargrave—Cape Lady Pelly—Stopped by the ice—Put ashore—Find a sledge made of ship-timber—Thick fog—Wolves—Walk along the shore—Remains of musk-cattle and reindeer—Nature of the coast—Danger from the ice—Irregular rise of the tide—Deer on the ice—Fruitless efforts to proceed northward—Cross over to Melville Peninsula—Gale—Again stopped by the ice—Dangerous position of the boat—Return to starting point—Meeting with our Esquimaux friends at Salt Lake—Deer begun to migrate southward—Walk across the isthmus to Repulse Bay.
The morning of the 26th was fine, with a fresh breeze from W.N.W. A visit which I had intended paying to the ladies was anticipated by their coming over to our side of the river, bag and baggage. They were accompanied by a very old man named Shad-kow-doo-yak, who was extremely infirm, being obliged to move about in an almost horizontal posture, supported by a stick. There were six women, (three old, the other three young,) the whole of them married. One of the latter appeared quite like a girl of ten years, and was rather good-looking, having more regular features, and being cleaner and more neat in her dress than the others. They were all tatooed on the face, the form on each being nearly the same, viz. a number of curved lines drawn from between the eyebrows up over the forehead, two lines across the cheek from near the nose towards the ear, and a number of diverging curved lines from the lower lip towards the chin and lower jaw. Their hands and arms were much tatooed from the tip of the finger to the shoulder. Their hair was collected in two large bunches, one on each side of the head; and a piece of stick about ten inches long and half-an-inch thick being placed among it, a strip of different coloured deer-skin is wound round it in a spiral form, producing far from an unpleasing effect. They all had ivory combs of their own manufacture, and deer-skin clothes with the hair inwards; the only difference between their dresses and those of the men being that the coats of the former had much larger hoods, (which are used for carrying children,) in having a flap before as well as behind, and also in the greater capacity of their boots, which come high above the knee, and are kept up by being fastened to the girdle. Some needles, beads, and other trifles were given them, at which they manifested their joy with loud shouts and yells, differing from the men in this respect, who received what was given them in silence, although they were evidently much pleased.
In the forenoon we were joined by two fine-looking young fellows who had just returned from hunting deer, in which they had been successful, having driven a large buck off one of the islands into the water and speared it there.
One of the women had been on board the Fury and Hecla, both at Igloolik and Winter Island, and still wore round her wrist some beads which she had obtained from these vessels. This party consisted of twenty-six individuals, there being four families.
All the cargo being placed in security and the Magnet well moored in our little land-locked harbour, the party, assisted by four Esquimaux, commenced dragging the North Pole up the stream.