LONE MONARCH OF A LONE LAND.[“Musk-Ox Hunting Among the Iwilics,” p. 158.]

MUSK-OX HUNTING AMONG THE IWILICS

SIX long and dreary months our littlewhaling schooner had been locked

fast in the ice of northern Hudson’s

By A. Hyatt Verrill

Bay with naught to break the monotonyof our existence save the impromptu dancesin the deck-house and the modest festivitiescalled forth by Thanksgiving and Christ-mas. Although to a stranger the land ap-peared still in the grip of midwinter, yetto the natives and whalers many signs gavewarning of the approach of Arctic spring.Daily the black edge of water beyond thefloe grew nearer and the flocks of cider and“old squaws” grew more restless; daily, too,the ptarmigan. increased in numbers andadded brown feathers to their spotless win-ter costume. Then one dull and gloomyday a flock of snowbirds, chattering gaily,overran the vessel and all hands knew andrejoiced that winter had flown and springhad come. A day or two later the Iwilics,whose low, domed houses of frozen snowhad nestled in the lee of the schooner allwinter, began to move ashore and buildnew igloos on a firm foundation. In-teresting, indeed, was it to watch theseArctic nomads construct their queer homes.By the aid of long, curved, snow-knives,made from the tusks of the walrus, thesturdy fellows cut squarish blocks ofsnow of just the right dimensions, while

others piled them up in an ever-narrowingcircle, until at last the home was complete.Their moving, once the igloo was finished,took but a short time, for their furnishingsare of the simplest. A soapstone lamp, anold tin or iron pot or two, quantities ofskins and furs all chewed soft (and also evilsmelling), extra clothes, guns, horn dippers,seal spears, bunches of sinew, bone needlesand sewing gear, and numerous odds andends of bright calico, flannel, beads, etc.,completes the inventory of the average hut.To a white the chief drawback to one ofthese interiors is the smell, which at firstseems overpowering. One becomes accus-tomed to it after a time, however, andreally gets to like the simple folk. Theyare ever moving from place to place, for itseems easier to build a new house than toclean an old one. Then again, they arevery superstitious and among other be-liefs is that of the two twin-sister goddesses,one of whom has charge of all the landanimals, while her sister looks after thoseof the sea. According to the Iwilics itwould offend the land goddess to work onskins or clothes made of skins of land ani-mals while living on the ice, or vice versa.As a result, whenever a garment made ofdeerskin needs repairing during the winter,the seamstress is obliged to move to a tem-

GOING OUT TO THE HUNT.

Musk-Ox Hunting Among the Iwilics 159

porary house on shore. As a consequenceof all these peregrinations the ice and shore,

ptarmigan filled our tiny dwelling. As we

at the beginning of spring, looked as if asat about in our heavy deerskin garments

small army of Iwilics had lived there, so nu-and picked the bones, the boy called his

merous were the abandoned igloos, whereas,father’s attention to the stiff leg tendons

in reality, the families did not exceed aand asked him how they came there. Now

dozen at any time.the Iwilics have a fable or fairy tale to ac-

A few days after moving into their newcount for everything, and are never tired of

quarters, Harry, our head Eskimo, camerelating them, so, although I have no doubt

aboard and invited me to accompany himthat the little fellow had heard the tale hun-dreds of times, his father smiled and nar-

DEERSKIN (SUMMER) HOUSE.

on a sled journey to Yellow Bluff, wherehe had cachéd some whales’ bones which hewished to use for sled runners. Early thefollowing day we started off with Harry’slittle boy riding on the sled, while his fatherand I ran alongside to keep warm; foralthough balmy spring had arrived, themercury stood twenty-eight below zero.On the way our dogs chased and broughtto bay a large bear, which we secured. Wearrived at Yellow Bluff in clue time, but al-though thoroughly tired out and half fam-ished, before we could eat, drink or sleep,it was necessary to build a small igloo,light a stone lamp and melt ice for water.By the time this was accomplished I wasglad to munch some frozen meat and crawlinto a sleeping bag, I awoke hungry andrefreshed and found Harry and his son al-ready up, while the savory odor of stewing.

rated it again. “Many years ago,” saidHarry, “there was an old woman who livedin a small igloo with her granddaughter.The little girl was very fond of stories andteased the old woman to tell them to her.One night the grandmother was cross andwhen the child asked for a story she said,‘Don’t want to tell story, little girl go tosleep.’ But the little girl said, ‘please tellme a story, Annanating (grandmother).’Then the grandmother grew angry and saidvery quick, ‘Huh, I see mouse!’ Now thelittle girl, like all Eskimos, was very muchafraid of mice and hid her face and criedand cried, until her eyes were red and Nud-liauk took pity on her and changed her toa bird, and she flew away from the cruelold woman, and ever since the ptarmiganshave had red eyes and stiff tendons in theirlegs, where the child carried her needles in

160 Musk-Ox Hunting Among the Iwilics

her boots.” At the conclusion of the storywe packed up our goods and started on ourreturn. We reached the schooner about10 p. m., and I was very glad to doff furunderclothing and turn into a decentlywarm bunk. A few days later the Iwilicsreported a wolf about, but although weset numerous traps, we failed to secure himthat night. The next day when I returnedfrom a short tramp on the floe, I found thewolf had come skulking about the vesselduring my absence and had been shot fromthe deck by our first mate. The poorcreature was almost starved to death, butwas exceedingly large and almost purewhite.

To the sportsman hardy enough to spenda winter in this desolate land, it wouldprove a rich hunting ground, for game isplenty and generally fairly tame. Through-out the whole region polar bears and car-ibou are numerous, although the former arenot seen during midwinter and the latterare more abundant in spring and autumn,when they travel across country in im-mense herds. Wolves are not common, butthe Eskimos manage to get them regularly,as well as wolverines. White foxes arevery abundant and readily secured, as arealso ptarmigan, eider and other ducks. Onthe wide, rocky plains further inland, muskoxen roam, and, if you are guided by ex-perienced Iwilic hunters, are fairly easy toobtain. The bay itself furnishes fourspecies of seal, as well as the walrus. Thelargest of these seals, known as the “oogjug,”is used mainly for boat bottoms and is sohighly prized that the Eskimos celebratethe capture of one by a three days’ round ofgayeties, during which time the men can dono work and the women are not allowed tocomb their hair; a custom which none of thenatives seem able to explain, althoughdoubtless it originally had some mystic sig-nificance. During these celebrations the“anticoots,” or magicians, take a prominentpart, as in fact they do at all times. Thesefellows are clever, intelligent chaps, whoclaim to be able to visit the spirit land atwill, as well as to drive off evil spirits andcure disease. They certainly do have moreor less hypnotic power and are really capa-ble of throwing themselves into a trance.At these times, also, games of strength takeplace, and some of these are very odd andoriginal. In one two lusty young Eskimostie their heads together by means of stout

sinews around the neck and then try to seewho can pull the other along—a sort of tug-of-war. Then there are wrestling matches,races, etc., and last, but by no means least,in the estimation of the Iwilics, the gam-bling. All the tribe, women as well as men,are inveterate gamblers and never miss achance to risk their property in gaming.One of the favorite gambling devices is totry and jab a spear through a perforatedpiece of ivory hung immovably in the centerof an igloo. This seems quite a simplething to do, but when a dozen or more ex-cited natives are all jumping about andjabbing away at the same time, it is literallya game of chance, and the fortunate win-ner takes the pot. Another game, par-ticularly among the women, is played bymeans of a dipper made from the base of amusk-ox horn and fitted with a short brassor wooden handle. The women sit in acircle and each stakes something, then oneof them spins the dipper rapidly around andwhen the revolutions finally cease the onetowards whom the handle points is de-clared the winner and must start the bet-ting for the next round and also spin thedipper.

Often during the festivities occasioned bythe capture, of one “oogjug,” the men killanother (for they do not consider huntingin the light of work), and thus one fiestacrowds on the tail of another. The menare born hunters and spend most of theirtime hunting, in fact, their lives dependupon it. The mainstay of their existenceis the Barren Ground caribou. After thecaribou in importance, come the seals,while musk oxen are used for comparativelyfew purposes. Of course the whales andsalmon furnish them with a great deal offood and other materials, but since theyhave come in contact with the whites theysave the bone and oil for the whalers, hav-ing discovered that it furnishes more com-forts in trade than they could secure fromit direct. Above everything else they prizematches, and so precious are these to themthat when wishing to light a fire the Iwilics,instead of striking a match, carefully splitone into small pieces, keeping this up untilone is accidentally ignited. As they arequite skilful at this, it is frequently sometime before the fire is started and the Es-kimo has by that time trebled his supplyof matches. This same careful economyof civilized articles is observed in other

Musk-Ox Hunting Among the Iwilics 161

ways. The stems of their pipes, after be-ing smoked for some time, are whittled upand smoked over with a very little freshtobacco added. Cartridge shells are savedcarefully and after being cut up with files,are hammered out and used in a numberof ways. In hunting, economy of ammu-nition is their main effort and they seldomtake chances on a long shot. In huntingcaribou they usually go in companies offour or five, and when the game is sighted,two or three of the party lie hidden to lee-ward, while the others, making a detour,approach down the wind. As soon as the

sledges, about thirty dogs, six squaws andthree men, Billy, Stonewall Jackson, andJohn L., besides Harry and myself. It wasquite warm, five above, when we started,and the exercise making our heavy fur gar-ments uncomfortable, they were removedand piled on the sleds. A few hours later,however, it clouded over, the wind in-creased and we were glad to don the seal-skin clothing. That night we camped in alittle hollow, while a blizzard raged outside.We minded it little, however, for the Iwilicsare a jovial people and always make thebest of things and thoroughly believe in

IWILIC SQUAWS.

deer scent these they of course travel in theopposite direction and fall easy prey to thehidden hunters. After being shot at theyturn about and dash off, forgetting all cau-tion, and still more are brought down bythe other party. In this way it not infre-quently happens that an entire herd iskilled off in a few minutes.

All during the winter we had hunters inthe musk-ox country, and although Igreatly desired to kill one of the creatures,no opportunity presented itself for me togo until well along in the spring. At lastthe promised clay arrived and we startedoff. Our party consisted of three large

having a good time wherever they may be.We spent the evening sitting about thestone lamp, smoking and telling stories,and when we awoke the following morningfound the weather clear and cold, with thenew-fallen snow just right for tracking.Late in the afternoon we ran across ourfirst game, a herd of eight caribou, fromwhich, after a little stalking and manœuver-ing, we secured four. For the two followingdays we met with little game, two wolvesand three or four foxes comprising our bag.On the third day we entered an entirelydifferent sort of country, rough and rocky,with numerous hills, and small ledges jut-

162 Musk-Ox Hunting Among the Iwilics

MOCCASINS AND SNOW-KNIFE.

ting out from the surface. This was themusk-ox country, and although we saw nosigns of game during the first day, all pro-ceeded with caution, stopping and peeringahead as each rise was ascended. Aboutnoon of the second day we struck a trailand after following it a short distance un-leashed the dogs, who at once started off onthe fresh scent. Very soon their yelpingand howling told us the game was in sightand as we reached the crestof the next ridge we caughtsight of them, four dark-brown,shapeless bodies, galloping overthe snow, a half mile away, withthe dogs in hot pursuit. Over aridge they dashed and over theridges we followed, across a flatand rocky plain and over anotherridge, until it seemed as if we

patiently pawing the ground and await-ing the onslaught of their savage enemies.For a moment the dogs hesitated, andthen the leader, a big, tawny brute,sprang forward with a snarl. There wasa sickening thud as the massive hornscaught him squarely in the breast andflung him backward for a dozen yards,crippled and bleeding. Profiting bythe fate of their leader, the othercurs held off, now and again dashingin to snap at the oxen’s heels, butkeeping well out of reach of the long,wicked horns. So intent were themusk oxen watching their four-footedfoes, that they failed to note ourapproach until we were within fiftyyards, when suddenly they caught sightof the new enemy and, whirling about,dashed out of sight over the lodge beforewe could raise rifle to shoulder. Theoxen were now thoroughly frightenedand although we followed them forseveral miles they refused to come to

bay and we abandoned the chase, returningtired and disgusted to camp.

The following morning, after several hoursof hard tramping and patient trailing, weagain sighted the herd. They had evi-dently recovered from their fright of theday preceding, for they ran barely half amile before making a stand. Taught by ourformer experience, we approached cautiouslywith rifles ready for instant service. When

would drop from sheer exhaustionbut the sturdy Iwilics neverslowed up, trotting rapidly alongon their short legs; knowing fullwell that ere long the oxenwould be brought to bay. Atlast the shaggy, wild-eyed crea-tures turned and faced the yelpingcurs; and truly a fine pictureof defiance they presented, aswith lowered heads, steamingnostrils and foaming mouths theystood shoulder to shoulder, im-

IWILIC PIPE, COMBS, DIPPERS, NEEDLE CASES,PIN AND NEEDLE.

A Forest Litany 163

seventy-five yards distant they caught our the rest of us busied ourselves skinning thewind and started to run, but this time we ox; and a truly noble fellow he was, hiswere prepared, and dropping on one knee, great horns curving in a grand sweep down-I took a quick shot at the leading bull ward and outward with massive shieldjust as he reached the top of a ridge. over his shaggy forehead. We spent a fort-The big fellow leaped from the ground night in the musk-ox country and securedand disappeared on the farther side. At in all seven of the wild Arctic cattle, re-the same instant the Iwilics let drive, but turning to the schooner with fully laden

“RETURNING TO THE SCHOONER WITH FULLY LADEN SLEDGES.”

aside from little spurts of frozen snow, I sledges. Upon reaching the Bay we foundcould see no results from their shots. We the vessel had come up from the ice and allrushed forward, thinking to get another hands were making ready for whaling. Ashot at the retreating creatures, and as we few days later the spring thaws were on inreached the top of the little hill almost earnest, with squalls and rain, which rapidlystumbled over the body of the bull. One broke up the ice and permitted us to onceof the men started at once for camp, while more spread our well-patched sails.

A FOREST LITANY

By Amelia K. Wing

The solemn ritual of the leafy-wood,The swaying branches moaning high in air,

The murmur of the brook in playful mood,Are but the soul’s deep litany of prayer.