At this hazardous work Kalutunah was an adept, and he was equally skilful at a much less dangerous game, as Dr. Hayes was to discover when wintering in the schooner _United States_ in Foulke Harbour, further south, in 1860-61. Hayes wished to learn how to catch auks, and the Eskimo gave him a lesson. Kalutunah carried a small net, made of light strings of sealskin knitted together, the staff by which it was held being about ten feet in length. Arriving about half-way up the cliffs he crouched behind a rock and invited the doctor to follow his example. The slope on which the birds were congregated was about a mile long, and in vast flocks they were sweeping over it a few feet above the stones down the whole length of the hill, returning higher in the air, and so round and round in a complete circuit. Occasionally a few hundreds or thousands would drop down as if following some leader, and in an instant the rocks, for some distance, would swarm with them as they speckled the hill with their black backs and white breasts. The doctor was told to lie lower, as the birds noticed him and were flying too far overhead. Having placed himself as Kalutunah approved, the birds began to sweep lower and lower in their flight until their track came well within reach. Then, as a dense portion of the crowd approached, up went the net, and half a dozen birds flew into it, and, stunned by the blow, could not recover before the Eskimo had slipped the staff through his hands and seized the net. With his left hand he pressed down the birds, while with the right he drew them out one by one, and, for want of a third hand, used his teeth to crush their heads. The wings were then locked across each other; and with an air of triumph the old chief looked around, spat the blood and feathers from his mouth, and went on with the sport, tossing up his net and hauling it in with much rapidity until he had caught about a hundred, and wanted no more. [Illustration: I. I. Hayes]