Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/21

2, and set out for the "Dreaded Land." Our sledge was drawn by six dogs, just half the number that such a journey required. Our progress was slow; for, besides the want of a sufficient team, we saw many seals, the ice being dotted over with them, and the Innuits consumed much time in making their peculiar, cautious approaches (elsewhere described), which are always necessary in order to take these animals. Koodloo is a good sealer. Having selected his game, he succeeded in crawling up to within thirteen fathoms of the seal, and shot him in the head. In five minutes we who were on the sledge arrived at the spot where our prize lay by his hole, when a general dog-fight took place.

The weight of fresh meat thus obtained being no less than 200 pounds, we found ourselves in the predicament of the man who bought the elephant. What should we do with our seal? Finally, we fastened it behind our sledge, dragged it to a convenient place, and cut it up; took with us a part of the meat and blubber for present use, and deposited the remainder en cache—that is, we buried it under snow by the side of a hummock, and tarried awhile to have a raw seal-feast.

In the evening, after our repast, we resumed our journey, proceeding at first in the direction of Dillon Mountain, at the east end of "Lok's Land," but changed our course at ten o'clock on account of hummocks, and now proceeded due south toward Lupton Channe. Some time after midnight we