Lastly, I mention the methods used in catching smaller animals, such as
wolves, foxes, and hares. Wolves are only pursued when they become too
troublesome. Frequently they linger about the villages in winter, and
when everybody is asleep they attack the store rooms or the dogs, which
have the greatest fear of this voracious animal; for, although dogs will
brave the bear, they do not venture to resist a single wolf. If a pack
of these beasts linger about the village for weeks preying upon the
native stores, traps are finally built or the Eskimo lie in ambush near
a bait to kill them. The wolf trap is similar to the one used to catch
deer. The hole dug in the snow is about eight or nine feet deep and is
covered with a slab of snow, on the center of which a bait is laid.
A wall is built around it which compels the wolf to leap across it
before he can reach the bait. By so doing he breaks through the roof
and, as the bottom of the pit is too narrow to afford him jumping room,
he is caught and killed there (Rae I, p. 135).
A remarkable method of killing wolves has been described by Klutschak
(p. 192) and confirmed by the Eskimo of Cumberland Sound. A sharp knife
is smeared with deer’s blood and sunk into the snow, the edge only
protruding. The wolves lick the knife and cut their tongues so severely
as to bleed to death. Another method is to roll a strip of whalebone,
about two feet long, in a coil, which is tied up with sinews. At each
end a small metal edge is attached to the whalebone. This strip, wrapped
in a piece of blubber or meat, is gulped down by the hungry wolf. As it
is digested the sinews are dissolved and the elastic strap is opened and
tears the stomach of the animal. A very ingenious trap is described by
Parry (II, p. 514):
It consists of a small house built of ice, at one end of which a
door, made of the same plentiful material, is fitted to slide up
and down in a groove; to the upper part of this a line is attached
and, passing over the roof, is led down into the trap at the inner
end, and there held by slipping an eye in the end of it over a peg
of ice left for the purpose. Over the peg, however, is previously
placed a loose grummet, to which the bait is fastened, and a false
roof placed over all to hide the line. The moment the animal drags
at the bait the grummet slips off the peg, bringing with it the
line that held up the door, and this falling down closes the trap
and secures him.
Foxes are usually caught in traps. An ice house about six feet high is
built of hummocks, which are cut down with the point of the spear. It is
covered with ice slabs, only a hole in the center being left. Blocks of
snow and slabs of ice are piled up around the building so as to permit
easy access to the roof. Some blood is sprinkled round the hole to
attract the fox and a larger bait is placed upon the floor of the house.
The fox jumps down and, as the only exit is in the center of the roof,
cannot escape. Another trap has a slab of ice erected in such a manner
as to fall and kill the fox when he touches the bait.
A third trap, similar to the one above mentioned, has been described by
Lyon, p. 339:
It is like a small lime kiln in form, having a hole near the top,
within which the bait is placed, and the foxes (for these animals
alone are thus taken) are obliged to advance to it over a piece of
whalebone, which, bending beneath their weight, lets them into
prison, and then resumes its former position: thus a great number
of them are sometimes caught in a night. In the summer they are
but rarely taken, and it is then by means of a trap of stones,
formed like the ice trap, with a falling door.
Hares are either killed with small shot or with arrows or caught in
whalebone snares, as are ermines and lemmings.
[Illustration: FIG. 452. Whalebone nooses for catching waterfowl.
(In the possession of Captain Spicer, of Groton, Conn.)]
Waterfowl of all descriptions are caught in abundance in whalebone
nooses (Fig. 452) fastened to a long whalebone line or to a thong. The
line is set along the edge of a lake, particularly near nesting places.
In shallow lakes these lines are placed across the water to catch the
diving and swimming birds, which are drawn to the shore with the line.
On the low egg islands, which are inhabited by innumerable ducks, snares
are set on the nests, and great numbers are caught in a short time.
Swans and geese are procured in the same way. Other birds, and
particularly partridges, are killed with arrows and with small shot.
Large flocks of ducks and other kinds of birds fly through certain
valleys in the fall and in spring when migrating. Great numbers are
caught here without any difficulty, as they can be killed with sticks.
A favorite method of catching gulls is by building a flat snow house.
One block of the roof is translucent and so thin as to permit the
hunter, who is hidden in the house, to push his hand through it. A bait
is placed on this block, and as soon as a bird alights to feed it is
pulled through the roof into the hut.
[Illustration: FIG. 453. Kakivang or salmon spear. (National Museum,
Washington, _a_, 34087; _b_, 34086.) ¼]
By far the greater number of birds are caught during the molting season.
Partridges can be caught with the hand and waterfowl are pursued with
the kayak. The waterfowl dive as soon as the boat comes near them and
being frightened down again as soon as they rise they are eventually
drowned. One species of goose (kango) which frequents the lakes of the
country is caught in a remarkable way. A circular wall of stones is
raised, with a single entrance. The Eskimo drive a flock of these birds
towards the building, one man, whom the stupid creatures follow, leading
the way. As soon as they have entered the wall the entrance is shut up
and they are slaughtered. If they happen to be met with on the water
they are encircled by kayaks and driven towards the shore, one boat
leading. Then they are driven within the stone wall as already
described.
[Illustration: FIG. 454. Ivory fish used as bait in spearing salmon.
_a_ From Repulse Bay. _a_, _c_, _d_ (National Museum, Washington.
_a_, 10400; _c_, 34109; _d_, 34134.) 1/1 _b_ (Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6830.) 1/1]