During this operation, the family make their escape to one or more of their _washes_.

These are to be discovered by striking the ice along the bank, and where the holes are, a hollow sound is returned.

After discovering and searching many of these in vain, we often heard the whole family together in the same wash.

I was taught occasionally to distinguish a full wash from an empty one, by the motion of the water above its entrance, occasioned by the breathing of the animals concealed in it.

From the washes, they must be taken out with the hands; and in doing this, the hunter sometimes receives severe wounds from their teeth.