Another hunter was
overcome by sleep at a seal hole, and awakened by the consciousness of
danger, saw a great white bear watching the hole, which in his
sleepiness he had neglected. The hunter had fallen behind his snow seat
in such a way as to be concealed from the bear, which had been
attracted by the scent of the seal and arrived just at the moment when
the young man awoke. To jump to his feet and fly from the vicinity of
danger was, with the frightened Esquimau, the work of a minute, and so
startled the bear that it also made off in the opposite direction as
fast as feet would carry it.
When the seal comes up to breathe it stays about ten minutes, which
gives the hunter plenty of time to get his spear and line ready. He
then must take accurate aim and make a vigorous thrust through the
little hole, withdrawing the spear quickly and holding the line
tightly, so as to exhaust the game as much as possible before the line
is all run out. The end is wound tightly around his right arm, and he
sits down, bracing himself to resist the struggles of the animal to
free itself. It usually makes three desperate efforts to escape, and
then the hunter begins to haul in on his line, and, breaking away the
snow around the hole, to admit of the passage of the body, lands his
prey on the ice.
The next operation at this stage of the proceedings is to make a slit
in the stomach of the sometimes still breathing animal, and to cut off
some of the warm liver (ting'-yer), with a slice or two of blubber
(oks-zook), wherewith the hunter regales himself with a hearty
luncheon.
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