Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/293

274 the bear, buried in snow the liver and head, which Innnits never eat, nor allow their dogs to eat, if they can help it. However, one of my dogs, Barbekark, got loose from the sledge and found the liver, when the whole pack bolted away and pitched in for a share. The carcass of the bear was placed on the sledge, when (5 ) we started on our way down the channel. In half an hour we arrived at open water—a tide-opening one-third of a mile long and thirty fathoms wide. Sharkey had told me about this open water while we were at the seventeenth encampment, on occasion of my proposing to strike from thence to Kingaite, and continue down the coast. Sharkey said it was altogether doubtful whether we should be able to do so, on account of the ou-kun-nier (an extended opening in the ice caused by the tides). It seems that, during the coldest weather, these open places between the numerous islands in this "part of Frobisher Bay never freeze over on account of the swiftly-running tides. However, we experienced no great trouble in making our way over an ice-belt that led past this ou-kun-nier. This space of open water abounded in seals. In the course of a few minutes Sharkey fired two shots, the last being successful, killing a fine large seal, which we soon had fast to the sledge. We now had a Ninoo and a seal—enough for a feast for both men and dogs. When at the tide-opening we were only one mile and a half from where we had killed the bear. This distance would not satisfy my friends by several miles for making encampment, therefore, at 6 we resumed our journey. A few minutes brought us to where the channel opened out to a beautiful bay, which I named Eggleston Bay. Our course then was over a smooth field of ice. After making a distance of some six miles from where the bear was killed, and as we were making good progress homeward directly down the bay, all at once the dogs were turned by the driver sharply to the left, nearly but not quite half round, and directed toward