is marked, so that during the next winter and spring, if food becomes scarce, these meat stores may be resorted to. When required, the meat thus stored is often quite blue or decomposed, but it has to be pretty bad when a hungry Eskimo will not eat it.
Seal hunting is a most curious and interesting form of sport. The seals are hunted in entirely different ways at different times of the year.
During the entire winter season they keep holes open through the shore ice, but because of the depth of snow are not seen until the warm spring sun exposes their hiding places. The Eskimo hunter has, however, a way of finding them out before this. He harnesses a dog that has been trained for the work, and, armed with his seal harpoon, leads him out to the snow-covered field, where the two walk in a zig-zag course, until the sagacious animal catches the scent of the seal and takes his master straight to its secret abode.
Here, under the hard crusted snow, it has formed for itself quite a commodious dwelling, but, unlike the Eskimo snow-house, its doorway opens into the water instead of into the air. This doorway, which is in the form of a round hole, just large enough to admit the seal, is kept from freezing up by the wary animal, which ever keeps itself in readiness, upon the slightest suspicion of danger, to plunge into it
Usually upon the arrival of the hunter, the seal, if at home, hearing the footsteps above, quickly vacates the premises. The Eskimo then, taking advantage of its absence, ascertains the exact locality of the hole in the ice, by thrusting his long slender spear down through the snow. When the exact position of the hole is found,
