Page:The white czar; a story of a polar bear (IA whiteczarstoryof00hawk).pdf/46

 inches long is hidden in the long hair.

These wonderful hides with the outer hair a foot long upon them, and a thick fine under coat at the skin, make a robe unsurpassed in the animal kingdom. It is with such robes as these that the Eskimo sleeping benches are spread in midwinter. The flesh of Omingmong is also very good eating. It is only when the meat is allowed to stand too long before dressing that it has the musky quality the name indicates.

So it was both for food and raiment that Eiseeyou and his hunting party had come.

Omingmong usually goes in herds of from twenty to fifty head, although smaller herds are often encountered. So if the Eskimo sights the coveted prize he usually finds more than one.

How this strange animal subsists in this frozen snow-covered barren land is one of the mysteries of nature. After allowing him all the creeping willow and saxifrage and dried grass that he can paw out from under the snow, yet it is strange how he keeps in good flesh where any other cloven-hoofed animal would starve. Mother