who was at the killing of two whales in the
course of a single summer, and who described the whole of it quite _con
amore_, mentioned the names of thirteen men who, each in his canoe, had
assisted on one of these occasions. When a fish is seen lying on the
water, they cautiously paddle up astern of him, till a single canoe,
preceding the rest, comes close to him on one quarter, so as to enable
the man to drive the _katteelik_ into the animal with all the force of
both arms. This having the _siatko_, a long _allek_, and the inflated
sealskin attached to it, the whale immediately dives, taking the whole
apparatus with him except the katteelik, which, being disengaged in the
manner before described, floats to the surface, and is picked up by its
owner. The animal reappearing after some time, all the canoes again
paddle towards him, some warning being given by the sealskin buoy
floating on the surface. Each man being furnished like the first, they
repeat the blows as often as they find opportunity, till perhaps, every
line has been thus employed. After pursuing him in this manner sometimes
for half a day, he is at length so wearied by the resistance of the
buoys, and exhausted by the loss of blood, as to be obliged to rise more
and more often to the surface, when, by frequent wounds with their
spears, they succeed in killing him, and tow their prize in triumph to
the shore.

In attacking the walrus in the water they use the same gear, but much
more caution than with the whale, always throwing the _katteelik_ from
some distance, lest the animal should attack the canoe and demolish it
with his tusks. The walrus is, in fact, the only animal with which they
use any caution of this kind. They like the flesh better than that of
the seal; but venison is preferred by them to either of these, and,
indeed, to any other kind of meat.

At Winter Island they carefully preserved the heads of all the animals
killed during the winter, except two or three of the walrus, which we
obtained with great difficulty. As the blood of the animals which they
kill is all used as food of the most luxurious kind, they are careful to
avoid losing any portion of it; for this purpose they carry with
them on their excursions a little instrument of ivory called
_t~oop=o=ot~a_, in form and size exactly resembling a "twenty-penny"
nail, with which they stop up the orifice made by the spear, by
thrusting it through the skin by the sides of the wound, and secu