[Contents]CHAPTER XIICHAPTER XIIACROSS TO JONES SOUNDWe dropped all our hunters at Karnah after a day there, during which we visited around and settled up what we owed the Eskimos for the work they had done for us. Of course all the walrus meat went to them, and also the meat from two more narwhal which had been captured while we were away, thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, who saw to it that everyone did all they could to get the specimens we wanted.There really were three more narwhal, but one of them was a little one which Harry Raven preserved whole, embalming it. The skeletons and skulls of the others were taken. Also Kellerman made some interesting movies showing the work of landing the dead[126]narwhal on the beach and cutting them up. This was at night, when it was cloudy and not bright enough for pictures. So some of the men lit bright flares which Kellerman had, which lit up the beach with a queer bright light that was almost blinding.When the narwhal were landed Kudluktoo and the others cut off great strips of the skin which they all love. These were handed around and all hands gobbled up the stuff in great shape. The way they eat this sort of thing is to put a big sliver in their mouth until it is stuffed full, and then cut off the end outside their lips with a knife. Why they don’t sometimes cut their noses or lips I don’t know. Anyway, it looked awfully funny and ought to be good in the picture.I tried narwhal skin myself and don’t like it much. It’s sort of tough and seems to be swallowed without chewing. I think an auto tire inner tube would be about the same, only it would smell better.[127]Pooadloona and another hunter we took over to Northumberland Island. That afternoon we got some more walrus but while we were fooling around taking some movies we lost two of the animals. I think this discouraged the Eskimos who couldn’t understand why the foolish white men would let good meat get away when they really had it killed, instead of trying crazy stunts for a man who looked into a machine and turned a crank. Anyway, there was one big walrus whose meat we took to Keate, the little town where we left these hunters. It was only a little way from the place where we had been wrecked.In the evening we started across Baffin Bay to go to Jones Sound on the Canadian side. We had intended to go further north to Etah, which was only about sixty miles away. But it was getting pretty late in the season and theMorrisseywas giving Cap’n Bob a good deal of worry. While she was[128]well patched up, she still leaked a bit and lots of places were sprung. For instance, the forward deck leaked so badly that when the walrus meat was piled on deck the blood dripped right down into our cabin and got on the table and especially into Bob Peary’s bunk. It just wasn’t possible to fix the deck, which had to be recaulked all over, until the vessel got to a shipyard.Anyway, it seemed better not to go much further north. Also, we had to go back to Holsteinsborg on the Greenland side to get the Hobbs party. If it wasn’t for that Captain Bob would have gone to Etah.After a day of fine going with some hours of a pretty stiff wind and rather rough sea, we arrived at the mouth of Jones Sound where we were greeted with a thick fog that put ice on all the rigging. After going quite a way up Jones Sound, hoping to get to the lower land where there might be musk-oxen, we were stopped by thick pan ice. Also new ice[129]was forming in the night. Evidently winter was just around the corner.We turned around and went out again toward the mouth and then waited for the fog to clear up. There was lots of pan ice all around us and of course it wasn’t safe to risk getting caught by the ice too far in. A sudden change in the wind, for instance, might jam it all around us and keep us from getting out at all.In the early afternoon the fog disappeared and we went in to Craig Harbor, on the north shore of the sound on Ellesmere Land. Dad, Rasmussen, Doc and Joe the sailor went ashore and reported that the station was closed. This is the most northerly police post in the world, occupied most of the time by the famous Northwest Mounted Police.Much to our disappointment there was nobody at the station. We learned later they had moved to a new station further north on Ellesmere Land. We left a note[130]saying that we had been there. There were two main buildings, a barracks and a store house, with oil barrels and sacks of coal piled up around. It all looked very neat. The buildings themselves were locked.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.When we left Craig Harbor we saw two big bearded seal on the ice quite a distance away. When theMorrisseygot quite close to one Art Young shot him dead with a rifle with a beautiful shot right through the neck, and then he turned around and shot at the other. He hit him all right but he wriggled off the ice pan and most likely sank.When they were getting the first seal Jim, the sailor, who is used to killing seal on the spring Newfoundland seal hunts, jumped on the pan and cracked the seal over the head with a heavy seal hook. This broke the skull and injured the specimen for scientific use. So I was told to keep a watch out for more as we very much wanted to get a perfect specimen.[131]We were not sure that there were any walrus in Jones Sound. But soon Doc and I saw what we supposed were three big seals on pans of ice about a mile ahead of us. We were in the lookout with glasses. And our seal turned out to be walrus, and big ones, too.We headed right for them and Carl and Doc and Cal and Dad got in the bow with their guns. When they were pretty near they shot and hit the walrus, but they didn’t kill him. It is pretty hard to kill one, and if they have any life left they slide off the ice into the water. The poor big walrus lifted himself on his flippers and looked around to see where the noise came from and what it was all about.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.In the water they seem pretty fierce and getting at them is quite a job. But on the ice they seem very stupid and sort of pitiful and lumbering, like a huge big sleepy cow. Only of course those tusks are mighty dangerous, and I believe there isn’t an animal that[132]can fight with a walrus, even a polar bear. But they certainly can’t hear or see very well. And when they are asleep on the ice in the sun, if the water is quiet so the ice doesn’t rock and disturb them, it’s very easy indeed to get awfully close to them.This big walrus, although hit three times, started to get off the ice. Then Carl finished him with Dan’s heavy rifle. So we left him dead on that pan and moved over to the other pan where two more were asleep. Both of them were hit with the first shots, but both managed to get into the water. Carl drove my harpoon, from the ship, into one of them, but the other sank, although Nielsen, Rasmussen’s man with us on this part of the trip almost got his harpoon into that one. It was a shame to lose him.We all hate to kill anything and have it wasted. As a matter of fact I thought I was going to be awfully excited about killing things, but while it’s exciting all right I don’t[133]think I care an awful lot about it. Getting animals for food or for museums is all right. But I don’t believe I want any trophies just to look at. It seems fairer to get the fun of seeing them alive and to let them keep on up here. From what Dad says, and Cap’n Bob and the others, there must have been a great deal more game up here some years ago than there is now, and certainly other expeditions killed an awful lot. Also of course the Eskimos, now that they have rifles, kill a lot. And after a while, I suppose, the game will be all gone just as it is in most of our own west.We saw another walrus not far off. TheMorrisseygot very close to him and Art put two arrows in his neck, shooting from the bowsprit so that a picture could be taken. The arrows might have killed him, for they certainly got in a long way and caused a lot of bleeding. But that would have taken some time, so the walrus was shot.[134]None of these animals was wasted. Harry Raven took the brains for the Museum and the heads were kept by members of the expedition. While our crowd, I think, have had a pretty good time and certainly plenty of excitement, they have not had much real hunting. I know that Dad had hoped that the men who volunteered and came and have done lots of work would be able to get more fun out of it. So he is glad when there is a chance for them to get something to take back with them. The meat was saved for the Eskimos at Pond’s Inlet, where we were going.[135]
[Contents]CHAPTER XIICHAPTER XIIACROSS TO JONES SOUNDWe dropped all our hunters at Karnah after a day there, during which we visited around and settled up what we owed the Eskimos for the work they had done for us. Of course all the walrus meat went to them, and also the meat from two more narwhal which had been captured while we were away, thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, who saw to it that everyone did all they could to get the specimens we wanted.There really were three more narwhal, but one of them was a little one which Harry Raven preserved whole, embalming it. The skeletons and skulls of the others were taken. Also Kellerman made some interesting movies showing the work of landing the dead[126]narwhal on the beach and cutting them up. This was at night, when it was cloudy and not bright enough for pictures. So some of the men lit bright flares which Kellerman had, which lit up the beach with a queer bright light that was almost blinding.When the narwhal were landed Kudluktoo and the others cut off great strips of the skin which they all love. These were handed around and all hands gobbled up the stuff in great shape. The way they eat this sort of thing is to put a big sliver in their mouth until it is stuffed full, and then cut off the end outside their lips with a knife. Why they don’t sometimes cut their noses or lips I don’t know. Anyway, it looked awfully funny and ought to be good in the picture.I tried narwhal skin myself and don’t like it much. It’s sort of tough and seems to be swallowed without chewing. I think an auto tire inner tube would be about the same, only it would smell better.[127]Pooadloona and another hunter we took over to Northumberland Island. That afternoon we got some more walrus but while we were fooling around taking some movies we lost two of the animals. I think this discouraged the Eskimos who couldn’t understand why the foolish white men would let good meat get away when they really had it killed, instead of trying crazy stunts for a man who looked into a machine and turned a crank. Anyway, there was one big walrus whose meat we took to Keate, the little town where we left these hunters. It was only a little way from the place where we had been wrecked.In the evening we started across Baffin Bay to go to Jones Sound on the Canadian side. We had intended to go further north to Etah, which was only about sixty miles away. But it was getting pretty late in the season and theMorrisseywas giving Cap’n Bob a good deal of worry. While she was[128]well patched up, she still leaked a bit and lots of places were sprung. For instance, the forward deck leaked so badly that when the walrus meat was piled on deck the blood dripped right down into our cabin and got on the table and especially into Bob Peary’s bunk. It just wasn’t possible to fix the deck, which had to be recaulked all over, until the vessel got to a shipyard.Anyway, it seemed better not to go much further north. Also, we had to go back to Holsteinsborg on the Greenland side to get the Hobbs party. If it wasn’t for that Captain Bob would have gone to Etah.After a day of fine going with some hours of a pretty stiff wind and rather rough sea, we arrived at the mouth of Jones Sound where we were greeted with a thick fog that put ice on all the rigging. After going quite a way up Jones Sound, hoping to get to the lower land where there might be musk-oxen, we were stopped by thick pan ice. Also new ice[129]was forming in the night. Evidently winter was just around the corner.We turned around and went out again toward the mouth and then waited for the fog to clear up. There was lots of pan ice all around us and of course it wasn’t safe to risk getting caught by the ice too far in. A sudden change in the wind, for instance, might jam it all around us and keep us from getting out at all.In the early afternoon the fog disappeared and we went in to Craig Harbor, on the north shore of the sound on Ellesmere Land. Dad, Rasmussen, Doc and Joe the sailor went ashore and reported that the station was closed. This is the most northerly police post in the world, occupied most of the time by the famous Northwest Mounted Police.Much to our disappointment there was nobody at the station. We learned later they had moved to a new station further north on Ellesmere Land. We left a note[130]saying that we had been there. There were two main buildings, a barracks and a store house, with oil barrels and sacks of coal piled up around. It all looked very neat. The buildings themselves were locked.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.When we left Craig Harbor we saw two big bearded seal on the ice quite a distance away. When theMorrisseygot quite close to one Art Young shot him dead with a rifle with a beautiful shot right through the neck, and then he turned around and shot at the other. He hit him all right but he wriggled off the ice pan and most likely sank.When they were getting the first seal Jim, the sailor, who is used to killing seal on the spring Newfoundland seal hunts, jumped on the pan and cracked the seal over the head with a heavy seal hook. This broke the skull and injured the specimen for scientific use. So I was told to keep a watch out for more as we very much wanted to get a perfect specimen.[131]We were not sure that there were any walrus in Jones Sound. But soon Doc and I saw what we supposed were three big seals on pans of ice about a mile ahead of us. We were in the lookout with glasses. And our seal turned out to be walrus, and big ones, too.We headed right for them and Carl and Doc and Cal and Dad got in the bow with their guns. When they were pretty near they shot and hit the walrus, but they didn’t kill him. It is pretty hard to kill one, and if they have any life left they slide off the ice into the water. The poor big walrus lifted himself on his flippers and looked around to see where the noise came from and what it was all about.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.In the water they seem pretty fierce and getting at them is quite a job. But on the ice they seem very stupid and sort of pitiful and lumbering, like a huge big sleepy cow. Only of course those tusks are mighty dangerous, and I believe there isn’t an animal that[132]can fight with a walrus, even a polar bear. But they certainly can’t hear or see very well. And when they are asleep on the ice in the sun, if the water is quiet so the ice doesn’t rock and disturb them, it’s very easy indeed to get awfully close to them.This big walrus, although hit three times, started to get off the ice. Then Carl finished him with Dan’s heavy rifle. So we left him dead on that pan and moved over to the other pan where two more were asleep. Both of them were hit with the first shots, but both managed to get into the water. Carl drove my harpoon, from the ship, into one of them, but the other sank, although Nielsen, Rasmussen’s man with us on this part of the trip almost got his harpoon into that one. It was a shame to lose him.We all hate to kill anything and have it wasted. As a matter of fact I thought I was going to be awfully excited about killing things, but while it’s exciting all right I don’t[133]think I care an awful lot about it. Getting animals for food or for museums is all right. But I don’t believe I want any trophies just to look at. It seems fairer to get the fun of seeing them alive and to let them keep on up here. From what Dad says, and Cap’n Bob and the others, there must have been a great deal more game up here some years ago than there is now, and certainly other expeditions killed an awful lot. Also of course the Eskimos, now that they have rifles, kill a lot. And after a while, I suppose, the game will be all gone just as it is in most of our own west.We saw another walrus not far off. TheMorrisseygot very close to him and Art put two arrows in his neck, shooting from the bowsprit so that a picture could be taken. The arrows might have killed him, for they certainly got in a long way and caused a lot of bleeding. But that would have taken some time, so the walrus was shot.[134]None of these animals was wasted. Harry Raven took the brains for the Museum and the heads were kept by members of the expedition. While our crowd, I think, have had a pretty good time and certainly plenty of excitement, they have not had much real hunting. I know that Dad had hoped that the men who volunteered and came and have done lots of work would be able to get more fun out of it. So he is glad when there is a chance for them to get something to take back with them. The meat was saved for the Eskimos at Pond’s Inlet, where we were going.[135]
CHAPTER XIICHAPTER XIIACROSS TO JONES SOUND
CHAPTER XII
We dropped all our hunters at Karnah after a day there, during which we visited around and settled up what we owed the Eskimos for the work they had done for us. Of course all the walrus meat went to them, and also the meat from two more narwhal which had been captured while we were away, thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, who saw to it that everyone did all they could to get the specimens we wanted.There really were three more narwhal, but one of them was a little one which Harry Raven preserved whole, embalming it. The skeletons and skulls of the others were taken. Also Kellerman made some interesting movies showing the work of landing the dead[126]narwhal on the beach and cutting them up. This was at night, when it was cloudy and not bright enough for pictures. So some of the men lit bright flares which Kellerman had, which lit up the beach with a queer bright light that was almost blinding.When the narwhal were landed Kudluktoo and the others cut off great strips of the skin which they all love. These were handed around and all hands gobbled up the stuff in great shape. The way they eat this sort of thing is to put a big sliver in their mouth until it is stuffed full, and then cut off the end outside their lips with a knife. Why they don’t sometimes cut their noses or lips I don’t know. Anyway, it looked awfully funny and ought to be good in the picture.I tried narwhal skin myself and don’t like it much. It’s sort of tough and seems to be swallowed without chewing. I think an auto tire inner tube would be about the same, only it would smell better.[127]Pooadloona and another hunter we took over to Northumberland Island. That afternoon we got some more walrus but while we were fooling around taking some movies we lost two of the animals. I think this discouraged the Eskimos who couldn’t understand why the foolish white men would let good meat get away when they really had it killed, instead of trying crazy stunts for a man who looked into a machine and turned a crank. Anyway, there was one big walrus whose meat we took to Keate, the little town where we left these hunters. It was only a little way from the place where we had been wrecked.In the evening we started across Baffin Bay to go to Jones Sound on the Canadian side. We had intended to go further north to Etah, which was only about sixty miles away. But it was getting pretty late in the season and theMorrisseywas giving Cap’n Bob a good deal of worry. While she was[128]well patched up, she still leaked a bit and lots of places were sprung. For instance, the forward deck leaked so badly that when the walrus meat was piled on deck the blood dripped right down into our cabin and got on the table and especially into Bob Peary’s bunk. It just wasn’t possible to fix the deck, which had to be recaulked all over, until the vessel got to a shipyard.Anyway, it seemed better not to go much further north. Also, we had to go back to Holsteinsborg on the Greenland side to get the Hobbs party. If it wasn’t for that Captain Bob would have gone to Etah.After a day of fine going with some hours of a pretty stiff wind and rather rough sea, we arrived at the mouth of Jones Sound where we were greeted with a thick fog that put ice on all the rigging. After going quite a way up Jones Sound, hoping to get to the lower land where there might be musk-oxen, we were stopped by thick pan ice. Also new ice[129]was forming in the night. Evidently winter was just around the corner.We turned around and went out again toward the mouth and then waited for the fog to clear up. There was lots of pan ice all around us and of course it wasn’t safe to risk getting caught by the ice too far in. A sudden change in the wind, for instance, might jam it all around us and keep us from getting out at all.In the early afternoon the fog disappeared and we went in to Craig Harbor, on the north shore of the sound on Ellesmere Land. Dad, Rasmussen, Doc and Joe the sailor went ashore and reported that the station was closed. This is the most northerly police post in the world, occupied most of the time by the famous Northwest Mounted Police.Much to our disappointment there was nobody at the station. We learned later they had moved to a new station further north on Ellesmere Land. We left a note[130]saying that we had been there. There were two main buildings, a barracks and a store house, with oil barrels and sacks of coal piled up around. It all looked very neat. The buildings themselves were locked.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.When we left Craig Harbor we saw two big bearded seal on the ice quite a distance away. When theMorrisseygot quite close to one Art Young shot him dead with a rifle with a beautiful shot right through the neck, and then he turned around and shot at the other. He hit him all right but he wriggled off the ice pan and most likely sank.When they were getting the first seal Jim, the sailor, who is used to killing seal on the spring Newfoundland seal hunts, jumped on the pan and cracked the seal over the head with a heavy seal hook. This broke the skull and injured the specimen for scientific use. So I was told to keep a watch out for more as we very much wanted to get a perfect specimen.[131]We were not sure that there were any walrus in Jones Sound. But soon Doc and I saw what we supposed were three big seals on pans of ice about a mile ahead of us. We were in the lookout with glasses. And our seal turned out to be walrus, and big ones, too.We headed right for them and Carl and Doc and Cal and Dad got in the bow with their guns. When they were pretty near they shot and hit the walrus, but they didn’t kill him. It is pretty hard to kill one, and if they have any life left they slide off the ice into the water. The poor big walrus lifted himself on his flippers and looked around to see where the noise came from and what it was all about.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.In the water they seem pretty fierce and getting at them is quite a job. But on the ice they seem very stupid and sort of pitiful and lumbering, like a huge big sleepy cow. Only of course those tusks are mighty dangerous, and I believe there isn’t an animal that[132]can fight with a walrus, even a polar bear. But they certainly can’t hear or see very well. And when they are asleep on the ice in the sun, if the water is quiet so the ice doesn’t rock and disturb them, it’s very easy indeed to get awfully close to them.This big walrus, although hit three times, started to get off the ice. Then Carl finished him with Dan’s heavy rifle. So we left him dead on that pan and moved over to the other pan where two more were asleep. Both of them were hit with the first shots, but both managed to get into the water. Carl drove my harpoon, from the ship, into one of them, but the other sank, although Nielsen, Rasmussen’s man with us on this part of the trip almost got his harpoon into that one. It was a shame to lose him.We all hate to kill anything and have it wasted. As a matter of fact I thought I was going to be awfully excited about killing things, but while it’s exciting all right I don’t[133]think I care an awful lot about it. Getting animals for food or for museums is all right. But I don’t believe I want any trophies just to look at. It seems fairer to get the fun of seeing them alive and to let them keep on up here. From what Dad says, and Cap’n Bob and the others, there must have been a great deal more game up here some years ago than there is now, and certainly other expeditions killed an awful lot. Also of course the Eskimos, now that they have rifles, kill a lot. And after a while, I suppose, the game will be all gone just as it is in most of our own west.We saw another walrus not far off. TheMorrisseygot very close to him and Art put two arrows in his neck, shooting from the bowsprit so that a picture could be taken. The arrows might have killed him, for they certainly got in a long way and caused a lot of bleeding. But that would have taken some time, so the walrus was shot.[134]None of these animals was wasted. Harry Raven took the brains for the Museum and the heads were kept by members of the expedition. While our crowd, I think, have had a pretty good time and certainly plenty of excitement, they have not had much real hunting. I know that Dad had hoped that the men who volunteered and came and have done lots of work would be able to get more fun out of it. So he is glad when there is a chance for them to get something to take back with them. The meat was saved for the Eskimos at Pond’s Inlet, where we were going.[135]
We dropped all our hunters at Karnah after a day there, during which we visited around and settled up what we owed the Eskimos for the work they had done for us. Of course all the walrus meat went to them, and also the meat from two more narwhal which had been captured while we were away, thanks to Dr. Rasmussen, who saw to it that everyone did all they could to get the specimens we wanted.
There really were three more narwhal, but one of them was a little one which Harry Raven preserved whole, embalming it. The skeletons and skulls of the others were taken. Also Kellerman made some interesting movies showing the work of landing the dead[126]narwhal on the beach and cutting them up. This was at night, when it was cloudy and not bright enough for pictures. So some of the men lit bright flares which Kellerman had, which lit up the beach with a queer bright light that was almost blinding.
When the narwhal were landed Kudluktoo and the others cut off great strips of the skin which they all love. These were handed around and all hands gobbled up the stuff in great shape. The way they eat this sort of thing is to put a big sliver in their mouth until it is stuffed full, and then cut off the end outside their lips with a knife. Why they don’t sometimes cut their noses or lips I don’t know. Anyway, it looked awfully funny and ought to be good in the picture.
I tried narwhal skin myself and don’t like it much. It’s sort of tough and seems to be swallowed without chewing. I think an auto tire inner tube would be about the same, only it would smell better.[127]
Pooadloona and another hunter we took over to Northumberland Island. That afternoon we got some more walrus but while we were fooling around taking some movies we lost two of the animals. I think this discouraged the Eskimos who couldn’t understand why the foolish white men would let good meat get away when they really had it killed, instead of trying crazy stunts for a man who looked into a machine and turned a crank. Anyway, there was one big walrus whose meat we took to Keate, the little town where we left these hunters. It was only a little way from the place where we had been wrecked.
In the evening we started across Baffin Bay to go to Jones Sound on the Canadian side. We had intended to go further north to Etah, which was only about sixty miles away. But it was getting pretty late in the season and theMorrisseywas giving Cap’n Bob a good deal of worry. While she was[128]well patched up, she still leaked a bit and lots of places were sprung. For instance, the forward deck leaked so badly that when the walrus meat was piled on deck the blood dripped right down into our cabin and got on the table and especially into Bob Peary’s bunk. It just wasn’t possible to fix the deck, which had to be recaulked all over, until the vessel got to a shipyard.
Anyway, it seemed better not to go much further north. Also, we had to go back to Holsteinsborg on the Greenland side to get the Hobbs party. If it wasn’t for that Captain Bob would have gone to Etah.
After a day of fine going with some hours of a pretty stiff wind and rather rough sea, we arrived at the mouth of Jones Sound where we were greeted with a thick fog that put ice on all the rigging. After going quite a way up Jones Sound, hoping to get to the lower land where there might be musk-oxen, we were stopped by thick pan ice. Also new ice[129]was forming in the night. Evidently winter was just around the corner.
We turned around and went out again toward the mouth and then waited for the fog to clear up. There was lots of pan ice all around us and of course it wasn’t safe to risk getting caught by the ice too far in. A sudden change in the wind, for instance, might jam it all around us and keep us from getting out at all.
In the early afternoon the fog disappeared and we went in to Craig Harbor, on the north shore of the sound on Ellesmere Land. Dad, Rasmussen, Doc and Joe the sailor went ashore and reported that the station was closed. This is the most northerly police post in the world, occupied most of the time by the famous Northwest Mounted Police.
Much to our disappointment there was nobody at the station. We learned later they had moved to a new station further north on Ellesmere Land. We left a note[130]saying that we had been there. There were two main buildings, a barracks and a store house, with oil barrels and sacks of coal piled up around. It all looked very neat. The buildings themselves were locked.
Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.
Dressing a Walrus. Left to Right: Dan, Joe, Art, David and Carl.
When we left Craig Harbor we saw two big bearded seal on the ice quite a distance away. When theMorrisseygot quite close to one Art Young shot him dead with a rifle with a beautiful shot right through the neck, and then he turned around and shot at the other. He hit him all right but he wriggled off the ice pan and most likely sank.
When they were getting the first seal Jim, the sailor, who is used to killing seal on the spring Newfoundland seal hunts, jumped on the pan and cracked the seal over the head with a heavy seal hook. This broke the skull and injured the specimen for scientific use. So I was told to keep a watch out for more as we very much wanted to get a perfect specimen.[131]
We were not sure that there were any walrus in Jones Sound. But soon Doc and I saw what we supposed were three big seals on pans of ice about a mile ahead of us. We were in the lookout with glasses. And our seal turned out to be walrus, and big ones, too.
We headed right for them and Carl and Doc and Cal and Dad got in the bow with their guns. When they were pretty near they shot and hit the walrus, but they didn’t kill him. It is pretty hard to kill one, and if they have any life left they slide off the ice into the water. The poor big walrus lifted himself on his flippers and looked around to see where the noise came from and what it was all about.
Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.
Art and a Dead Walrus on an Ice Pan in Jones Sound.
In the water they seem pretty fierce and getting at them is quite a job. But on the ice they seem very stupid and sort of pitiful and lumbering, like a huge big sleepy cow. Only of course those tusks are mighty dangerous, and I believe there isn’t an animal that[132]can fight with a walrus, even a polar bear. But they certainly can’t hear or see very well. And when they are asleep on the ice in the sun, if the water is quiet so the ice doesn’t rock and disturb them, it’s very easy indeed to get awfully close to them.
This big walrus, although hit three times, started to get off the ice. Then Carl finished him with Dan’s heavy rifle. So we left him dead on that pan and moved over to the other pan where two more were asleep. Both of them were hit with the first shots, but both managed to get into the water. Carl drove my harpoon, from the ship, into one of them, but the other sank, although Nielsen, Rasmussen’s man with us on this part of the trip almost got his harpoon into that one. It was a shame to lose him.
We all hate to kill anything and have it wasted. As a matter of fact I thought I was going to be awfully excited about killing things, but while it’s exciting all right I don’t[133]think I care an awful lot about it. Getting animals for food or for museums is all right. But I don’t believe I want any trophies just to look at. It seems fairer to get the fun of seeing them alive and to let them keep on up here. From what Dad says, and Cap’n Bob and the others, there must have been a great deal more game up here some years ago than there is now, and certainly other expeditions killed an awful lot. Also of course the Eskimos, now that they have rifles, kill a lot. And after a while, I suppose, the game will be all gone just as it is in most of our own west.
We saw another walrus not far off. TheMorrisseygot very close to him and Art put two arrows in his neck, shooting from the bowsprit so that a picture could be taken. The arrows might have killed him, for they certainly got in a long way and caused a lot of bleeding. But that would have taken some time, so the walrus was shot.[134]
None of these animals was wasted. Harry Raven took the brains for the Museum and the heads were kept by members of the expedition. While our crowd, I think, have had a pretty good time and certainly plenty of excitement, they have not had much real hunting. I know that Dad had hoped that the men who volunteered and came and have done lots of work would be able to get more fun out of it. So he is glad when there is a chance for them to get something to take back with them. The meat was saved for the Eskimos at Pond’s Inlet, where we were going.
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