Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

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СКАЧАТЬ by those who are lying in wait for them. Since the natives have procured firearms seals are shot from the boats, and in whale boats they even attack the walrus, though they prefer to have drifting ice near at hand in case the fierce animal should turn upon them and tear the boat with its powerful tusks. This method of hunting is very successful in openings which intersect the land floe in spring. To these places an enormous number of seals and walrus resort, and they are shot either when basking at the edge of the water or when blowing.

      In the fall, when the small bays are covered with ice and newly formed floes drift to and fro in the open sea, the natives go sealing at the edge of the land ice (Fig. 435). The seals are shot on the drifting ice or in the water and are secured by means of the unang, in the following manner: The hunter jumps upon a small cake, which he pushes on with his spear until he is near the body of the animal, and then drags it upon the land floe with the harpoon line. This method is almost the same as the one used in sealing and walrusing during the winter wherever the open water is close to the shore.

      Fig. 435. Sealing at the edge of the ice. (From a photograph.)

      This hunt is described by Gilder in the following words (pp. 182–184):

Usually there are two hunters who approach the walrus, one hiding behind the other, so that the two appear but as one. When the spear is thrown, both hold on to the line, which is wound around their arms so as to cause as much friction as possible, in order to exhaust the animal speedily. ***When the line is nearly run out the end of the spear shaft is passed through a loop in the end of the line and held firmly by digging a little hole in the ice for the end of the spear to rest in, the foot resting upon the line and against the spear to steady it. This gives the hunter an immense advantage over his powerful game, and if he is fortunate enough to secure this hold there is no escape for the walrus except that the line may cut on the edge of the sharp ice, or the thin ice break off, and hunter, line, and all be precipitated into the water—a not unusual experience in walrus hunting. Another cause of misfortune is for the line to become entangled around the arm of the hunter so that he cannot cast it off, in which case he is most assuredly drawn into the sea, and in nine cases out of ten drowned, for his knife is seldom at hand for an emergency and no amount of experience will ever induce an Inung [Eskimo] to provide against danger.

      Sometimes the hunter is alone when he strikes a walrus, and in that case it requires considerable dexterity to secure the spear hold in the ice; or if he fails to get that he may sit down and brace his feet against a small hummock, when it comes to a sheer contest of muscle between the hunter and the walrus. In these contests victory generally perches upon the banner of the walrus, though the Inung [Eskimo] will never give up until the last extremity is reached. Often he is dragged to the very edge of the ice before he finds a protuberance against which to brace his feet, and often he is drawn down under the ice before he will relinquish his hold. He is very tenacious under such circumstances, for he knows that when he loses the walrus he loses his line and harpoon also.

      Hall (I, p. 459) describes the hunt, according to his observations in Frobisher Bay, as follows:

      The line is coiled, and hung about the neck of the hunter; thus prepared he hides himself among the broken drifting ice, and awaits the moment for striking his game. The spear is then thrown and the hunter at once slips the coil of line off his head, fastens the end to the ice by driving a spear through a loop in it, and waits till the walrus comes to the surface of the water, into which he has plunged on feeling the stroke of the harpoon; then the animal is quickly despatched by the use of a long lance.

      Sometimes the walrus when swimming under an extensive floe of new ice are drowned by being frightened down every time they try to come up to blow.

      Formerly whaling was one of the favorite hunts of the Central Eskimo and in some places it is even continued to this day. Whales are either pursued in kayaks or in skin boats. If the kayak is used, they are harpooned in the same way as the walrus, a very large float (avautapāq´) being attached to the harpoon head. The whale is pursued by a great number of kayaks and every boatman endeavors to drive his harpoon into the animal, which, by the loss of blood and the resistance of the niutang and floats, is tired out and killed with lances.

      More frequently it is pursued in skin boats (p. 527), which for the purpose are propelled by means of paddles (angun). In this case the crew consists entirely of men, although on other occasions the rowing falls to the women’s share; a skillful boatman steers the boat and the harpooner stands in the bow watching his opportunity to strike the whale. The implement used in this pursuit is represented in Fig. 436. I could not procure the weapon itself (sakurpāng´, i.e., the largest weapon), but had a model made by an Akudnirmio, of which the figure is a drawing. The shaft is said to be very long and heavy, measuring from ten to twelve feet. To this shaft a bone point tapering towards the end is firmly attached. The harpoon head consists of two pieces similar to the siatko of the Iglulirmiut (see Fig. 395). The iron edge is inserted into a flat piece of bone, which fits into the slit of a large head. The latter is made from the jawbone of a whale and is extremely heavy. When the whale is struck, both parts, the head and the edge, are disengaged from the shaft and separated from each other, but both enter the flesh of the whale and work in the same way as the tokang.

      Fig. 436. Model of sakurpāng´ or whaling harpoon.

      Fig. 437. Niutang, with floats.

      The long harpoon line is coiled up on the first thwart of the boat. On the second one the niutang and five large floats (Fig. 437), which were fastened to the line, are kept ready and heaved overboard as soon as the harpoon is fast to a whale. The buoys and the niutang tire it out quickly and the boat can easily follow it up. It is lanced with the kalugiang whenever it comes up to blow. This lance consists of a heavy handle with a long point of rod iron; formerly bone or narwhal ivory, with an iron edge inserted into its point, was used for this purpose.

      The narwhal and the white whale are hunted in the same way as the walrus and the right whale. There are a few shallow bays to which the white whale resorts in the summer. If a shoal of them has entered such a bay, the Eskimo take to their boats and kayaks, and by throwing stones frighten them into the shallowest part, where they are easily harpooned.

      Deer, Musk Ox, and Bear Hunting

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      When the snow has melted and the short summer is at hand the Eskimo start for the deer hunt. The tribes possessed of firearms can easily procure deer all the year round, particularly where uneven land facilitates their approach toward the herd; but in summer the hunt is most important, as it is the only season in which deerskins are fit for clothing.

      The favorite method of hunting is to attack the deer in the ponds when swimming from one side to the other. In many places the deer in their migrations are in the habit of crossing the narrow parts of lakes, and here the natives lie in ambush with their kayaks. In other places they are driven into the water by the Eskimo and attacked by the drivers or by hunters stationed on the lake. Favorite places for such a chase are narrow peninsulas, generally called nedlung. The Eskimo deploy СКАЧАТЬ