Page:Archæology of the Central Eskimos.djvu/444

The Sadlermiut did not know the women's boat.

As to their occupations, the hunting of marine animals was unquestionably the chief one, and of the animals the walrus took pride of place. Whaling was also carried on, but even then the whales were very decreased in numbers; that the whale has been of great im- portance, however, is to be seen from many circumstances; Comer states that at a settlement on the island he counted 40 whale skulls in house walls,^[1] but that they caught their last whale in 1895;^[2] the Kuk find, too, indicates great whaling activity. This was carried on from the kayak; the whale was harpooned with large whale harpoons, and its movements were hampered by the bladder and the square drift anchor (like the Polar Eskimos; the Iglulik Eskimos use round drift anchors); several harpoons were put into the whale until it became so tired that it could be killed with large lances, after which it was flensed with big knives with flint edges. Walrus hunting was carried on from the ice and also from kayaks; here, too, the drift anchor and the bladder were employed, the bladder being formed of a whole sealskin, with head, flippers and legs cut off. The killed walruses were hauled up on to the ice in the same manner as that employed by the Aivilik Eskimos. Sheaths were sometimes used for the harpoon heads.

In seal hunting the Sadlermiut killed both at the breathing holes and the seals lying asleep; at the breathing holes neither searchers, seal indicators nor harpoon rests were used. For holding together the line of the seal harpoon they used a small bone buckle as do the Aiviliks. The seals were mostly flensed by the men. When seal hunting from the kayak they sometimes used the bladder dart with bone head, which had two barbs and conical shaft end, lashed to the shaft with a line; there was a small bladder on the side of the shaft.

Bear hunting, which was of great importance to the Sadlermiut, was practised in the usual manner: the sledge was stopped some way from the bear, the dogs freed and they caught up with the bear and held it until the man came up and killed it with the lance. They were skilful and brave bear hunters; one of them, Avalaq, related that he had once killed six bears at one time. Bears were sometimes caught in traps, large, heavy traps built on the same principle as the common box fox-trap.

Caribou hunting was pursued in a peculiar manner, according to my informants whose narratives all agreed on this point. When they saw caribou they ran after them, singing and shouting, and this they