I have already referred briefly to the various methods of taking seals,
white whales, and other game, while describing the boats, spears, and
other apparatus used in their pursuit.
The most important hunt of the year, however, comes in the autumn, when
the reindeer are migrating in large herds and crossing the rivers.
The deer are wanted now for their flesh for food and their skins for
clothing. Everything necessary for the chase is taken in the umiak, or,
perhaps, a whaleboat, to a locality convenient to where the animals
cross over. Here the tent is pitched, and a camp is made. The hunters
scour the neighboring land for herds of reindeer, which are seen running
about under the impulse to seek the opposite sex. As they arrive from
different directions, those of one sex must cross the river. Since the
females furnish the lighter skins for clothing, and the males the
greater amount of meat and a heavier skin for various purposes, deer of
both sexes are equally useful.
A band of three or four, or as many as a hundred, may be sighted slowly
winding their way through the openings of the timbered areas on the
opposite side of the river. The native with telescope, or binocular in
focus, observes their movements until they pause a moment on the bank
and then plunge quickly into the water, where they keep well together
until the opposite shore is reached. Here, if undisturbed, they will
stand to allow the water to drip from their bodies, and then will walk
slowly along to a convenient place to climb the bank and penetrate the
strip of woods or bushes and emerge into the open country beyond. As
soon as the native sees the deer everything is put in readiness on the
kaiak, and with quick strokes of the double-bladed paddle he is behind
and below the now terrified animals. They rear and plunge in frantic
confusion, endeavoring to escape their most dreaded foe. The hunter
calmly drives the herd through the water as the shepherd does his flock
on land. Those disposed to break away are rounded up and driven back.
The greatest care must be exercised not to let the animals get below the
kaiak, or they will swim faster with the stream than the hunter can
paddle. As there are, generally, two or more kaiaks, it is an easy
matter for the men to drive the animals wherever they desire. When the
camp is above, the deer are driven diagonally across so as to make them
come out near the camp. If the site is below, the animals are allowed to
drop down to a convenient place. These maneuvers depend on the wind,
as the sense of smell of the deer is very acute at this season, and the
scent of the camp, if detected, would throw the animals into such terror
that the greater number would escape.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.--Togglehead for hand spear.]
[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Sealskin float.]
When near the place the hunter takes his deer spear, which is exactly
like the one used by the Indians, and quietly stabs the animal in a
vital spot, endeavoring so to wound the beast that it will have only
enough strength to enable it to attain the shallow water or shore,
and not to wander off. Among the hundreds of times I have had the
opportunity to witness this, I never knew a deer wounded with the spear
to turn back to swim in the direction from which it came. They appear to
dread the water, and strive most frantically to regain the land where,
if mortally wounded, they stand; the limbs gradually diverging to
sustain their trembling body; the eyes gazing piteously at the foe, who
often mocks their dying struggles, or pitches a stone at their quivering
legs to make them fall. A convulsive struggle as the blood fills the
internal cavity, a sudden pitch, and the life is gone without sigh or
groan. As many of the herd as can be speared are quickly dispatched and
the entire number secured if possible. It is supposed that the ones
which return to the shore whence they came give the alarm and frighten
other arrivals away from the starting point. The hunters strive to
prevent their return, and will often allow two, near the camp, to escape
in order to pursue the retreating animal.
Those which have been killed and are lying in the water are dragged on
land and skinned. The pelt is taken off as that of a beef is when
skinned by a butcher. The ears and the skin of the head are left on.
The body is opened and the viscera are removed. The intestines are freed
from the fat; the stomach is cleansed of the greater portion of its
contents, and the blood which collected within the cavity is scooped up
with the hands and ladled into that receptacle; and both are reserved
for food. The heart and liver are taken to the camp, where they help to
form a variety in the animal food of these people. Other portions of the
flesh are also consumed. The sinew, which lies along the lumbar region
just below the superficial muscles, is exposed by a cut, and with the
point of a knife or tip of the finger loosened from its adherent flesh.
One end, usually the forward end, is detached and a stout thong tied to
it, and it is jerked from its attachment by a vigorous pull. It requires
a strong person to remove this tendon from the body of a lean animal.
A stroke of the knife frees the wide layer of sinew from blood and
particles of flesh. This is now laid aside for awhile, then washed to
free it from the blood, which would stain it dark in color and also tend
to diminish the strength of the fibers by rotting them. It is now spread
out and allowed to dry. The body is cut across the small of the back and
laid aside. The head is severed from the neck and discarded if there be
no portion of the horns which is needed to serve some purpose, such as a
handle for a knife or other tool. If the head be that of a young deer it
is often taken to the camp and put into a pot and boiled in the
condition in which it comes from the field. When cooked for a long time
it becomes very soft; the muscles of the jaw being reduced to a
semigelatinous condition, which makes an excellent article of food.
The tongue is invariably taken out entire, and is considered the
greatest delicacy, either frozen, raw or cooked, or dried and smoked.
In fact a tongue from the reindeer is good at any time or condition.
The hindquarters are seldom separated, but are placed within the
thoracic cavity, and either cached near the scene of slaughter or placed
on the kaiak and taken to a spot where others are deposited from which
supplies may be taken when the food for the winter is required.
Here and there along the bank will be placed the body of a single deer,
sometimes two or three, which have been killed too far from the present
camp for the hunter to bring them home. These spots are marked or
remembered by some visible surrounding, lest the deep snows of winter
obscure the locality, and often the place can not be found when wanted.
The cache in which the flesh is deposited is simply a few stones or
bowlders laid on the ground and the meat put upon them. A rude sort of
wall is made by piling stones upon the meat until it is hidden from the
ravages of ravens, gulls, foxes, wolves and the detested wolverine.
As soon as the hunter considers that the deer of that particular
locality have ceased to cross, he will repair to another station and go
through the same process. The deer which are first slain, when the
hunting season arrives, and the weather is still so warm that the flies
and decomposition ruin the meat, are reserved for supplies of dog food.