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ACROSS 
ARCTIC AMERICA 

Narrative of the Fifth Thule Expedition 

By 
KNUD RASMUSSEN 




WITH 64 ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND 4 MAPS 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 
1927 



Copyright, 1937 

to 
. P. Putnam's 




Made in the United States of America 



INTRODUCTION 

IT is early morning on the summit of East Cape, the 
steep headland that forms the eastern extremity of 
Siberia. 

The first snow has already settled on the heights, giving 
one's thoughts the first cool touch of autumn. The air is 
keen and clear; not a breeze ruffles the waters of Bering 
Strait, where the pack ice glides slowly northward with 
the current. 

The landscape has a calm grandeur all its own ; far away 
in the sun-haze of the horizon rises Great Diomede Island, 
here forming the boundary between America and Asia. 

From where I stand, I look from one continent to 
another; for beyond Great Diomede lies, like a bank of 
blue fog, another island, the Little Diomede, which belongs 
to Alaska. 

All before me lies bathed in the strong light of sun and 
sea, forming a dazzling contrast to the land behind me. 
Here lies the flat, marshy tundra, apparently a land of 
dead monotony, but in reality a plain-realm, with the life 
of the plain in game and sounds; a lowland which, un- 
broken by any range of hills, extends through a world of 
rivers and lakes to places with a distant ring, to the 
Lena Delta, and, farther, farther on, beyond Cape 
Chelyushkin, to regions that lie not far from my own land. 

At the foot of the hill I have just ascended I see a crowd 
of Tchukchi women on foot, dressed in skins of curious 
cut; they have on their backs bags made of reindeer skin 
which they are filling with berries and herbs. They fit, 



iv INTRODUCTION 

as an item of detail, so picturesquely into the great expanse 
that I continue to gaze at them until they are lost to sight 
among the green slopes of the valley. 

On a narrow spit of land, with pack ice to the one side 
and the smooth waters of the lagoon on the other, lies the 
village or township of Wahlen. It is only now beginning 
to wake; and one by one the cooking-fires are lighted in the 
dome-shaped tents of walrus hide. 

Not far from the coast town, clearly silhouetted on the 
skyline, a flock of tame reindeer move slowly along the 
crest of a hill, nibbling the moss as they go, while herds- 
men, uttering quaint far-sounding cries, surround them 
and drive them down to the new feeding grounds. 

To all these people, this is an ordinary day, a part of 
their everyday life; to me, an adventure in which I hardly 
dare believe. For this landscape and these people mean, 
to me, that I am in Siberia, west of the last Eskimo tribe, 
and that the Expedition has now been carried to its close. 

The height on which I stand, and the pure air which 
surrounds me, give me a wide outlook, and I see our 
sledge tracks in the white snow out over the edge of the 
earth's circumference, through the uttermost lands of 
men to the North. I see, as in a mirage, the thousand 
little native villages which gave substance to the journey. 
And I am filled with a great joy; we have met the great 
adventure which always awaits him who knows how to 
grasp it, and that adventure was made up of all our mani- 
fold experiences among the most remarkable people in the 
world! 

Slowly we have worked our way forward by unbeaten 
tracks, and everywhere we have increased our knowledge. 

How long have those sledge journeys been? counting 
our road straight ahead together with the side excursions 
up inland and out over frozen seas, now hunting game, 



I 





DOGS WHICH MADE THE WHOLE JOURNEY FROM HUDSON BAY TO POINT HOPE, 

ALASKA 



INTRODUCTION v 

and now seeking out some isolated and remote people? 
Say, 20,000 miles; more or less, nearly the circum- 
ference of the earth. Yet how little that matters, for it 
was not the distances that meant anything to us! One 
forgets to count miles after three and a half years of 
constant go, go, go, and tries only to keep in mind the 
accumulating experiences. 

In my joy in having been permitted to take this long 
sledge journey, my thoughts turn involuntarily to a 
contrasting enterprise ending also in Alaska, where last 
Spring, people were awaiting the visit of daring aviators 
from the other side of the globe. And from my heart I 
bless the fate that allowed me to be born at a time when 
Arctic exploration by dog sledge was not yet a thing of 
the past. In this sudden retrospect, kindled by the great 
backward view from East Cape, indeed, I bless the whole 
journey, forgetting hardship and chance misfortune by 
the way, in the exultation I feel in the successful con- 
clusion of a high adventure! 

A calmer and more deliberate mental review of that long 
journey brings almost as much regret as pleasure. For 
I find that to tell of my observations on the trip, in a book 
of proper length, compels me to omit more than I can in- 
clude; and, often, things of great interest. 

Particularly painful is it to leave out a statement of the 
accomplishments of my associates on the Expedition. 
At the beginning I was merely the leader of a whole group, 
which included some Danish scientists of note. During 
the first year, we worked together out of a base on the 
eastern coast of Canada, going out in small parties to 
various stations, and returning from time to time to 
collate our material. Our work had mainly to do with 
ethnography; my associates were concerned also with 



vi INTRODUCTION 

archeology, geology, botany and cartography. They did 
notable work in mapping territory known before only in 
a vague way. We did much excavating in ruins of former 
Eskimo cultures. The work of my colleagues in this 
field, especially, contributed much to knowledge of the 
past. Full reports of their findings have been published 
in books, monographs, and papers under their own names 
before learned societies. This allusion here must stand 
as the chief acknowledgment, in the present book, of their 
work. They enter hereafter only in passing. 

For, here, I am constrained by limitations of subject to 
confine myself to a portion of the material I gathered 
personally, both while I was with them, and later, when I 
set out on my visit alone to all the tribes of Arctic North 
America. 

It was my privilege, as one born in Greenland, and 
speaking the Eskimo language as my native tongue, to 
know these people in an intimate way. My life's course 
led inevitably toward Arctic exploration, for my father, 
a missionary among the Eskimos, married one who was 
proud of some portion of Eskimo blood. From the very 
nature of things, I was endowed with attributes for Polar 
work which outlanders have to acquire through painful 
experience. My playmates were native Greenlanders; 
from the earliest boyhood I played and worked with the 
hunters, so that even the hardships of the most strenuous 
sledge-trips became pleasant routine for me. 

I was eight years old when I drove my own team of dogs, 
and at ten I had a rifle of my own. No wonder, therefore, 
that the expeditions of later years were like happy con- 
tinuations of the experiences of my childhood and youth. 

Later, when I became aware of the interest which the 
culture and history of the Eskimo hold for science, I was 
able to spend eighteen years in Greenland again, laying 



INTRODUCTION vii 

down the foundation, by the long study of one tribe, for a 
more comprehensive study of all the tribes. 

In 1902, I began my active ethnographical and geo- 
graphical work with the Eskimos, which has continued 
pretty steadily since. In 1910 I established, in 
collaboration with M. Ib Nyeboe, a station for trading 
and for study in North Greenland, and to it I gave the 
name of "Thule," because it was the most northerly post 
in the world, literally, the Ultima Thule. This became 
the base of my subsequent expeditions, four major efforts 
in ten years, and all called " Thule Expeditions. " 

By 1920 I had completed my program of work in 
Greenland, and the time had come to attack the great 
primary problem of the origin of the Eskimo race. The 
latter enterprise took definite shape in the summer of 1921, 
in the organization of an expedition which went from 
Greenland all the way to the Pacific. At the beginning 
we worked from a headquarters on Danish Island, west of 
Baffinland, excavating among the ruins of a former 
Eskimo civilization, and studying the primitive inland 
Eskimo of what are known as the Barren Grounds. 

Later, with two Eskimo companions, I travelled by dog 
sledge clear across the continent to the Bering Sea. I 
visited all the tribes on the way, living on the country, and 
sharing the life of the people. What I observed on that 
trip constitutes my story. 

The Eskimo is the hero of this book. His history, his 
present culture, his daily hardships, and his spiritual life 
constitute the theme and the narrative. Only in form of 
telling, and as a means of binding together the various 
incidents is it even a record of my long trip by dog sledge. 
Whatever is merely personal in my adventures must be cut 
out, along with the record of the scientific achievements 
of my associates. 



viii INTRODUCTION 

Even the Eskimo will suffer some omissions, for it is 
obvious that only a portion of the story can be told, when 
the selection has to be made from thirty note-books, and 
20,000 items of illustrative material. 

Yet I think it due my companions, before so summarily 
disposing of them, to point out that the first year of joint 
effort with them helped greatly to shape my own work 
and to spur me to enthusiasm sufficient to carry over the 
long pull alone. In enumerating the rest of the party, I 
am in one sense naming co-authors. 

With me, then, were Peter Preuchen, cartographer and 
naturalist; Therkel Mathiassen, archeologist and carto- 
grapher; Kaj Birket-Smith, ethnographer and geographer; 
Helge Bangsted, scientific assistant; Jacob Olsen, assistant 
and interpreter; and Peder Pedersen, Captain of the 
Expedition's motor schooner, Sea-King. 

The official title of the Expedition was: 'The Fifth 
Thule Expedition, Danish Ethnographical Expedition 
to Arctic North America, 1921-24." 

It was honored by the patronage of King Christian X. 
of Denmark, and advised by a committee consisting of 
M. Ib Nyeboe, chairman, and Chr. Erichssen, Col, J. P. 
Koch, Professors 0. B. Boeggild, Ad Jensen, C. H. Osten- 
feld, of Copenhagen University, and Th. Thomsen, In- 
spector of the National Museum at Copenhagen* 

Hardly less important to the comfort and success of the 
Expedition than the work of these scientists was the 
contribution of our Eskimo assistants from Greenland, 
and those we added locally from time to time. We 
brought with us Iggianguaq and his wife, Anarulunguaq; 
Arqioq and his wife Anaranguaq; Nasaitordluarsuk, 
hereinafter known as " Bosun, " together with his wife, 
Aqatsaq; and finally, a young man, known as Miteq,- 
cousin of Anarulunguaq. 



INTRODUCTION ix 

Iggianguaq died of influenza after we were far from 
home, and his wife continued with me to the end of the 
long trip, along with Miteq. It was her duty, as that of 
the other women, to keep the fur clothing mended, to 
cook, and, on the journey, to help drive the dogs. The 
men drove, hunted food for men and dogs, and built snow 
huts wherever we set up new camps. 

Anarulunguaq is the first Eskimo woman to travel 
widely, and along with Miteq, the only one to visit all the 
tribes of her kinsmen. She has received a medal from the 
King of Denmark for her fine work. After the first y ear, I 
struck out with one team of dogs and these two Eskimos 
for the trip across to Nome. Considering the rigors they 
endured, I don't know which is the more remarkable, 
that I came through the three and a half years with the 
same team of dogs, or with the same Eskimos. Surely, 
however, it is no mere sentimental gesture to point out 
that they had a bigger share in the outcome of the trip 
than I have space to show. 

One omission likely to be welcomed, at least by the 
reader, is the almost total excision of theories about the 
origins of the Eskimos. This being one of the chief 
assignments of our research, I think it a mark of strict 
literary discipline to have succeeded in keeping it so 
nearly completely out of the story, at least in the 
manner approved by scientists. As an outlet to sup- 
pressed dogmatizing, therefore, I am going to make a 
compact little statement, at this point, of some of our 
conclusions, and hereaf ter allow the facts to point to their 
own conclusions. 

The Eskimos are widely scattered from Greenland to 
Siberia, along the Arctic Circle, about one-third of the 
way around the globe. They total in all no more thatx 
33,000 souls, which represents, perhaps, the outside 



x INTRODUCTION 

number of persons who can gain their Evelihood by hunt- 
ing in a country so forbidding. They have a wide range 
in following the seasonal movement of game, but in so vast 
a territory the different tribes are scattered and isolated 
from each other. Good evidence leads us to believe 
that a period of at least 1500 years has elapsed since the 
various tribes broke off from one original stock. 

In so prolonged a separation, it would be natural for 
the language and traditions of the various tribes to have 
lost all homogeneity. Yet the remarkable thing I found 
was that my Greenland dialect served to get me into 
complete understanding with all the tribes. Two great 
divisions appeared in the customs, a land culture and a 
coastal culture. The most primitive Eskimos, a nomadic 
tribe who lived in the interior and hunted caribou, had 
almost no knowledge of the sea, and their customs and 
tabus were limited accordingly. Nothing in their tradi- 
tions or implements indicated that they had ever been 
acquainted with marine pursuits. But the folklore of 
the sea-people, in addition to being unique in its references 
to ocean life, was in many other respects identical with 
that of the tribes that had never been down to sea. The 
conclusion was inevitable that originally all the Eskimos 
were land hunters, and that a portion of them later turned 
to hunting sea-mammals. The latter people retained all 
their old vocabulary and myths, and added thereto a 
nomenclature and a folklore growing out of their experi- 
ence on the water. 

As for what happened before that, in the remote past, 
the theory 1 came to accept was that long, long ago, the 
Eskimos and the Indians were of common root. But 
different conditions developed different customs, to such 
a degree that now there seems to be no resemblance 
between the Indians and the Eskimos. But the like- 



INTRODUCTION xi 

nesses are there, not obvious to the wayfarer, but 
sufficiently plain to the microscopic eye of the scientist. 
The aboriginal Eskimos developed a special culture 
around the big rivers and lakes of the northernmost part 
of Canada. From here, they moved down to the coast, 
either because they were driven by hostile tribes or 
because they had to follow the caribou in their migrations. 
They developed the first phases of a coastal culture at the 
Arctic Coast of Canada, most probably between Coro- 
nation Gulf and the Magnetic North Pole. 

From here they wandered over to Labrador, Baffin- 
land, and Greenland, to the east, and westward, reached 
Alaska and the Bering Sea. Around the Bering, with 
its abundance of sea-animals, they had their Golden Age, 
as a coastal people. 

From here a new migration took place, for what reason 
we cannot know, but this time from the West to the East, 
and here we find the explanation for all the ruins of 
permanent winter houses we discovered along the Arctic 
Coast between Greenland and Alaska. The present 
Eskimos do not construct such houses, which were built in 
rather recent times by people known as the Tunit The 
Greenlanders, however, do, and they are undoubtedly 
the original Tunit. 

During all these years of migration, some tribes kept 
to their old places in the interior, which explains why we 
were able to find aboriginal Eskimos in the Barren 
Grounds. These facts, together, explain why the spiritual 
culture exhibited a certain continuity between all the 
tribes. 

The foregoing was the theory advanced by Prof. H, P. 
Steensby, of the University of Copenhagen, and all of our 
researches lent support to it. 

There is another general theory with regard to the 



xii INTRODUCTION 

Eskimos which has but slight relation to the question of 
American origins, for it goes back to much more ancient 
times, not less than 25,000 years ago. This theory 
traces the Eskimo back to a time when our own ancestors 
of the Glacial Period lived under similar arctic conditions, 
and, presumably, resembled the Eskimo of today. All 
remains of the material culture of the Glacial, or Stone 
Age are exactly comparable with that of the Arctic 
dwellers, and the theory assumes that a similar spiritual 
resemblance can be inferred. This grows naturally out of 
the discovery that the Eskimos, intimately studied, are 
much more spiritual-minded, much more intelligent, much 
more likeable than the average man has been led to expect. 
They prove to be human beings just like ourselves, so 
like, indeed, that we cannot avoid drawing them into the 
fold, and saying, "These people belong to our race!" 

For they do, certainly, react to the suffering, the 
sacrifices, the hardships and the mysteries of evil which 
they face, much as we do. Their philosophy, even when 
untouched by any influences of civilization, has many 
curiously modern slants, including such ideas as 
auto-suggestion, spirit seances, and cataleptcy. Their 
poetry has many resemblances to ours, their religion and 
folklore often resemble, even in phrasing, as well as in 
content, our earlier religious literature. 

Some archeologists have made bold to assert that the 
Eskimos are surviving remnants of the Stone Age we 
know, and are, therefore, our contemporary ancestors. 
We don't have to go so far to claim kinship with them, 
however, for we recognize them as brothers. 
, I believe that the following pages will bear out this 
statement. Even so, I do not dare to feel that the whole 
story of the Eskimo, or his whole appeal to our sympathies 
will be found here. 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

I have not sounded all the depths. One can never 
finish exploring a people. 



The Expedition started from Copenhagen on the 
of June, 1921, and proceeded via Greenland, in order to 
pick up additional members of the party, and arctic 
equipment. The vessel employed was one built especially 
for the trip, the schooner Sea-King, of something over 
100 tons. 

Since the scientific members of the Expedition would 
be so occupied with their tasks that they would hardly 
have time for hunting, and procuring food for the dogs, 
this important task was to be entrusted to the Green- 
landers from Thule, who are at once skilful travellers 
and notable hunters. 

After a favorable passage across the dreaded and ice- 
filled Melville Bay, we arrived at Thule on the 3rd of 
August, and engaged our native assistants. Leaving 
Greenland through Pox Channel in mid-September, 
forcing a passage through heavy ice around to the north 
of Southampton Island, we found a harbor on a little, 
unknown and uninhabited island. A whole month 
was spent in building a house for our winter quarters, we 
called it the "Blow-hole," by reason of the prevalent 
winds and in sledge trips in various directions with a 
view to ascertaining our position. Our observations gave 
this as 65 54' N, 85 50' W, but the old maps were so 
inadequate that we could not at first mark the locality on 
any existing chart. 

The place was afterward called Danish Island. Here 
in a smiling valley opening seaward upon a shelving 
beach, and landward, sheltered by a great crescent of 
guardian hills, we erected what was to be our home for 
months to come. 



xiv INTRODUCTION 

Scarcely were we ashore when we found fresh bear 
tracks in the sand immediately below the location we had 
chosen for our home. On our first brief reconnaissance to 
the top of a neighboring hill, we encountered a hare 
so amazingly tame that we were tempted actually to 
essay his capture with our bare hands. Soon afterward 
we spied a lonely caribou who at once was all curiosity 
and came running toward us to investigate these strange 
visitors. The confidence of the game showed well enough 
ho,w little disturbed the region had been. Never before 
had I encountered from animals such a friendly greeting. 

From the top of the hills we had a fine view of a neigh- 
boring fjord, and out in the open water were seen glistening 
dark backs of walrus curving along the surface as they 
fed. Such was our first impression of this new country, 
truly a land hospitable in its promise of game. 

By October, the ground was covered with snow, and a 
narrow channel behind the house frozen over. The first 
thing now was to get into touch with the nearest natives 
as soon as possible; but as the mouth of Gore Bay was 
open water we were unable to travel far, and by the end 
of October all we had found was a few old cairns and rough 
stone shelters built by the Eskimo of earlier days for the 
purpose of caribou hunting with bow and arrow* The 
first meeting with the Eskimos of the new world was 
yet before us. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION iii 

CHAPTER 

I. OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS ... 3 

II. TAKORNAOQ ENTERTAINS GENTLEMEN 

FRIENDS 12 

III. A WIZARD AND His HOUSEHOLD . . 18 

IV. FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION ... 36 

V. A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH . . 55 

VI. NOMAD'S LIFE IN THE BARREN GROUNDS . 71 

VII. WITH No EDITORS TO SPOIL ... 87 

VIII. BETWEEN Two WINTERS .... 102 

IX. FAITH OUT OF FEAR . . . .118 

X. "I HAVE BEEN So HAPPY!" . . .139 

XI. SEPARATE WAYS 154 

XII. STEPPING OUT 158 

XIII. GOING PRETTY FAR WITH THE SPIRITS , 176 
XIV. AN INNOCENT PEOPLE .... 188 

XV. TRULY THANKFUL 201 

XVI. FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY . .218 

XV 



xviii ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACINjG 
PAGE 



YOUNG WOMEN ....... 100 

ICE ON THE LAKES ....... 106 

REMAINS OF ESKIMO DWELLINGS . . . .112 

MITEQ CUTTING UP A NEWLY CAPTURED SEAL . 120 
SNOW HUTS ........ 124 

A PROMISING YOUNG HUNTER ON THE LOOKOUT FOR 
GAME ........ 130 

TERTAQ, THE "AMULET BOY" ..... 136 
TYPICAL WOMEN OF THE TRIBE . . . .142 
THE DANISH MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION , . 154 

ANARULUNGUAQ, THE YOUNG ESKIMO WOMAN FROM 
GREENLAND ....... 158 

A FAMILY PARTY SETTING OUT FOR REPULSE BAY . 160 
NATIVE FROM PELLY BAY ..... 164 

ESKIMO FROM THE MAGNETIC POLE, ARMED WITH Bow 
AND ARROW ....... 174 

QUERTILIK, NALINGIAQ'S PRETTY DAUGHTER, WIFE OF 
THE CHIEF QAQORTINGNEQ ..... 176 

THE ARRIVAL . . . . , . . .178 

NlAQUNGUAQ, THE WIZARD ..... 1 86 
NULIALIK, THE MOST SKILFUL REINDEER HUNTER ON 

THE GREAT PISH RIVER ..... 192 
Two LITTLE GIRLS FROM LAKE FRANKLIN , .198 

"TAILS UP!" ........ 200 



NETSILINGMIUT CATCHES FISH AT AMITSOQ, KING 
WILLIAM'S LAND ...... 206 



ILLUSTRATIONS xk 



FACING 
PAGE 



THE VICTIM ...... . 318 

EQALUK AND HIS Two WI.VPS, PAMIQQ AND AG^ATOG 233 

HONOR TO THE DEAD . . . . . . 240 

Leo HANSEN, THE FILM PHOTOGRAPHER ... . 244 

ARCTIC COD ........ 348 

SETTING OUT IN SEARCP OF A NATIVE; VILLAGE . 254 

THE RETURN OF THE SUN ..... 268 

THE HUNTING CAMP NEAR BERNARD HARBOR . * 278 

OUR HOST, QANIGAG, A TYPICAL SPECIMEN OF THE 

"BLOND" ESKIMO OF THESE REGIONS . . 282 

NEAR PIERCE POINT ...... 286 

THE SMOKING MOUNTAINS, NORTH OF HORTON RIVER . 290 

ANGUISINAOQ, MY STQRY-TELLER FROM PAILLIE ISLAND 292 
YQUNG WOMAN AND CEILS FROM BAHXIE I$L&m 



INSPECTOR WOOD OF HSRSCBSL IS^ANP, CHJEF Q 
ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE IN THE NORTH- 
WEST TERRITORY ...... 

WOMAN FROM POINT BARROW ..... 34 

POINT BARROW, THE MOST NORTHERLY SETTLEMENT 
IN AMERICA ....... 3 06 

THE NALUKATAQ ....... 3H 

SAGPLUAQ, FROM COLVILLE RIVER .... 3 l8 

WOMEN FROM POINT BARROW ..... 3 22 

ANARULUNGUAQ WITH Two OF OUR DOGS . . 328 

BATTLEFIELDS OF FORMER DAYS . 33 2 



xx ILL USTRA TIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



NASUK, FROM KOTZEBUE SOUND .... 336 

VIEW OF THE BEACH AT NOORVIK .... 338 

KING ISLAND, A SMALL ISLAND IN THE BERING STRAITS 344 

IN BERING STRAITS ....... 352 

DANCING AT THE NATIVE FESTIVALS IN ALASKA . 356 

EAST CAPE, SIBERIA, THE WESTERN BOUNDARY OF 

ESKIMO OCCUPATION 360 

REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN SOVIET FROM EMMA- 
TOWN 364 

THE "TEDDY BEAR" 378 

MAPS 

MAP: REGION NORTH OF HUDSON BAY. SHOWING 
HEADQUARTERS AT DANISH ISLAND . . .10 

MAP: BAFFIN ISLAND TO MACKENZIE BAY . . 224 

MAP: MACKENZIE BAY TO EAST CAPE . . . 310 

ROUTES OF THE FIFTH THULE EXPEDITION, 1921-24 382 



ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 



ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

CHAPTER I 

OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS 

I HAD halted to thaw my frozen cheeks when a 
sottnd and a sudden movement among the dogs 
made me start. 

There could be no mistake as to the sound, it 
was a shot. I glanced round along the way we had 
come, fancying for a moment that it might be the 
party behind signalling for assistance; but I saw 
them coming along in fine style. Then I turned to 
look ahead. 

I had often imagined the first meeting with the 
Eskimos of the American Continent, and wondered 
what it would be like. With a calmness that sur- 
prised myself, I realized that it had come. 

Three or four miles ahead a line of black objects 
stood out against the ice of the fjord. I got out 
my glass; it might, after all, be only a reef of rock. 
But the glass showed plainly: a whole line of sledges 
with their teams, halted to watch the traveller ap- 
proaching from the South. One man detached him- 
self from the party and came running across the ice 

3 



4 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

in a direction that would bring him athwart my 
course. Evidently, they intended to stop me, 
whether I would or no. From time to time, a shot 
was fired by the party with the sledges. 

Whether the shots fired and the messenger hurry- 
ing toward me with his harpoon were evidence or 
not of hostile intent, I did not stop to think. These 
were the men I had come so far to seek from Den- 
mark and from my familiar haunts in Greenland. 
Without waiting for my companions to come up, 
I sprang to the sledge, and urged on the dogs, point- 
ing out the runner as one would a quarry in the chase. 
The beasts made straight for him, tearing along at 
top speed. When we came up with him, their ex- 
citement increased; his clothes were of unfamiliar 
cut, the very smell of him was strange to them; and 
his antics in endeavoring to avoid their twelve gaping 
maws only made them worse. 

"Stand still!" I cried; and, taking a flying leap 
out among the dogs, embraced the stranger after 
the Eskimo fashion. At this evidence of friendship 
the animals were quiet in a moment, and sneaked 
off shamefacedly behind the sledge. 

I had yelled at the dogs in the language of the 
Greenland Eskimo. And, from the expression of the 
stranger's face, in a flash I realized that he had 
understood what I said. 

He was a tall, well-built fellow, with face and hair 
covered with rime, and large, gleaming white teeth 
showing, as he stood smiling and gasping, still breath- 
less with exertion and excitement. It had all come 
about in a moment, and here we were! 




THE FIRST MAN TO GREET US IN THESE NEW LANDS 
His face and hair were thick with icicles. 



OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS 5 

As soon as my comrades behind had come within 
hail, we moved on toward the party ahead, who 
had been watching us all the time. Our new friend 
informed me that his name was Papik and that he 
had come from the neighborhood of Lyon Inlet, 
the next large inlet to the North of our recently 
established headquarters camp on Danish Island. 
There was not time for much talk, before we came 
up with the others; and I was anxious this time to 
check the dogs before they became too excited. As 
we approached, the men caine out to meet us, the 
women and children remaining with the sledges. 

These men, then, were the Akilinenmtrt, the 
"men from behind the Great Sea/' of whom I had 
heard in my earliest youth in Greenland, when I 
first began to study the Eskimo legends. The meet- 
ing could hardly be more effectively staged; a whole 
caravan of them suddenly appearing out of the desert 
of ice, men, women and children, dressed up in their 
fantastic costumes, like living illustrations of the 
Greenland stories of the famous "inland-dwellers." 
They were dad throughout in caribou skin; the fine 
short haired animals shot in the early autumn. The 
women wore great fur hoods and long, flapping ' l coat- 
tails" falling down over the breeches back and 
front. The curious dress of the men was as if de- 
signed especially for running; cut short in front, but 
with a long tail out behind. All was so unlike the 
fashions I had previously met with that I felt myself 
transported to another age; an age of legends of the 
past, yet with abundant promise for the future, so 
far as my own task of comparing the various tribes 



6 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

of Eskimos was concerned. I was delighted to find 
that the difference in language was so slight that 
we had not the least difficulty in understanding one 
another. Indeed, they took us at first for tribes- 
men of kindred race from somewhere up in Baffin 
Island. 

So far as I thought they would understand, I 
explained our purposes to my new friends. The 
white men, Peter Freuchen and myself, were part 
of a larger party who had come out of the white 
man's country to study all the tribes of the Eskimo, 
how they lived , what language they talked, how 
they hunted, how they amused themselves, what 
things they feared, and believed about the future 
life every manner of thing. We were going to buy 
and carry back to our own country souvenirs of the 
daily life of the Eskimo, in order that the white man 
might better understand, from these objects, the 
different way the people of the northern ice country 
had to live. And we were going to make maps and 
pictures of parts of this country in which no white 
man had ever been. 

I introduced, then, my Eskimo companion (Bosun) , 
a man from Greenland who was almost as strange 
to the Akilinermiut as I, He had come along to 
hunt and to drive sledges, and do other work for 
the white man, while we gave our time to these 
studies. 

My new friends were greatly pleased and im- 
pressed. They had just set out for their autumn 
camp up country at the back of Lyon Inlet, taking 
with them all their worldly goods. Being, however, 



OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS 7 

like Eskimos generally, creatures of the moment, 
they at once abandoned the journey on meeting us, 
and we decided to set off all together for some big 
snowdrifts close at hand, where we could build snow 
huts and celebrate the meeting. 

Accustomed as we were ourselves to making snow 
huts, we were astonished at the ease and rapidity 
with which these natives worked. The Cape York 
Eskimos, in Greenland, reckon two men to the task 
of erecting a hut ; one cutting the blocks and handing 
them to the other, who builds them up. Here, 
however, it was a one-man job; the builder starts 
with a few cuts in the drift where he proposes to 
site his house, and then proceeds to slice out the 
blocks and lay them in place, all with a speed that 
left us staring open-mouthed. Meantime one of 
the women brought out a remarkable type of snow- 
shovel, with an extra handle on the blade, or business 
end, and strewed a layer of fine snow over the waH 
as it rose, thus caulking any chinks or crevices, and 
making all thoroughly weather-proof. Two technical 
points which particularly impressed our Cape York 
man, as an expert, were firstly the way these men 
managed to build with loose snow some degree of 
firmness being generally considered essential and 
further, the very slight arch of the roof, which has 
ordinarily to be domed pretty roundly for the blocks 
to hold, whereas here, it was almost flat* In less 
than three quarters of an hour, three large huts 
were ready for occupation; then, while the finishing 
touches were given to the interior, the blubber lamps 
were lighted and the whole made warm and cosy. 



8 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

I and my two companions distributed ourselves 
among the three huts, so as to make the most of our 
new acquaintances. Caribou meat was put on to 
boil; but we found also, that our hosts had both tea 
and flour among their stores, which they had pur- 
chased from a white man down at Repulse Bay, not 
far from the camp. This was news of importance 
to us, for it meant we might have a chance of sending 
letters home in the spring. 

In the course of the meal, I obtained some valuable 
information as to the neighborhood and neighbors. 
There were native villages, it appeared, in almost 
every direction round about our headquarters. They 
were not numerous, but the more interesting in their 
varied composition. There were the Igdlulik from 
Fury and Hecla Strait, the Aivilik between Repulse 
Bay and Lyon Inlet, and a party of Netsilik from 
the region of the North-west Passage. Only half 
a day's journey from the camp there was a family 
from Ponds Inlet, on the north coast of Baffin Land. 

Conversation was for the most part general, as 
it mostly is on first acquaintance. Speaking the 
same tongue, however, we were not regarded .alto- 
gether as strangers, and I was able even to touch on 
questions of religion. And I soon learned that these 
people, despite their tea and flour and incipient 
enamel-ware culture, were, as regards their view of 
life and habit of thought, still but little changed 
from their ancestors of ages past. 

Plainly, here was work for us in plenty, and an 
interesting task it promised to be. We had, more- 
over, been well received, and I anticipated little 



OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS 9 

difficulty in gathering information. First of all, how- 
ever, we must go on to seek the nearest Hudson's 
Bay Company station, and find out whether there 
really would be any opportunity of postal communi- 
cation in the spring. 

We started accordingly, on the following morning. 
On the 5th of December, while it was still daylight, 
we reached the spot where, according to the Eskimo 
accounts, the white man had his quarters. At the 
base of a little creek, behind huge piles of twisted 
and tumbled ice, stood a modest looking building, 
dark against the colony of snow huts which sur- 
rounded it. This, we found, was the extreme ad- 
vanced post of the Hudson's Bay Company of 
Adventurers, one of the oldest and greatest trading 
companies in the world. 

We had hardly drawn up in front of the house 
before the station manager, Captain Cleveland, came 
out and greeted us with the most cordial welcome. 
He proved, also, to be a remarkably quick and 
efficient cook, and had a meal ready for us in no 
time; a steaming dish of juicy caribou steaks and a 
Californian bouquet of canned fruit in all varieties. 

George Washington Cleveland was an old whaler 
who had been stranded on the coast here over a 
generation before, and made himself so comfortable 
among the Eskimos that he had never been able to 
tear himself away. Nevertheless, he was more of 
an American than one would expect from his isolated 
life, and was proud of having been born on the very 
shore where the Mayflower had first landed, He 
had been through all manner of adventures, but 



ID ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

neither shipwreck nor starvation, not to speak of 
the other forms of adversity that had fallen to his 
lot, could sour his cheery temper or impair his steady, 
seaman-like assurance of manner. 

We knew really very little about this arctic region 
of Canada, and Captain Cleveland's information was 
most valuable to us later on. We learned now that 
one of the Hudson's Bay Company's schooners, com- 
manded by a French Canadian, Captain Jean Ber- 
thie, was wintering at Wager Bay, five days' journey 
farther to the south* There was a chance that we 
might be able to send letters home in the course of 
the winter by this route, and it was at once decided 
that Freuchen should set out for the spot and bring 
bade news. 

Tfcere was a dance that evening, to celebrate the 
visitors' arrival. The Eskimo men and women had 
learned, from the whalers, American country dances. 
Music was provided by the inevitable gramophone 
which seems to follow on the heels of the white man 
to most parts of the world. And the women were 
decked out in ball dresses hastily contrived for the 
occasion from material supplied by Captain Cleve- 
land. 

Later on, we made a round of the huts, which were 
refreshingly cool after the heat of the ballroom. We 
were anxious to get more information as to the 
country round, but being unacquainted with the 
Eskimo names of places near, we could only go by 
the old English maps, and were rather at a deadlock 
when aid arrived frona an unexpected quarter. An 
old fellow With a long wMte beard, and eyes red- 



OLD FRIENDS IN NEW SKINS 11 

dened with the strain of many a blizzard, revealed 
himself as a geographical expert. 

We brought out paper and pencil, and to my as- 
tonishment, this "savage" drew, without hesitation, 
a map of the coastline for a distance of some hundreds 
of miles, from Repulse Bay right up to Baffin Land. 
The map completed, he told me all the Eskimo place 
names, and at last we are able to get a real idea as 
to the population of the district and the position of 
the settlements. I was elated here to note that the 
majority of these names; Naujarmiut, Pitorqermiut, 
Nagssugtormiut and many others, were identical 
with some of the familiar place names from that part 
of Greenland where I was born. And when I began 
telling of the Greenland folk tales to the company 
here, it turned out that they knew them already; 
and were, moreover, themselves astonished to find 
that a stranger should be acquainted with what they 
regarded as their own particular legends. 

I was looking forward to closer acquaintance with 
these people and their history and traditions; Ival- 
uartjuk, who had drawn the map, wottH, I foresaw, 
be particularly useful as a source of MoimatkHi. 
But we could not now remain longer than the one 
whole day, and on the 7th of December, we took 
leave of our new friends, Freuchen going down as 
arranged to meet Captain Berthie at Wager Bay, 
while Bosun and I drove back to our winter quarters. 
After passing Haviland Bay, however, we came upon 
some old sledge tracks, and decided to follow and 
see whither they led* 



CHAPTER II 

TAKORNAOQ ENTERTAINS GENTLEMEN FRIENDS 

IN the middle of a big lake an old Eskimo woman 
* stood fishing for trout. In spite of the fact that 
the winter was yet young the ice had already become 
so thick that all her strength must have been needed 
in cutting the hole for her line. Now and then she 
took a piece of drift-wood shaped like a shovel and 
pushed away the fragments of ice that were in her 
way. Then stretching out on her stomach she thrust 
half her body so far into the hole that all that re- 
mained visible was a pair of bent, skin-covered legs 
waving in the air. 

Suddenly a puppy that had lain buried in the snow 
scrambled to his feet and started to bark wildly. 
Tumbling out of the hole, the old woman crouched, 
bewildered &t peeing Bostua and myself so near her. 
At f^ft;spp<| o$tr 4g dashed down on the odd pair. 

*?fae seized the pup by the 
mi& a&d set out in the direction of the 
.fist as later ancient legs would carry her. 
B of her flight only served to increase the, 
c ouar dogs, already excited by the scent 
of tite lfi3ge, aad such was their speed that, in pass- 
ffif the fugitive, I had barely time to seke her and 
tog her on top of the flying sledge. There she lay 




12 



TAKORNAOQ ENTERTAINS FRIENDS 13 

with horror in her eyes, while I burst out laughing 
at the absurdity of the scene* At length, through 
her tears of fright, she started to smile, too, realizing 
that I was a human, and a friendly human being, 
at that. 

It was old Takomaoq. She now sat with arms 
convulsively clutching the whimpering pup. Then 
above the noise of the frightened dog I suddenly 
heard a sound that startled me in turn. Bending 
over her and cautiously lifting her skin kolitah I 
discovered far down inside her peltry clothing a 
small infant clinging to her naked back and whimper- 
ing in unison with the mother and the terrified puppy. 

Such was my meeting with Takornaoq. Soon we 
were friends. We raced merrily along to her village, 
which consisted of three snow huts. Here we were 
introduced to the notables of the place. 

Inernerunassuaq was an old angakoq, or wizard, 
from the neighborhood of the Magnetic Pole. He 
screwed up his eyes to a couple of slits cm being in- 
troduced, and was careful to draw my attention to 
his magic belt, which was httng about with zoological 
preparations. His wife was a simple soul, fat and 
comfortable, as befits one married to a specialist in 
the secret arts. They had a large family of small 
children who hung about getting in the way; none 
of them had reached the age when a child is reckoned 
worthy of a name, and their parents simply pointed 
at this one or that when telling them to be quiet. 

Thai there was Talerortalik, son-in-law to the 
foregoing, having married Uvtukitsoq,, the wizard's 
daughter. They looked an insignificant pair; but 



I 4 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

we found out afterwards that it was they who made 
ends meet for the wizard and his flock. Finally, 
there was Peqingassoq, the cripple, who was said to 
be specially clever at catching trout. Others were 
briefly introduced, and Takornaoq carried me off to 
her own hut. It was clean and decent as such 
places go, but chilly, until we got the blubber lamp 
well alight. 

Bosun and I settled down comfortably on the sleep- 
ing place among the cosy caribou skins. And as 
soon as the meat was put on to boil, Takoraaoq sat 
down between us with the unexpected observation 
that she was "married to both of us now," her hus- 
band, whom she loved, being away on a journey. 
Then taking a tiny infant from her aniaut, she laid 
it proudly in a hareskin bag. The child was named 
Qasitsoq, after a mountain spirit, the mother ex- 
plained. It was not her own child, but one of twins 
born to a certain Nagsuk; she had bought it for a 
dog and a frying pan. It was too much really, for 
such a pitiful little creature, nothing but skin and 
bone; Takornaoq complained bitterly that Nagsuk 
had cheated, and given her the poorer of the two. 

Our hostess told us a great deal about herself and 
her family. She was of the Igdlulik, from Fury and 
Hecla Strait, a tribe noted for clever hunters and 
good women; and she was proud of her origin, as 
being superior to that of her fellow-villagers here. 
Our visit was most welcome, she assured us, and even 
went to the length of voicing her appreciation in an 
improvised song, which she delivered sitting between 
us on the bench. Her voice, it is true, was somewhat 



TAKORNAOQ ENTERTAINS FRIENDS 15 

over-mellowed by her sixty odd winters, but its 
quavering earnestness fitted the kindly, frank, sim- 
plicity of the words: 

Aya iya, aya ya-iya, 

The lands about my dwelling 

Are grown fairer this day 

Since it was given me to see 

The face of strangers never seen. 

All is fairer, 

All is fairer, 

And life is thankfulness itself* 

Aya, these guests of mine 
Bring greatness to my house, 
Aya iya, aya ya-iya. 

Immediately after the song, dinner was served. 
Our hostess, however, did not join us at the meal; 
a sacrifice enjoined by consideration for the welfare 
of the child. Among her tribe, it appeared, women 
with infant children were not allowed to share cook- 
ing utensils with others, but had their own, which 
were kept strictly apart. 

Not content with feeding us, however, she then 
opened a small storehouse at the side of the hut, 
and dragged forth the whole carcase of a caribou. 
This, the good old soul explained, was for our dogs. 
And with rare tact, she tried to make the gift appear 
as a matter of course. " It is only what my husband 
would do if he were at home. Take it, and feed 
them." And she smiled at us with her honest old 
eyes as if really glad to be of use. 



16 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Bosun and I agreed that it was the first time in 
our lives a woman had given us food for our dogs. 

We enquired politely after her husband, Patdloq, 
and learned that she had been married several times 
before. One of her former husbands, a certain Quiv- 
apik, was a wizard of great reputation, and a notable 
fighter* On one occasion, at Southampton Island, 
he was struck by a harpoon in the eye, while another 
pierced his thigh, ''But he was so great a wizard 
that he did not die of it after all." He was an expert 
at finding lost property, and had a recipe of his own 
for catching fish. 

"Once we were out fishing for salmon, but I caught 
nothing. Then came Quivapik and taking the Kne 
from me, swallowed it himself, hook and all, and 
pulled it out through his navel. After that I caught 



Another of Takornaoq's adventures shows some- 
thing of the dreadful reality of life in these regions. 

"I cce met a woman who saved her own life by 
eating her husband and her children. 

"My husband and I were on a journey from 
Igdiulik to Ponds Inlet. On the way he had a dream ; 
in which it seemed that a friend of his was being 
eaten by his own kin. Two days after, we came to 
a spot where strange sottnds hovered in the air. At 
first w^ocmld not make out what it was, but coming 
nearer it was like the ghost of words; as it were one 
trying to speak without a voice. And at last it said : 

"'I am one who can no longer live among human- 
kvm, for I have eaten my own kin. 9 

41 We could hear now that it was a woman. And 
we looked at each other, and spoke in a whisper 




WOMAN'S DRESS, FRONT VIEW 

The sleeves are made so loose in the shoulder that when travelling in a blizzard the arms 
can be drawn up out of the sleeves altogether, and crossed on the breast inside to warm 
them. The band across the forehead, a woman's principal ornament, is here made from a 
piece of brass that had formed part of a telescope. The woman here shown, Ataguvtaluk, 
is one of the survivors of a f axnine, when she lived on the bodies of her husband and children'. 
Blue veins show up prominently round her mouth, said to be due to her having eaten her 
own flesh and blood. 



TAKORNAOQ ENTERTAINS FRIENDS 17 

fearing what might happen to us now. Then search- 
ing round, we found a little shelter built of snow 
and a fragment of caribou skin. Close by was a 
thing standing up ; we thought at first it was a human 
being, but saw it was only a rifle stuck in the snow. 
But all this time the voice was muttering. And go- 
ing nearer again we found a human head, with the 
flesh gnawed away. And at last, entering into the 
shelter, we found the woman seated on the floor. 
Her face was turned towards us and we saw that 
blood was trickling from the corners of her eyes; so 
greatly had she wept. 

"'Kikaq' (a gnawed bone) she said, 'I have eaten 
my husband and my children! ' 

"She was but skin and bone herself, and seemed 
to have no life in her. And she was almost naked, 
having eaten most of her clothing. My husband 
bent down over her, and she said: 

"'I have eaten him who was your comrade when 
he lived/ 

"And my httsband answered: * You had the will 
to live, and so you are still alive/ 

"Then we put tap our tent close by, cutting c 
a piece of the fore-curtain to maJbg a shelter for the 
wo3daa; for she was ttndeaa, aaad might not fee in 
the same tent with us. And we gave her frozen 
caribou meat to eat, but when she had eaten a mouth- 
ful or so, she fell to trembling all over, and could eat 
no more. 

"We ceased from our journey then, and turned 
back to Igdlulik, taking her with us, for she had a 
brother there. She is still alive to this day and mar- 
tied to a great hunter, named Igtussarssua, and she 
is his favorite wife, though he had one before. 

" But that is the most terrible thing I have known 
in all my life/' 



CHAPTER III 

A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 

T RETURNED to headquarters on Danish Island 
1 full of excitement over the promise of my first 
reconnoitring expedition. Contact with these shore 
tribes convinced me that farther back, in the "Bar- 
ren Grounds" of the American Continent I should 
find people still more interesting, and that our ex- 
pedition would be able not only to bear to the world 
the first intimate picture of the life of a little known 
people, but also to produce evidence of the origin 
and migrations of all the Eskimo Tribes. 

The key to these mysteries would be found in 
hitherto unexplored ruins of former civilizations on 
the shores adjacent to the Barren Grounds, and in 
the present-day customs of isolated aborigines who 
were themselves strangers alike to the white man 
and to the Greenland Eskimos I knew so well. 

The "Barren Grounds," as they have long been 
cailed, are great tracts of bare, untimbered land 
between Hudson Bay and the Arctic Coast. Though 
f coming part of the great continent of America, they 
are among the most isolated and inaccessible portions 
of ^ the globe. It is for this reason that the most 
primitive and uncivilized tribes are still to be found 
there. Despite the zeal with which hunters and 

18 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 19 

traders ever seek to penetrate into unknown regions, 
the natural obstacles here have hitherto proved an 
effective barrier, and the territory is known only 
in the barest outline. On the north, there are the 
ramifications of the Arctic Ocean, permanently filled 
with ice, to bar the way. On the south, and to some 
extent also on the west, lie great trackless forests, 
where travelling is slow and difficult, the only prac- 
ticable route being along the little known rivers. 
Only from Hudson Bay has the east coast of the 
Barren Grounds been accessible for modern forms of 
transport. And even here the waters are so hampered 
with ice that they are reckoned to be navigable for 
only two or three months a year. These natural 
obstacles, however, which have kept others away, 
were all to our advantage, because they have kept 
the tribes of Eskimos I intended to visit uncontam- 
inated by white civilization, imprisoned within their 
swampy tundras, unaltered in all their primitive 
character. 

We were now able to plan <mr first year's work in 
these regions. Near our headquarters we found a 
few old cairns and rough stone shelters built by the 
Eskimos of earlier days for the purpose of hunting 
caribou with bow and arrow. We were convinced 
that the excavation of these ruins would be well 
worth while. The natives we had now met explained 
that these ruins originated with a mysterious race 
of "giants," called Tunit. 

We divided up our work as follows; Mathiassen, 
with Kaj Birket-Smith was first to visit Captain 
Cleveland, to acquire preliminary information, and 



20 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

then Birket-Smith would travel on south, to investi- 
gate the problem of the early relations between the 
Indians and the Eskimos. Mathiassen's first assign- 
ment was to go with Peter Freuchen to the north, 
to map shores of Baffin! arid, and study people on 
whom no reliable information existed. Then, on 
his return, he was to excavate among the ruins we 
had found. 

I was to study the inland Eskimos, with special 
reference to the spiritual side of their culture. The 
Eskimo members of the party were divided among 
the several sub-expeditions as needed, and two of 
them would remain on guard at the headquarters 
camp. 

We had a pretty good supply of pemmican, both 
for ourselves and for the dogs, as well as canned goods, 
which would form the basis of our provisions. We 
had to supplement it, however, with fresh meat. 
We were told that Cape Elizabeth, toward the north, 
was a good spot for walrus at this time of year, and 
I therefore went off with Miteq and two of the local 
natives to try our luck. We set out on the nth of 
January. Despite some difficulty, owing to snow, 
which drifted thickly at times, we had some exciting 
caribou hunting on the ice during the first two days. 
The thermometer stood at about minus 50 C. (63 
P.) and every time we picked up our guns with the 
naked hand the cold steel took the skin off. 

We purchased some stores of meat at Lyon Inlet, 
and devoted a few days to fetching these, after winch 
we set out again to the Northward to find the village . 
None of us knew exactly where it was, as the natives 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 21 

had not yet moved down to the coast, but were en- 
camped some way inland where they had been en- 
gaged on their autumn caribou hunting* 

The 27th of January was fine, but cold; it was 
bright starlight towards the dose of the journey, 
but we had had a long and tiring day, and wished 
for nothing better than to find shelter without having 
to build it ourselves. 

Suddenly out of the darkness ahead shot a long 
sledge with the wildest team I have ever seen. 
Fifteen white dogs racing down at full speed, with 
six men on the sledge. They came down on us at 
such a pace that we felt the wind of them as they 
drew alongside. A little man with a large beard, 
completely covered with ice, leapt out and came to- 
wards me, holding out his hand white man's fashion. 
Then halting, he pointed inland to some snow huts. 
His keen eyes Were alight with vitality as he uttered 
the ringing greeting: "Qujangnamik" (thanks to 
the coming guests). 

This was Aua, the aogakoq. 

Observing that my dogs were tired after their 
day's run, he invited me to change over to his sledge, 
and quietly, but with authority, told off one of the 
young men in his party to attend to mine, Aua's 
dogs gave tongue violently, eager to be off again and 
get home to their meal; and soon we were racing 
away towards the village. A brief dash at break- 
neck speed, and we arrived at the verge of a big lake, 
where snow huts with gut windows sent out a warm 
glow of welcome. 

The women came out to greet us, and Aua's wife, 



22 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Orulo, led me into the house. It was, indeed, a 
group of houses, cleverly built together, a real piece 
of architecture in snow, such as I had never yet seen. 
Five huts, boldly arched, joined in a long passage 
with numerous storehouses built out separately, 
minor passages uniting one chamber with another, 
so that one could go all over the place without ex- 
posure to the weather. The various huts thus 
united served to house sixteen people in all. Orulo 
took me from one to another, introducing the occu- 
pants. They had been living here for some time 
now, and the heat had thawed the inner surface of 
the walls, forming icicles that hung down gleaming 
in the soft light of the blubber lamp. It looked more 
like a cave of stalactites than an ordinary snow hut, 
and would have looked chilly but for the masses of 
thick, heavy caribou skin spread about. 

Through these winding passages, all lit with tiny 
blubber lamps, we went from room to room, shaking 
hands with one after another of the whole large 
family. There was Aua's eldest son Nataq, with 
his wife, and the youngest son Ijarak who lived with 
his fifteen-year-old sweetheart; there was Aua's aged 
sister Natseq with her son, son-in-law and a flock of 
children; and finally, out in the farthest end of the 
main passage, the genial Kuvdlo with his wife and 
a newborn infant. 

It was the first time I had visited so large a house- 
hold, and I was much impressed by the patriarchal 
aspect of the whole. < Aua was unquestioned master 
in his own house, ordering the comiags and goings 
aad doings of aH, but he and his wife addressed each 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 23 

other and the rest with the greatest kindness, and 
not a little fun; an atmosphere of genial good humor 
was evident throughout. 

Hot tea, in unlimited quantity, was welcome after 
our long hours in the cold, and this being followed by 
a large, fat freshly cooked hare, it was not long before 
appetite gave way to ease, and we settled ourselves 
comfortably among the soft and pleasant smelling 
caribou skins. 

We explained that we had come down to hunt 
walrus, and the news was greeted with acclamation 
by our host and his party. They had been thinking 
of doing the same themselves, and it was now sug- 
gested that the whole village should move down to 
some snowdrifts on the lowlying land at Cape 
Elizabeth. They had been hunting inland all the 
summer, and there were numerous good meat depots 
established in the neighborhood. There was oil 
enough to warm up the houses for a while, but the 
last bag of blubber faad already been opened. We 
decided therefore to go titrating on the ice, It was 
necessary first of all, however, to spe& ooie day in 
fetching in stores of caribou meat from the depots, 
as there was no saying how long it might be before 
we procured any other. 

On the day of the final move, all were up betimes 
and busily at work. Pots and dishes and kitchen 
utensils generally were trundled out through the 
passages, with great bales of caribou skins, some 
new and untouched, others more or less prepared, 
and huge unwieldly bundles of clothing, men's, 
women's and children's, The things had not seemed 



24 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to take up much room within doors, where every- 
thing had its place and use, but the whole collection 
stacked outside in the open air looked as cumbrous 
and chaotic, as unmistakably "moving" as the 
worldly goods of any city and surburban family 
waiting on the pavement for the furniture van. 

Just at the last moment, when the sledges were 
loaded up to the full, and the teams ready to start, 
I had the good fortune to witness a characteristic 
little ceremony; the initiation of an infant setting 
out on its first journey into the world. 

An opening appeared somewhere at the back of 
Kuvdlo's house, and through it came crawling Mrs. 
Kuvdlo with the little new-born infant in her arms. 
She planted herself in front of the hut and stood 
waiting until Aua appeared. Aua, of course, was 
the spiritual shepherd of the flock. He stepped 
forward towards the child, bared its head, and plac- 
ing his lips close to its face, uttered the following 
heathen equivalent of a morning prayer: 

"I rise up from rest, 

Moving swiftly as the raven's wing 

I rise up to meet the day 

Wa-wa. 

"My face is turned from the dark of night 
My gaze toward the dawn, 
Toward the whitening dawn." 

It was the child's first journey, and the morning 
hymn was a magic formula to bring it luck through 
life. 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 25 

The winter ice extends some miles out from the 
shore, to all intents and purposes as firm as land. 
Then comes the water, with pack ice drifting this 
way and that according to wind and current. When 
the wind is blowing off shore, holes appear in the ice 
just at the edge, and the walrus follow these, diving 
down to the bottom to feed. 

Aua and I had settled ourselves, like the others, 
in comparative shelter behind a hummock of ice, 
with a good view all round. The vigil was by no 
means monotonous; there was something going cm 
all the time, calling up memories of past hunting. 
The pack ice was in constant movement, surging and 
straining and groaning at every check. Now and 
thai a gap would appear, and the naked water sent 
up a freezing mist like blue smoke, through which 
we could just discern the black shapes of the walrus 
rising to breathe. We could hear their long, slow 
gasp and thai down they went to their feeding 
grounds below. 

We had both experienced it aS many a time before; 
and the familiar sights and sotmds loosened our 
tongues in recollection. 

"Men and the beasts are much alike," said Aua 
sagely. "And so it was our fathers believed that 
men could be animals for a time, then men again." 
So he told the story of a bear he had once observed, 
hunting walrus like a human being, creeping up and 
taking cover, till it got within range, when it flung 
a huge block of ice that struck its victim senseless. 

Then suddenly Aua himself gave a start he had 
been keeping a good look out all the time and 



26 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

pointed to where Miteq was standing with his har- 
poon raised. Just ahead of him was a tiny gap in 
the ice, the merest puddle, with barely room for the 
broad back of a walrus that now appeared. Miteq 
waited till the head came up, and then, before the 
creature had time to breathe, drove his harpoon deep 
into the blubber of its flank. There was a gurgle 
of salt water, a fountain of spray flung out over the 
ice, and the walrus disappeared. But Miteq had 
already thrust his ice-axe through the loop at the 
end of his harpoon line, and the walrus was held. 

We hurried up and helped to haul it in, despatched 
it, and set about the work of cutting up. This was 
ccmpleted before dark, and when we drove in that 
night to the new snow palace at Itibleriang, I was 
proud to feel that one of my own party had given 
these professionals a lead on their own ground. 

There was great rejoicing at our arrival; a full- 
grown walrus means meat and blubber for many 
days, and this was the first day we had been out. 
There was no longer any need to stint the blubber 
for the lamps, and there was food in plenty for our- 
selves and the dogs. 

A well-stocked larder sets one's mind at rest, and 
me feds more at liberty to consider higher things. 
Also, our surroundings generally were comfortable 
enough. The new snow hut was not quite as large 
as the former, and lacked the fantastic icicle adorn- 
ment within; but it was easier to make it warm and 
cosy. The main portion, the residence of Aua and 
his wife, was large enough to sleep twenty with ease. 
Opening out of this, through a lofty portal, was a 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 27 

kind of entrance hall, where you brush off the snow 
before coming in to the warmth of the inner apart- 
ment. On the opposite side again was a large, light 
annex, accommodating two families. As long as there 
was blubber enough, seven or eight lamps were kept 
burning, and the place was so warm that one could 
go about half naked and enjoy it. 

Which shows what can be made out of a snowdrift 
when you know how to go about it. 

Aui gave me leave to ask questions, and promised 
to answer them. And I questioned him accordingly, 
chiefly upon matters of religion, having already per- 
ceived that the religious ideas of these people must 
be in the main identical with those of the Greenland 
Eskimo. 

A prominent character in the Greenland mythol- 
ogy is the Mistress of the Sea, who lives on the floor 
of the ocean. I asked Aua to tell me all he could 
about her. Nothjng loath, he settled himself to the 
task, and with eloquent gestures and a voice that 
rose and fell in accord with the tenor of his theme, 
he told the story of the goddess of meat from the 
sea. 

Briefly, it is as follows: There was once a girl 
who refused all offers of marriage, until at last she 
was enticed away by a petrel disguised as a handsome 
young man. After living with him for some time, 
she was rescued by her father, but the petrel, setting 
out in pursuit, raised a violent storm, and the father, in 
terror, threw the girl overboard to lighten the boat. 
She dung to the side, and he chopped off, first the tips 
of her fingers, then the other joints, and finally the 



28 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

wrists. And the joints turned into seal and walrus 
as they fell into the sea* But the girl sank to the 
bottom, and lives there now, and rules over all the 
creatures of the sea. She is called Takanaluk Arna- 
luk; and it is her father who is charged with the 
punishment of those who have sinned on earth, and 
are not yet allowed to enter the land of the dead. 

I enquired then as to this land of the dead, and 
the general arrangements for their after-life. This 
falls mainly into two parts. 

When a human being dies, the soul leaves the earth, 
and goes to one or the other of two distinct regions. 
Some souls go up into heaven and become Uvdlor- 
miut, the People of Day. Their country lies over 
towards the dawn. Others again go clown under 
the sea, where there is a narrow belt of kind with 
water on either side. These are called Qimiujarmiut, 
the People of the Narrow Lund, But in either place 
they are happy and at case, and there is always plenty 
to eat. 

Those who pass to the Land of Day arc people who 
have been drowned, or murdered. It is said that 
the Land of Day is the land of glad and happy souls. 
It is a great country, with many caribou, and the 
people there live only for pleasure, They play ball 
most of the time, playing at football with the skull 
of a walrus, and laughing and singing as they play* 
It is this game of the souls playing at ball that we 
can see in the sky as the northern lights. 

The greater among the angakoqs, or wizards, often 
go up on a visit to the People of Day, just fur pleasure* 
Such are called Pavungnartut, which means, those 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 29 

who rise up to heaven. The wizard preparing to 
set out on such a journey is placed at the back of the 
bench in his hut, with a curtain of skin to hide him 
from view. His hands must be tied behind his back, 
and his head lashed fast to his knees; he wears 
breeches, but nothing more, the upper part of his 
body being bare. When he is thus tied up, the men 
who have tied him take fire from the lamp on the 
point of a knife and pass it over his head, drawing 
rings in the air, and saying at the same time: "Nior- 
ruarniartoq aifale" (Let him who is going on a visit 
now be carried away). 

Then all the lamps are extinquished, and all those 
present close their eyes. So they sit for a long while 
in deep silence. But after a time strange sounds are 
heard about the place; throbbing and whispering 
sounds; and then suddenly comes the voice of the 
wizard himself crying loudly : 
" Halala halaiale halala halalale! " 
And those present then must answer "ale ale- 
ale." Then there is a rushing sound, and all know 
that an opening has been made, like the blowhole 
of a seal, through which the soul of the wizard can 
fly up into heaven, aided by all the stars that once 

were men. 

Often the wizard will remain away for some time, 
and in that case, the guests will entertain themselves 
meanwhile by singing old songs, but keeping their 
eyes closed all the time. It is said that there is 
great rejoicing in the Land of Day when a wizard 
comes on a visit. The people there come rushing out 
of their houses all at once; but the houses have no 



30 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

doors for going in or out, the souls just pass through 
the walls where they please, or through the roof, 
coming out without making even a hole* And 
though they can be seen, yet they are as if made of 
nothing. They hurry towards the newcomer, glad 
to greet him and make him welcome, thinking that 
it is the soul of a dead man that comes, and one of 
themselves. But when he says "Putdlaliuvunga" 
(I am still a creature of flesh and blood) they turn 
sorrowfully away. 

He stays there awhile, and then returns to earth, 
where his fellows are awaiting him, and tells of all 
he has seen. 

The souls that pass to the Narrow Land are those 
of people who died of sickness in house or tent. They 
are not allowed to go straight up into the land of 
souls, because they have not been purified by violent 
death; they must first go down to Takanalukarnaluk 
under the sea, and do penance for their sins. When 
all their penance is completed, then they go either 
to the Land of Day or stay in the Narrow Land, and 
live there as happily as those who are without sin. 

The Narrow Land is not like the Land of Day; it 
is a coast land, with all manner of sea creatures in 
abundance, and there is much hunting, and all de- 
light in it. 

I enquired whether the wizards did not make other 
excursions into the supernatural, for some special 
purpose. Aua informed me that this was the case, 
and kindly gave me further details. 

Should the hunting fail at any season, causing a 
dearth of meat, then it is the business of the Angakoq 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 31 

to seek out the Mistress of the Sea and persuade her 
to release some of the creatures she is holding back. 
The preparations for such a journey are exactly the 
same as in the case of a visit to the Land of Day, 
already described. The wizard sits, if in winter, on 
the bare snow, in summer, on the bare earth. He 
remains in meditation for a while, and then invokes 
his helping spirits, crying again and again: 

' ' Tagf a arqutinilerpoq tagf a neruvtulerpoq ! " 
(The way is made ready for me; the way is opening 
before me.) 

Whereupon all those present answer in chorus: 
"Taimalilerdle" (let it be so). 

Then, when the helping spirits have arrived, the 
earth opens beneath the wizard where he sits; often, 
however, only to close again; and he may have to 
strive long with hidden forces before he can finally 
cry that the way is open. When this is announced, 
those present cry together: Let the way be open, 
let there be way for into! Then oomes a voice close 
under the ground: "halala fee he he" aad again 
farther off under the passage, and again stffi farther 
and ever farther away until at last it is no longer 
heard; and then all know that the wizard is on his 
way to the Mistress of the Sea. 

Meantime, those in the house sing spirit songs in 
chorus to pass the time, It may happen that the 
clothes which the wizard has taken off come to life 
of themselves, and fly about over the heads of the 
singers, who must keep their eyes closed all the time. 
And one can hear the sighing and breathing of sotds 
long dead. All the lamps have been put out, and tibe 



32 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

sighing and breathing of the departed souls is as the 
voice of spirits moving deep in the sea ; like the breath- 
ing of sea-beasts far below. 

One of the songs is a standing item on these occa- 
sions; it is only to be sung by the elders of the tribe, 
and the text runs thus : 

"We stretch forth our hands 

To lift thee up. 

We are without food, 

Without fruits of our hunting. 

Come up then from below, 

From the hollow place 

Force a way through. 

We are without food, 

And here we lie down 

We stretch forth our hands 

To lift thee up." 

Great wizards find a passage opening of itself for 
their journey down under the earth to the sea, and 
met with no obstacles on the way. On reaching 
the house of Takanalukarnaluk, they find a wall has 
been built in front of the entrance; this shows that 
she is hostile towards men for the time being. The 
wizard must then break down the wall and level it 
to the earth. The house itself is like an. ordinary 
human dwelling, but without a roof, being open at 
the top so that the woman seated by h^fllamp can 
keep an eye on the dwellings of men, The only 
other difficulty which the wizard has to encounter 
is a big dog which lies stretched across the passage, 
barring the way. It shows its teeth and growls, 
impatient at being disttirbed at its meal for it 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 33 

will often be found gnawing the bones of a still 
living human being. The wizard must show no sign 
of fear or hesitation, but thrust the dog aside and 
hurry into the house. Here he meets the guardian 
of the souls in purgatory, who endeavors to seize 
him and place him with the rest, but on stating that 
he is still alive: "I atn flesh and blood," he is 
allowed to pass. The Mother of the Sea is then 
discovered seated with her bade to the lamp and to 
the animals gathered round it this being a sign of 
anger her hair falls loose and dishevelled over her 
face. The wizard must at onee take her by the 
shoulder and turn her face the other way, at the 
some time, stroking her hair and smoothing it out* 
He then says: 

11 Those above can no longer help the seal up out 
of the sea/' 

To which she replies; "It is your own sins and 
ill doing that bar the way," 

The wizard then exerts aU his powers of peisuasion, 
and when at last her anger is appeased, she takes the 
animals one by one and drops them on the floor. 
And now a violent commotion arises! and the 



disappear out into the sea; this is a sign of rich 
hunting and plenty to come. 

AH soon as the wizard returns to earth, all those 
in the house are called upon to confess any breach 
of tabu which they may have committed. 

All cry out in chorus, each eager to confess his 
fault lost it should be the cause of famine and disaster 
to all And in this way "much is made known 
which had otherwise been hidden; many secrets are 



34 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

told." But when the sinners come forward weeping 
and confess, then all is well, for in confession lies 
forgiveness. All rejoice that disaster has been 
averted, and a plentiful supply of food assured; 
11 there is even something like a feeling of gratitude 
towards the "sinners" added Ana naively. 

I enquired whether all wizards were able to ac- 
complish such an errand, and was informed that only 
the greatest of them could do so. One of the greatest 
angakoqs Aua had known was a woman. And he 
told us the story of Uvavnuk, the woman who was 
filled with magic power all in a moment. A ball of 
fire came down from the sky and struck her senseless ; 
but when she came to herself again, the spirit of 
light was within her. And all her power was used 
to help her fellows. When she sang, all those 
present were loosed from their burden of sin and 
wrong; evil and deceit vanished as a speck of dust 
blown from the hand. 

And this was her song: 

"The great sea has set me in motion, 

Set me adrift, 

Moving me as the weed moves in a river. 

The arch of sky and mightiness of storms 
Have moved the spirit within me, 
Till I am carried away 
Trembling with joy." 

All had listened so intently to Aua's stories of the 
supernatural that none noticed the women had ne^ 
glected their duty, and the la&rps were almost out. It 
was indeed an impressive scene; men and women sat 



A WIZARD AND HIS HOUSEHOLD 35 

in silence, hushed and overwhelmed by the glimpses 
of a spirit world revealed by one of its priests* 

By the I4th of February, our whole party was 
assembled at Itibleriang. The Baffin Land party 
were to stay on for a few days more, walrus hunting; 
the rest of us, who were going south, split up into de- 
tachments ; Miteq and Anarulunguaq went with me. 
Birket-Smith and Bangsted were also with us most 
of the way* 

On a fine sunny morning then February 16 we 
waved goodbye to our comrades and set off homewards. 
This is the first time since leaving Denmark that we 
have been separated for any long or indefinite period, 
and there is much important work to be done in the 
eight months which must elapse before we meet again. 

After three cold days on the road, and warm nights 
in comfortable snow huts, we reached home in a gale 
of wind that is no discredit to this windy region. 
So dense was the whirling snow that the whole of 
the last day's journey was accomplished with bent 
backs and bowed heads; we had literally to creep 
along, following the well-won sledge track ^ith <mr 
noses almost to the ground. It was the only way 
we could be sure of crossing Gore Bay from Qajugfit 
without missing the little island that was our goal. 
When at last we got in, our faces were completely 
coated with ice, all save two small gaps round the 
eyes that just enabled us to see. Oddly enough, 
however, we had no feeling of cold; possibly the 
exertion, with our heavy skin garments, had kept us 
warm, or perhaps the Eskimos are right in declaring 
that "heat comes out of the earth" in a blizzard* 



CHAPTER IV 

FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 

/~\UR route lay southward, to the country of the 
^^ inland Eskimos of the Barren Grounds, with 
Chesterfield, the "Capital" of Hudson Bay, as our 
first objective. 

A last farewell, and off we went, the dogs giving 
tongue gaily as they raced away. We followed the 
old familiar high road down to Repulse Bay. We 
were anxious to make the most of each day's run 
while the dogs were still fresh, and intended therefore 
to make but a short stay at Captain Cleveland's. 
Actually, however, matters turned out otherwise. A 
blizzard from the north-west whirled us down to 
his place, and kept on for three days in a flurry of 
snow that made it impossible to see an arm's length 
ahead. 

At last, when the storm had thrashed itself out, 
we made ready to push on. Our loads weighed some- 
thing like 500 kilos per sledge, and ran heavily. We 
had reckoned, at starting, to make do with the iron 
runners, as generally used in Greenland, but the 
first day's journey showed that they dragged in the 
snow to such a degree that the pace was of the slow- 
est, and would soon spoil the temper of the dogs. 
We had therefore, while at Cleveland's, had recourse 

36 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 37 

to ice-shoeing, a great improvement on the naked 
iron, and a triumph of Eskimo invention. The 
process is complicated, and should be described in 
detail. 

As long as the snow is moist, and the air not too 
cold, iron or steel rttnners make quite good going. 
But as soon as the thermometer falls below 20 C, 
they begin to stick, and the colder it gets, the worse 
it is. The cold makes the snow dry and powdery, 
until it is like driving through sand, the runners 
screeching and whining with the friction, so that 
even light loads are troublesome to move. The 
Eskimos of earlier days of course knew nothing of 
iron runners, but made shift with a patchwork of 
walrus tooth, whalebone or horn, cut and smoothed 
to fit, and lashed under the sledge. These runners 
acted then exactly as does the iron. 

It had, of course, been observed that ice ran easiest 
over snow, and obviously it would be an advantage 
to give the runners a coatnig o fee* . Btffc this was 
not so easy to begia with. Ice *mfflid not hold on 
iron or steel, bone or wood* Uliimately, scmetee 
hit on the idea of coating the runners first of aH with 
a paste made from peat softened in water, and laying 
a thin coat of ice on after. This method at once 
proved eminently successful, and has remained un- 
surpassed for rapid running with heavy loads, despite 
numerous experiments made with other materials by 
various expeditions. It has, however, the disad- 
vantage of being a lengthy and difficult process in 
its application. 

The first requisite is to find the peat; or failing this, 



38 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

lichen or moss. The mass should in any case be 
entirely free from sand or grit. It has then to be 
thawed, crumbled in the hands, mixed with tepid 
water and kneaded to a thick paste which is spread 
on the runners in the form of a ski, broadest in front 
just where the runners curve upward. Even in very 
severe cold it requires a day to freeze thoroughly on, 
and not until then can the coating of ice be applied. 
This is done by smearing it with water, using a brush 
or a piece of hide. The water must be lukewarm, 
as the sudden cooling gives a harder and more dur- 
able form of ice. With this shoeing, even a heavily 
laden sledge will take quite considerable obstacles, 
as long >as the movements are kept fairly smooth, 
avoiding any sudden drop that might crack the coat- 
ing of ice. Should this occur, it is a troublesome 
business to repair it. In the course of a long day's 
journey, the ice gets worn through, and has to be 
renewed once or twice; it is therefore necessary to 
carry water, in order to save the loss of time oc- 
casioned by first melting snow or ice. 

With a good ice shoeing and reasonably level 
ground, even heavy loads will run as smoothly as 
in a slide, without fatiguing the teams. 

It was hopeless, of course, to go out in the blizzard 
himting for peat, so we had recourse to another 
means in this case. Mr. Cleveland had plenty of 
flour at the store; we purchased some of this, and 
worked it up with water into a dough which proved 
excellent for the purpose. And lest any shouJS con- 
sider it a sinful waste of foodstuffs in, a region ill 
provided with the same, I may reassure my readers 




YOUTH AND BEAUTY 
A girl from Repulse Bay, with the big fur hood falling down over one shoulder. 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 39 

with the information that the flour thtis used still 
fulfilled its proper mission in the end. As soon as 
the weather grew milder and ice shoeing was no 
longer needed, the dough was scraped off and given 
to the dogs, who regarded it as a delicacy of the 
highest order. 

We were rather late in starting, and got no farther 
that day than a camp of snow huts on the western 
side of Repulse Bay. Here we were kindly received 
by an old couple who had settled down on the spot 
with their children and nearest of kin. On entering 
their hut, we found, to our astonishment, rosaries 
hung above the blubber lamps and crucifixes stuck 
into the snow walls. Our host, divining the question 
in our minds, explained at once that he had met a 
Roman Catholic missionary far to the south some 
time before, and had been converted with all his 
family. He had formerly been an angakoq himself; 
and it was plain to see ;that he was an honest man, 
earnestly believing in his pow^s aad those he had 
invoked. But, ? ke inforaaed tis, frdoa the moment he 
first listened to the worfs of t&e stranger prfesst* 
his helping spirits seemed to have deserted him; 
doubt entered into his mind, he felt himself alone 
and forsaken, helpless in face of the tasks which had 
called forth his strength in earlier days. At last he 
was baptized, and since then, his mind had been at 
rest. All his nearer relatives had followed his ex- 
ample, and all now seemed anxious to make us un- 
derstand that they were different from the ordi 
heathen we had met. The others of their tribe 
given them the name of Majulasut, which 



40 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

they who crawl upward, as indicating that they had 
already relinquished their foothold upon earth, and 
sought only to find release from the existence to 
which they were born. 

We started early the next morning, there was a 
broad spit of land to cross at Beach Point, and we 
were eager to see how our ice shoeing took it. The 
pace was good enough; but we had hardly begun to 
congratulate ourselves on this before we discovered 
that what we had gained for the dogs we had lost 
for ourselves. Travelling overland in Greenland is 
quite good fun for the most part, and little obstacles 
need not be taken too seriously; the iron runners 
will take no harm from an occasional stone or point 
of rock. Here, however, we have to leap off at the 
first sight of any such hindrance ahead, and guide 
the sledge carefully to avoid damage to the fragile 
covering of ice. Save for this, however, the general 
result is admirable. The sledges glide as if their 
heavy loads were feather light, and we can keep at 
a sharp trot all day, despite the hilly going. It is 
a pleasure to see how little exertion is required on 
the part of the dogs; the sledges run almost by them- 
selves, with just a momentary pull every now and 
again. 

We halted that night on the edge of a lake, and 
bmlt a snow hut for shelter. 

It was a cheerless country we were driving through. 
Everything one saw was like everything else; today's 
jofrney was just yesterday's over again; no moun- 
talfas, only small hills, lakes and level plain. 

Next afternoon, to our great surprise, we met a 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 41 

fellow traveller on the road. A sledge appeared in 
the distance, coming straight towards its, and shortly 
after we had the pleasure of a first encounter with 
the famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Both 
sledges halted as we came together, and a tall, fair 
young man came forward and introduced himself 
as Constable Packett, of the Mounted Police Head- 
quarters at Chesterfield Inlet, on his way out to 
inspect our station, 

It was strange to us to meet with police in these 
regions; and we were at once impressed by the energy 
with which Canada seeks to maintain kw and order 
in the northern lands. The mounted police, a service 
popular throughout the country, has here to relin- 
quish its splendid horses and travel by dog sledge, 
making regular visits of inspection over a wide extent 
of territory. Originally, the headquarters here was 
at Cape Fullertan, a couple of days* journey north- 
east of Chesterfield; tibe whaling vessels used to winter 
there, and the somefwfaat najfoad society of the whakr's 
camp required a good deal of k>o&g after* Tbe 
whaling has now ceased, but the Mcrarbed Pofioe 
remains as a permanent institution in the Canadian 
Arctic, representing the Government of the eodirtry 
and its laws, in regard to white men and Eskimos 
alike. 

I explained to Constable Packett that he would 
find Bosun's wife and some of our Eskimos at the 
station; and recognizing that I could not go back 
with him myself without giving up the journey I 
had planned, he very kindly agreed to make do with 
a report, which I promised to hand in at Chesterfield, 



42 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

instead of reqttiring my personal attendance. He 
himself, however, would have to go on to our head- 
quarters, in accordance with his instructions. 

I confess to being somewhat impressed by the 
Canadian Mounted Police as undaunted travellers. 
Our friend here, for instance, was out for a little run 
of some two thousand kilometres. He reckoned to 
be two and a half months on the way, and during 
the whole of that time, he would have no shelter but 
a snow hut, save for the few days at Captain Cleve- 
land's and our station. We bade him a hearty fare- 
well, and were soon out of sight. 

At noon on the 3rd of April we came up with the 
icebound vessel Fort Chesterfield at Berthie Har- 
bor, a little to the north of Wager Bay. Despite 
all good resolutions as to not breaking the journey 
while it was light enough to see, we found it impossible 
to pass by these cheery seamen's door without a halt. 
Captain Berthie himself was away, investigating the 
possibilities of some new harbor works. I had met 
him before, and spent some days with him on the 
road. Berthie had all the good qualities of the 
French Canadian, and in addition, was thoroughly 
familiar with all forms of travel in the Arctic, and 
speaks Eskimo fluently. His crew, consisting ex- 
clusively of young men from Newfoundland, were 
full of praise for their captain; and entertained us in 
his absence with cheerful hospitality. 

A little village of immigrant Netsilik natives had 
spna&g tip about the vessel, and I took the oppor- 
frBiity of paying them a visit* The oldest inhabitant 
was an ag^d veteran from the region of the North 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 43 

Pole, named Manilaq. He had been a great fighter 
in his day, but was now reduced to resting on his 
laurels. He lived in a big snow hut with his children 
and grandchildren, who still regarded him with great 
respect, treating him indeed, as if he were their chief. 
He was an excellent story-teller, and always sure of 
a large audience* Unfortunately, I had not time 
myself to draw upon his stock of folk lore and per- 
sonal recollections. It was essential to my plans 
that we should get as far on into the Barren Grounds 
as possible while the winter lasted. I hoped, how- 
ever, to have an opportunity of meeting the old 
fellow later. As it turned out, this was not to be. 
A little while after we had left, he committed suicide, 
in the presence of his family, preferring to move to 
the eternal hunting grounds rather than live on 
growing feebler under the burden of days. 

The time passed rapdly BOW, and our sole object 
was to get <m as far ES p6ssibl& W^ took short cuts 
Tfrlierever we could, though tmveffing ov^fend was 
always an anxious business, trnacccistomecl as we 
were at first to the use of this delicate ice-shoeing. 
Thus we cut across the flat country from Berthie 
Harbor due west down to Wager Inlet; the mouth 
of the great fjord here is never frozen over, owing 
to the strength of the current. From here we came 
up on land again, and at last, on the loth of April, 
reached Roe's Welcome, at a bay called Iterdlak. 
We could now follow the coast right down to Chester- 
field, and though the country itself was very monot- 
onous, there was plenty to interest us here. Every 



44 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

time we rounded a headland we eame upon the ruins 
of some old settlement, which were eagerly investi- 
gated. They were not the work of the present popu- 
lation, but of some earlier inhabitants, evidently of 
a high degree of culture and well up in stone archi- 
tecture. The ruins consisted of fallen house walls, 
store-chambers, and tent rings all of stone with 
frameworks for kayaks and umiaks, such as one 
finds in Greenland, where the boats are set up to 
keep the skins from being eaten by the dogs. There 
was evidence of abundant hunting by sea, in the form 
of numerous bones scattered about wherever the 
groiind lay free from snow. Meat cellars were also 
frequently found, and to judge from their size, there 
should have been no lack of food* Every little 
headland was fenced in by stone cairns placed so 
close together that they looked from a distance like 
human beings assembled to bid us welcome. They 
were set out along definite lines across the ground, 
and had once been decked with fluttering rags of 
skin on top, serving to scare the caribou when driven 
down to the coast, where the hunters lay in wait in 
their kayaks, ready to spear them as soon as they took 
to the water* 

All these ruins were the work of the "Tunit"; 
and from all that we could see, this highly developed 
coastal race with their kayaks end umiaks, must 
have been identical with the Eskimos that came into 
Greenland from these regions a thousand years ago. 
Both Miteq and Arnarultik felt thoroughly at home 
ia these surroun<fingsl Much of what they had met 
with among the living natives of the present day was 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 45 

strange to them, but these relics of the dead from a 
bygone age were such as they knew from their own 
everyday life at home. 

We followed the coast southward, keeping close 
in to shore, as the ice here was good and level. On 
the 1 6th of April we passed Cape Fullerton, where 
some empty buildings still remain from the great 
days of the whaling camps, It was late in the 
afternoon, and the sun shone warmly over the spit 
of land, as if in welcome. It was tempting; here we 
could find shelter in a real house if we wished; but 
we had heard that there were natives at Depot Island, 
and our eagerness to meet them outweighed consider- 
ations of mere creature comfort. We drove on, 
therefore, until the twilight forced us to camp on the 
site of a famous rain, known as Inugssivik. It had 
evidently been a big village at one time, and the huge 
stones that had been placed in position showed that 
the folk who Eved there were **ot afraid of hard 
work. Our guide, lattjaq, Informed us that in the 
olden days, there was always war between these 
people here and the tribes from Repulse Bay; 
hostilities had continued throughout a number of 
years, until the villagers here had been entirely 
exterminated. 

Next morning, as soon as it was fully light, we 
perceived a small hillock far to the south amid the 
ice. This was Depot Island, which juts up out of 
the great white expanse like the head of a seal come 
up to breathe. It was some distance away, but we 
hoped to reach it before dark. We have given the 
dogs an easy time lately, and it would do them no 



46 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

harm to let them know we were in a hurry. A good 
driver should have the power of communicating his 
feelings to his team, so that the animals feel his own 
eagerness to get forward in case of need. And it 
was not long before our dogs realized that the old 
steady jogtrot would not do today; something more 
was needed. And accordingly, they were soon at 
full gallop; the sledges, lightened of all the dog-feed 
we had used up since leaving Repulse Bay, flew over 
the ice at such a pace that the occasional jerks at 
the traces threw them sideways on, and us nearly 
off. A little after noon we reached the island, hav- 
ing covered the distance at an average speed of ten 
kilometres an hour. 

It was not long before we came upon fresh sledge 
tracks, and following them down to the coast, drove 
across a little headland without sighting any human 
being. Then suddenly we almost fell down a steep 
incline, and dashed full into a cluster of snow huts 
half buried in loose snow. Wooden frames stood up 
here and there, with skins and inner garments hung 
out to dry or bleach; two fat dogs came out and started 
barking here evidently was the place we had been 
seeking, Miteq ran up to the window and shouted 
down to those within: "Here we are; here we are 
at last," a piece of mischievous fun that brought out 
the inmates at once. There was a confusion of cries 
and shouting, as of women in a flutter, a sound of 
rapid steps along the passage way, and out among us 
tumbled a black girl. A little negro lady as black 
as one could wish to see* 

This was perhaps the most surprising encounter we 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 47 

have experienced up to date. I noticed also, that 
the sight was almost too much for Miteq, who started 
back and stood with wide eyes fixed in wonder on 
the unexpected figure. Here we were come all the 
way from Greenland to seek out other peoples of 
the farthest northern lands; and all of a sudden we 
found ourselves face to face with a child of the tropic 
South; a creature of the sun leaping up out of the 
snow! 

The girl herself was no less astonished at our 
appearance. She retreated hastily into the hut, and 
we stood there waiting in eager anticipation until 
steps once more were heard within, and the girl 
reappeared, this time in company with three older 
women of normal Eskimo type. 

It is often almost a pity to have mysteries ex- 
plained; the whole thisg seems so natural once you 
know how it came about, that there is nothing 
marveHotis or tariffing afcont it afterward.. The 
oldest of the wotneii carae tip <te tis at -om aad 
asfced who we were. When we had mtoodte^a our- 
selves as lucidly as possible, she explained thai her 
husband and those of the other two women were 
out hunting, but should be back in the course of 
the day. She named her companions one by one, 
and when it came to the dark young lady's turn, 
informed us that this was her daughter by a stranger, 
a man who had come to them from a land where it 
was always summer. A remarkable man, she ex- 
plained, one who never went but hunting himself, 
but devoted his life to the task of preparing rare 
feasts and luscious dishes tor his fellows. He iad 



48 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

come to their country on a great ship, and had spent 
the winter in their huts. 

It was all simple enough after this. The girl's 
father had been a negro cook on one of the American 
whalers. 

The dwelling place consisted of three large roomy 
huts, built together. The party here had spent the 
summer and autumn inland, caribou hunting, and 
had moved out in the course of the winter for the 
walrus hunting on the edge of the ice. They had 
done very well, it appeared, at any rate, there was 
an abundance of food of all kinds. A series of store- 
chambers had been built side by side with the living 
rooms, so that by shifting a block of snow, one gained 
access to the larder, the different kinds of meat being 
stored in separate compartments; seal meat, caribou 
meat and salmon, with piles of walrus meat in a 
shed at one side of the passage. We were at once 
invited to take as much meat as we liked for our dogs, 
and while we were feeding them, three pots were set 
on to boil, that we might have our choice of meats 
when it came to our turn. 

In the course of the afternoon, the master of the 
house returned. His name was Inugpasugssuk, and 
he belonged to the Netsilik, as did the rest of the 
party. It was not long before we became firm 
friends. This ready frankness and lack of all reserve 
on the part of the natives was a great asset to me in 
my work. Where else in the world could one come 
tumbling into people's houses without ceremony, 
merely saying that one comes from a country they 
do not know, and forthwith begin to question them 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 49 

on matters which are generally held sacred all 
without the least offence? 

We were now but one day f s journey from Chester- 
field Inlet, and as there seemed to be excellent walrus 
hunting in the neighborhood, I decided to stay here 
for a while. Inugpasugssuk was too valuable a find 
to be dropped all at once. I stayed eight days, in 
the course of which time we went all through the folk- 
lore and legends of the people, without the slightest 
sign of impatience on his part. After we had done 
a hundred of the stories, we agreed that he should 
go with us to Chesterfield, where it would be more 
convenient to write them down. 

We had arrived at Depot Island nearly out of 
provisions, as our arrangements had been made to 
include re-stocking at Chesterfield, and we had not 
reckoned oa making any stay here. As it was, 
however, these good folk, whom we had never seen 
before* pjxwicfed tas with food for the whole party 
five m&n and tw&af^Mbar dpgsr %m*gbw& cmr 
stay, aad seemed to regaj*l it qtdte 3s a siatfer of 
course. 

We were all busily occupied meantime* Araaraltik 
was making new spring jackets for us, as the hard aad 
heavy winter furs would soon be too hot. Miteq 
was out walrus hunting all day with the men of the 
place. At last, when he had got two walrus on his 
own account, I decided to set out for Chesterfield. 
Two sledges belonging to the party here helped us 
to carry our loads of meat, and oap. the 22nd of April, 
a calm, warm sunny day, we started for the white 
men's settlement of which we had heard so 



5 o ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

A couple of hours' journey away, however, we were 
overtaken by a blizzard which came down on us 
so suddenly that we lost sight of the others. It was 
hopeless to go searching about in the dark and the 
driving snow; we camped, therefore, in three separate 
parties, none knowing where the others were, and 
waited for the morning. 

Waking up in fine weather after camping hurriedly 
in a blizzard the night before is always full of sur- 
prises. One sees now, from the tangled tracks, how 
the sledges had been driven this way and that in 
the darkness and the gale, seeming to pick out the 
very worst spots. The last part of our journey on 
the previous night had led us in among a host of 
little reefs and islets, pressure ridges and fissures, 
till we brought up finally on a low point of land 
where a snowdrift offered the site and material for 
a hut. 

Now, all was bathed in the morning sunlight, and 
the fresh April weather gave a brightness to every 
hummock and hill; beyond the farthest flat point to 
the south lay the settlement we had failed to reach. 
Without waiting for the other sledges, we started off, 
making our way slowly across the bay, which was 
deep under snow. Just as we were coming up on 
to the land again, we found ourselves driving in our 
own tracks of yesterday, and realized to our surprise 
that we had been almost in to Chesterfield the night 
before, but with the wind lashing our faces had 
turned off a little from the straight and come round 
in a wide curve. 

The ascent from the bay was thick with sledge 



as 

fc 'S 

H t3 

a 



a 



s 1i 

H 3-tf 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 51 

tracks, and before long the dogs got scent of human 
dwellings. We raced at full speed over some low 
hills, and at last, reaching the main ridge of the 
peninsula, came in sight of the little group of houses 
that form the colony. We opened our eyes at the 
sight; for after our long sojourn among little snow 
hut encampments, this was a city by comparison. 
On the extreme east lay some neat white-painted 
houses belonging to the Hudson's Bay Company, 
forming a kind of suburb in themselves. Then a 
roughly built warehouse a perfect skyscraper it 
seemed to us and then a yellow wooden edifice 
entirely surrounded by snow huts, the open en- 
trances to which gave the whole the appearance of 
a rabbit warren. Now too we perceived the bar- 
racks of the Canadian Mounted Police, in lordly 
isolation on the farther side of a creek which divided 
the town into twb parts. 

Btit t&e otefr tMsig wliicli most of all impressed us 
as civiHzed and city-See was a wooden ckttrch on the 
shore of & tiny lake. It faad a slender tower rising 
above the rest of the buildings, and just as we came 
out on to the lake, the deep, full tones of a bell rang 
out, as if to greet us. The sound of a church bell 
made a deep impression on our minds ; it was as if we 
had passed a thousand years in heathen wilds, and 
now returned to Christendom and peace. 

The bell was ringing for service; and there was 
something affecting in the mere sight of so many 
people moving, in the old accustomed way of a con- 
gregation, slowly, all towards the open doors. 

We drove up to the Hudson's Bay Company's 



52 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

offices and were hospitably received by the Station 
manager, Mr. Phillips. He very kindly invited me 
to stay with him, but this I declined, as it was 
essential that I should live as much as possible among 
the natives in their own free and easy fashion. He 
then at once placed an empty house at our disposal; 
we moved in at once, and revelled in the unaccus- 
tomed luxury of ample room, coal fires and comfort 
generally. Anarulunguaq kept house for us, and we 
decided to live Eskimo fashion on the stores of walrus 
meat we had brought down with us. 

At the Mounted Police barracks I found only a Cor- 
poral at home; Sergeant Douglas, who was in charge 
of the station was away up country investigating a 
dual murder committed by an Eskimo. The last re- 
ports from his patrol stated that travelling was most 
difficult; deep snow, shortage of food for the dogs, 
and starving Eskimos all round. This was poor en- 
couragement to us, who were to follow the same route, 
and farther up country. 

The little church whose bell had greeted us so 
prettily on our arrival belonged to a Roman Catholic 
Mission, under Father Turquetil and two younger 
priests, all Jesuits, highly cultured and most interest- 
ing to talk to. They opened their house to us with 
the greatest hospitality, and I spent many an in- 
structive evening in their company. Father Turque- 
til, a learned man who spoke Eskimo and Latin with 
equal fluency, had lived in these parts for a genera- 
tion, and was greatly looked up to by the natives. 
Converts were not numerous, but the church was 
full every Sunday. 



FINGER-TIPS OF CIVILIZATION 53 

On the 3rd of May we said goodbye and drove our 
separate ways. 

The mild weather brought with it all the ad- 
vantages we had been waiting for so long. The 
snow was moist underfoot, and the stout iron runners 
made as easy going as the troublesome ice shoeing, 
We had already decided to follow the narrow gut 
of Chesterfield Inlet right up to Baker Lake, instead 
of trying short cuts over hilly and unknown country. 

On the morning of the 4th of May we halted to 
camp; the weather fine and calm, temperature a 
little over i degree. For the first time during the 
whole trip we could pitch a tent and call it summer. 

All about we found puddles of dean fresh water 
from the newly melted snow; it was pleasant to 
kneel and drink from these. Along the slopes, the 
snow had vanished already, and we could lie down 
on a Imtjrimts carpet of heather and herbage, eat- 
ing ctimfyerms aad^wfeor^eb^ries by the handful, 
: dmttering ptaiBiigsa twm%$@& about our 



But we had now to mafee tfa0 3fcsl of tfee little 
snow that remained for travelling, and pushed oa 
therefore with all speed, and on the I2th of May we 
arrived at the little island in Baker Lake where 
Birket-Smith had been waiting impatiently for our 
coming. This is the most westerly outpost of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, and the centre of trade for 
all the Barren Grounds Eskimos right out to Hikolig- 
juaq, the Kasan River and the region of the Back 
or Great Fish River. 

We were at once greeted with the good news that 



54 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

there was excellent going on the overland route as 
long as one travelled by night. And, another point 
of equal importance to our progress; the caribou were 
moving up from the south. This was as encouraging 
as could be wished. 

The principal difficulty we had to face was that of 
getting into touch with our fellow men at all. The 
only definite information we could gather on this 
head was, that if we followed the course of the Great 
Kazan River far enough up, we should meet with two 
inland tribes. The nearer of the two was called the 
Harvaqtormiut, or the people of the eddies; farther 
inland, near Lake Yathkied, or Hikoligjuaq, were the 
Padlermiut, or Willow-folk. Where the various 
families were now to be found, no one could say; 
they followed the moving caribou up in the interior. 

We saw no reason to spend any time among the 
people in the neighborhood of Baker Lake, as these, 
the Qaernermiut, had for a long time past had deal- 
ings with the whalers, and much of their original 
character had been lost. We therefore transferred 
our attention without delay to the unknown interior. 




I 

ii 

l! 



1 



CHAPTER V 

A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 

way lay through, a flat, wild, desolate ootm- 
try, with little to guide the stranger. Although 
it was the latter part of May, the snow still covered 
such landmarks as there were, even the rivers were 
indistinguishable from the plains. All was white 
save the southern slopes of the hills where the sun 
had thawed a few bare patches of earth. Hour after 
hour we travelled on, never seeming to get any 
farther, and with an uncomfortable feeling all the 
time that we might be going wrong; as if the- sense 
of c^ee^c^w^eatfaidt. But as a matter of fact, it 
Ottered little wMdb^rectioa we took, for from the 
d&y we left the coast .we had realised that BO iafocnfta- 
tion could be gleaned even from a&& setttemeiit as 
to the position of another, since the various parties 
were always on the move, taking up their quarters 
here or there according to the movements of the game. 
On the i8th of May we camped on the top of a 
ridge of hills, looking- out over a wide landscape which, 
while still under snow, resembles in many ways the 
inland ice of Greenland, save that moraine takes 
the place of ice. Isolated masses of rock rising up 
here and there amid the iimumerable lakes and 
streams, remind one of the Greenland nunataks: 

55 



56 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

mountain tops thrust up above the submerging flood 
of ice. There are ridges and ranges of hills here, 
too, as in Greenland, at intervals on the way, until 
one reaches farther into the interior, when all is 
merged into one vast level plain. 

Standing outside the tent one feels the country 
like a desert. There is not a sign of life; all game 
seems to be extinct at this season of the year. No 
white man ever comes here; unless some crime or 
other calls for the presence of the ubiquitous Mounted 
Police. Only a few days back we had heard about 
Sergeant Douglas' last excursion in quest of a local 
murderer. He had been up in the coldest season, 
when the prevalent north-west winds give a degree 
of cold that few places in the world can surpass. 
Everywhere he had met with starving natives, mov- 
ing vainly from place to place in search of food. 
The caribou had disappeared, the salmon had left 
the rivers and lakes, and all their hunting failed to 
yield the barest means of livelihood. The police 
patrol itself had found the greatest difficulty in 
getting through to the coast, the dogs being ready 
to drop with weakness and fatigue; and Douglas 
himself was known as a clever and experienced 
traveller. 

Toward evening the desolate landscape was tinged 
with beauty. Light and shade stood out sharply 
contrasted; but as the sun went down, and all melted 
and merged into white billows of snow, one was again 
reminded of the inland ice. Following Chesterfield 
Inlet, and afterwards Baker Lake, we had not this 
impression of a vast expanse, but here, with nothing 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 57 

but land to see on every side, we began to realize 
that these are indeed the Barren Grounds. 

Geologically speaking, these are the ruins of what 
was once a mountainous country, the mountains 
having been gradually worn away in the course of 
-millions of years. The disintegrating force of alter- 
nating heat and cold, action of water, and the rest, 
have done their work. In the glacial period, a great 
ice-cap, the Keewatin Glacier, covered all the land. 
The ice has rounded off all projecting summits, worn 
away all softer parts, and strewn boulders, great and 
small, over the whole, until we have now a tract of 
primitive rock, buried beneath a thick layer of 
moraine deposit; day sand and gravel, with only a 
solitary peak, or its worn remains, jutting up here 
and there, 

On tfee I9tfa of May, we passed the first settlement 
of the Harvaqtomitit, the People of the Eddies. We 
have decided, however, to t&e the gen&rai term, 
Caribou Eskimos, for all thesa inland tribes, the 
caribou being the principal factor in their Hfe* 

We had made excellent going up to now, the snow 
firm as a dancing floor under the night's frost. Be- 
ing, however, four men to one sledge, and that with 
a heavy load, I preferred to go ahead on ski. We 
had just topped a rise when to our surprise we dis- 
covered a village down by the shore of a tiny lake, 
with people running in and out of their snow huts 
in confusion; alarmed, it would seem, at our appear- 
ance on the scene. When we reached the huts, all 
the women and children had disappeared, and only 



58 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

two men remained outside, seated on a block of 
snow, back to back, ready to receive us. Evidently, 
they were not sure we came as friends. Our whole 
equipment, with the Greenland sledges and dogs, 
would be strange to them; they might take us per- 
haps for a party of the Kitdlinermiut from the shores 
of the Arctic, or Indians from somewhere up country. 
Both these they regarded as enemies, the Indians 
especially, as we learned later on, being looked upon 
with dread. For centuries past, the Eskimos and 
the Indians had been at feud, and the atrocities on 
both sides were not yet forgotten. 

While at Baker Lake, I had met a man from the 
shores of the Arctic, who informed me that there 
was a special form of greeting used when encounter- 
ing any of the inland Eskimo. The natives from 
the coast often went all the way down from the region 
of the North-west Passage to the timber belt, in 
quest of wood. And it was their custom on meeting 
the inland folk, to say at once: Ilorrainik tikitunga, 
which means: "I come from the right side" i.e., 
from the proper, friendly, quarter. 

I shouted the conventional greeting accordingly, 
at the top of my voice; and hardly were the words 
out of nay mouth when the two men sprang up with 
loud cries and came running towards us, while the 
remainder of the party came tumbling out from then- 
huts. 

We now learned that the place was called Tugdliu- 
vartaliik, the Lake of Many Loons, They had had 
a very severe winter, and numbers of men and dogs 
aEke had died of hunger in various parts. They 




PUKERDLUK, CHIEF OF THE PEOPLE OF THE EDDIES 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 59 

had camped throughout the winter on the eastern 
side of the Kazan River, and had now moved west 
to meet the caribou coming from the south. Two 
sledges had been sent out to a neighboring settle- 
ment on the Kazan River, at Nahigtartorvik, or 
The Outlook; from here the caribou could be seen 
as soon as their advance guard appeared. This being 
duly reported to the camp, the whole party would 
move off and shift their quarters to fresh hunting 
grounds. 

Despite the fact that we were but a few days jour- 
ney from the trading station at Baker Lake, we found 
that some of the women and children here had never 
seen white men before. Our cameras were regarded 
with the greatest astonishment, and a peep through 
the finder seemed a marvel beyond words. The 
people here were anxious to trade, and brought 
along their stores of fox skins, asking in return, how- 
ever, our most Indispensable pots and pans. When 
we dedmed to barter these, aM explained that we 
did not care for fox skins, but Would rather have old 
clothes, hunting implements aad other curios of 
ethnographical interest, it was plain to see that we 
had fallen in their estimation. 

We halted for a few hours, made some tea aad 
some pancakes, and on this simple menu stood 
treat to the whole village. While the impromptu 
banquet was in progress, in came the two sledges 
which had been sent out reconnoitring. Long before 
they reached us we could hear the men shouting: 
"The caribou are coming; the caribou are coming "; 
and in a moment the entire assembly was in a tur- 



6o ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

moil of extravagant rejoicing. Here was the end of 
winter; the caribou were come, and with them sum- 
mer and its abundance. And one can imagine what 
this means to people who have struggled through a 
whole long winter in the merciless cold of their snow 
huts, with barely food enough to keep them alive. 

On leaving Baker Lake, we had laid our course 
over land in a curve to the south-east of the Kazan 
River, having learned that it was inadvisable to 
follow the lower reaches of the river itself. Now, 
however, we had to move down to the river in order 
to get into touch with the natives. One of the young 
men who had just come in offered to go with us to 
the next village as a guide, and with his aid, we soon 
reached the river, which was fairly broad at this 
point. We crossed over to the spot where the village 
had been, but found the place deserted; the party 
had gone off after the caribou, We then sent our 
guide back at once, and went farther up country, 
in the hope that we might again manage unaided 
to get into touch with people here. 

The Barren Grounds were now so thick with game 
that it was hard to make any progress by sledge 
with dogs used to hunting. Herds of caribou came 
trotting by, great and small, one after another, 
numbering from fifteen or twenty-five to fifty, some- 
times over two hundred head* 

Although it was late in June, we again had win- 
ter for a spell. The snow had frozen hard again, 
caking over everything, and we cotild make better 
going now. We followed the winding river through 
the low-lying country, where the stream itself re- 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 61 

peatedly spread out to great width. Here and there 
the water had begun to eat its way up through the 
ice, and we had to be very careful in. the neighbor- 
hood of these eddies. Towards evening we came 
upon a deserted snow hut, a sure sign that there were 
people not very far away. But where? There was 
a confusion of sledge tracks to choose from, but 
most of them pointed in a direction opposite to that 
we were inclined to take. 

We had left the river now and had reached a lake 
of such extent that it could hardly be any but Hiko- 
ligjuaq itself where the Padlermiut were supposed 
to have their summer camp. We had followed the 
eastern bank of the river, as advised, and now at 
last a man appeared on the summit of a hill, watching 
us intently. We stopped and waved to him; he an- 
swered by stretching out both arms, a sign which 
said he is a friend. We drove forward accordingly, 
and soon arrived at his catojx 

Here at last we found we &a4 reached our goal. 
We were among the Padleranat, the W2k>w-Fofe^ 
the head tribe of the Caribou Eskimos. 

It was a tiny camp, consisting for the moment erf 
but three tents. Igjugarjuk, the head of the party, 
unlike the majority of his fellows, greeted us with 
fearless cordiality, and his jovial smile won our hearts 
at the outset. I knew a good deal about him, 
already, from his neighbors on the Kazan River, 
and had heard the story of how he procured his first 
wife. It was, to say the least, somewhat drastic, 
even by Eskimo standards, He had been refused 
permission to marry her, and therefore went out one 



62 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

day with his brother and lay in wait at the entrance 
to the lady's hut, and from there shot down her 
father, mother, brothers and sisters seven or -eight 
persons in all, until only his chosen herself was left. 
I was somewhat surprised then, to find a man of 
his temper and antecedents introducing himself im- 
mediately on our arrival as the accredited repre- 
sentative of law and order. He handed me a docu- 
ment with the seal of the Canadian Government, 
dated from his camp in April, 1921, when the police 
had visited there in search .of a criminal. Briefly, 
it set forth that the bearer, one Ed-joa-juk (Igjugar- 
juk) of She-ko-lig-jou-ak, was by the undersigned, 
Albert E. Reames, His Majesty's Justice of the 
Peace in and for the North-west Territory, hereby 
appointed Special Constable in and for the said 
territory for the purpose of bringing to justice one 
Quaugvak, of the Padlermiut, the said Quaugvak 
being accused of two murders . , . 

I read through the document with due solemnity, 
and handed him in return a bit of old newspaper 
from a parcel. He took it with great dignity, and 
studied it with the same attention I had given to his. 
And from that moment we were friends, with perfect 
confidence in each other. 

As a matter of fact, Igjujarjuk was no humbug; 
and when I run over in my mind the many different 
characters I met with on that long journey from 
Greenland to Siberia, he takes a prominent place. 
He was clever, independent, intelligent, and a man 
of great authority among his fellows. 

He invited us at once into one of his tents; and we 




IGJUGARJUK, CHIEF OF THE WILLOW FOLK AND A NOTABLE WIZARD 

He fell in love with our Greenland dress at first sight, and we had to present him with a costume. He 
would never consent to be photographed in his own caribou-skin dress. 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 63 

found that as befitted Ms position, he had two wives. 
The elder of the two, Kivkarjuk, the cause of the 
massacre above mentioned, was now dethroned by 
a younger beauty named Atqaralaq, and it was to 
her tent we were now invited. 

To my great relief, the famine we had expected to 
encounter was already a thing of the past. In front 
of the tents lay a pile of dead caribou, so many indeed 
that it was difficult to count them. A month before, 
the people here had been on the verge of starvation, 
but now all was changed. Igjugarjuk at once gave 
orders for an extravagant banquet in our honor, 
and two large caribou were put on to boil in huge 
zinc cauldrons. 

I had expected to find these people living in quite 
a primitive state, and in this respect, was disappointed 
beyond measure. What we did find was the worst 
kind of tinpot store and canned provision culture; 
a product of trading expeditions to the distant Hud- 
son's Bay Company's Sfcaticms. And when a power- 
ful gramophone struck up, and Caruso's mighty voice 
rang out from Igjugarjuk's tent, I felt that we had 
missed our market, as far as the study of these people 
was concerned. We were about a hundred years too 
late. Save for their appearance, which was of pro- 
nounced Eskimo type, they were more like Indians 
than Eskimos. Their tents were of the pointed 
Indian pattern, made of caribou skins with a smoke 
hole at the top, and in each, on the left hand side, 
burned the Uvkak, or tent fire. All the women 
wore colored shawls over their skin dresses, just 
as the Indian women do; and to my astonishment 



64 A CROSS ARCTIC A MERICA 

I found that they wore watches, hung round their 
necks. These ornaments, however, were divided up 
among the party, some wearing the case, others 
going shares in the works. 

The only unadulterated Eskimo element we had 
to work on was the language; and to the satisfaction 
of both parties, we found that our Greenland tongue 
was understood immediately, though there was natur- 
ally some difference in pronunciation and idiom. 
Igjugarjuk, who was not beyond flattering a guest, 
declared that I was the first white man he had ever 
seen who was also an Eskimo. 

The banquet took some time to prepare, and while 
it was being got ready, we went out to feed our dogs. 
This gave rise to astonishment not unmixed with 
horror among our hosts. We had still some of the 
walrus meat we had brought up from the coast, and 
this we now brought out. But no such meat had 
ever been seen on Lake Yathkied, and strange meat 
was strictly tabu. Here was a difficulty. Igjugar- 
juk, however, whose travels had made him somewhat 
a man of the world, met the situation with tact. 
The young men of his party, he declared, must on 
no account touch the strange meat, but there would 
be no harm in our cutting it up ourselves, and feeding 
ouj own team with it, as long as we used our own 
knives. 

This little episode showed that our friends were 
not so hopelessly civilized after all. And when one 
of the young men, named Pingoaq, came up and 
asked me whether seal had horns like the caribou, I 
forgot my disappointment altogether. True, tango 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 65 

melodies were now welling forth from the gramo- 
phone, and the meat for our dinner was seething in 
genuine imported ironmongery; yet these people were 
plainly different in manners and habit of mind from 
the ordinary type of Eskimo to whom seal and walrus 
are the main factor in everyday life. And though 
I was aware that white men had visited these regions 
before, I knew also that no one had yet made a 
thorough study of the people here. 

My meditations were interrupted by a shout in- 
forming the whole camp that dinner was ready. 
I have sat down to many a barbaric feast among 
Eskimos in my time, but I have never seen anything 
to equal this. Only the elders used knives, the 
younger members of the party simply tore the meat 
from the bones in the same voracious fashion which 
we may imagine to have been the custom of our 
earliest ancestors. Besides 1&e two caribou, a num- 
ber of heads had b^^opkse*!, and one was served 
OH to eadi meaaBer ofcte* party, *Hie Jfeads weare 
an extra, aad we were allowed to Is6&p tfoeto tii 
after, to eat in our own tent, on condition that none 
of the leavings should under any circumstances be 
touched by women or dogs. The muzzle especially 
was regarded as sacred meat, which must not be 
defiled. 

Then came dessert; but this was literally more 
than we could swallow. It consisted of the larvae 
of the caribou fly, great fat maggoty things served up 
raw just as they had been picked out from the sVm 
of the beasts when shot. They lay squirming on a 
platter like a tin of huge gentles, and gave a nasty 



66 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

little crunch under the teeth, like crushing a black- 
beetle. 

Igjugarjuk, ever watchful, noted my embarrass- 
ment and observed kindly : "No one will be offended 
if you do not understand our food; we all have our 
different customs/ ' But he added a trifle mali- 
ciously: "After all, you have just been eating cari- 
bou meat; and what are these but a sort of little 
eggs nourished on the juices of that meat?" 

That same afternoon a whole party of sledges came 
in from an island out in the lake. It was a remark- 
able procession to any accustomed to the Eskimos 
of the coast and their swift teams. Here were six 
heavily laden sledges, fastened three and three, each 
section drawn by two dogs only, men and women 
aiding. The only person allowed to travel as a 
passenger was an old woman, a mummy-like figure, 
very aged, and generally looked up to among the 
Padlermiut on account of her knowledge of tabu and 
wisdom generally. The fact that she was Igjugar- 
juk's mother-in-law doubtless counted for something 
as well. 

By the time we had been there one day we began 
to feel ourselves at our ease among these strange folk. 
They treated us, apparently, with entire confidence, 
and endeavored in every way to satisfy our curiosity, 
In the evening, I ventured to touch on my special 
subject, and explained to Igjugarjuk, who was famous 
as an angakoq throughout the whole of the Barren 
Grounds, that I was most anxious to learn something 
of their ideas about life, their religion and their folk- 
lore. But here I was brought up short. He an- 




tf 

i 



CO 

K 



I 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 67 

swered abruptly that he was an ignorant man, know- 
ing nothing of his people and its past; if any had said 
he was an angakoq, they lied. 

I realized that I was going too fast, and had not 
yet gained the confidence of my host in full- 
It was well on in the forenoon before we turned out 
on the following morning, and Igjugarjuk at once 
volunteered to show me the country round. 

Just behind the camp was a high range of hills, 
and from here one had an excellent view of the sur- 
roundings. The lake, I found, was enormous, the 
low-lying coasts vanishing away into the horizon; 
it looked more like the sea than an inland water. 
The Indians call it Lake Yathkied, but the Eskimo 
name is Hikoligjuaq, . which means the great water 
with ice that never melts. The name is justified 
by the fact that the ice in the middle of the lake 
rarely if ever thaws away completely. 

Igjugarjuk drew for me with surprising readiness 
a chart of the lake and its shores, noting the names 
of all the different settJeaamts. A g^oaratioii or so 
earlier, there had been some 600 people Ifcre; now 
there were hardly 100. The introduction of firearms 
has affected the movements of the caribou, and the 
animals have begun to avoid their old routes and 
crossings; and when the caribou hunting fails, it 
means famine to the Eskimo. 

The weather was wonderful; the brutal change on 
change with snow, storm and rain was gone, and 
everything was at peace. The ice of the lake had 
melted close to the mouth of the river, and the heavy 
tumbled winter ice made way in its midst for a 



68 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

smooth sheet of water with a veil of warm mist above. 
Hosts of swimming birds had found a playground 
here, and laughed and chattered as new flocks 
alighted* 

On land, one heard all around the little singing 
sound of melting snow; and the daylight beat so 
fiercely on the whiteness of the lake that one had to 
shade one's eyes. Spring had come to the Barren 
Grounds, and soon earth and flowers would realise 
out of the snow. 

Small herds of caribou on the move approached 
within easy distance; but today we were friendly 
observers only, and felt nothing of the hunter's 
quickened pulse on seeing them at close range. We 
had meat enough for the present. 

Here again we found the stone barriers, shelters 
and clumsy figures built to represent a human form, 
with a lump of peat for a head relics of the days 
when caribou hunting was carried on systematically 
by driving the animals down to the water, where 
the kayak men were ready to f all upon them with 
the spear. 

With the introduction of firearms, this method of 
hunting has gone out of fashion, and there will 
soon be hardly a kayak left in the Barren Grounds. 
But not mapy years ago, these inland people were 
as bold and skilful in the management of a kayak 
as any of the natives on the coast. 

Igjugarjuk and I walked down towards the camp. 
Far out on the horizon one could see the extreme fringe 
of the forest, but the sunlight was deceptive, and I 
could hardly make out for certain whether it were trees 



A PEOPLE BEYOND THE TOUCH 69 

or hill. I asked Igjugarjtik, and he answered at once: 
"Napartut" (the ones that stand up). "Not the 
true forest where we fetch wood for our long sledges; 
that is farther still. It is our belief that the trees in 
a forest are living beings, only that they cannot 
speak; and for that reason we are loth to spend the 
night among them. And those who have at some 
time had to do so, say that at night, one can hear a 
whispering and groaning among the trees, in a lan- 
guage beyond our understanding." 

All the wild creatures were greeting the spring 
in their mute, humble fashion. We could see hares 
and lemmings, ermine and marmot snuggling up in 
the tall grass, with never a thought of feeding, but 
only enjoying the light and warmth. They were 
dreaming of an eternal summer, and gave themselves 
up to the delight of the moment, forgetting all their 
mortal enemies. Even the wolves, forever lying in 
wait at other seasons, BOW resdfted to thedr old den 
and gave themselves tip to domestic bliss. In a 
fortnight there would be a litter of cubs to look 
after, and the parents then must take turns to go 
abroad, for the foxes are quick to scent out anything 
in the shape of young, even when the sun is at its 
hottest. 

But by the open waters of the lake there was an 
incessant chattering among the gulls and terns and 
duck who cannot make out why the loon should 
always utter such a mournful cry in its happiest 
moments. There was a blessedness of life and growth 
here in the spring, when the long-frozen earth at 



70 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

last breathed warm and soft and moist, and plants 
could stretch their roots in the soil and their branches 
above. The sand by the river bank gleamed white; 
showing clearly the footprints of the cranes as they 
moved. All the birds were talking at once, heedless 
of what was going on around them, until a flock of 
wild geese came swooping down, raising a mighty 
commotion in the water as they alighted. And in 
face of these, the smaller fry were silent and abashed. 
But who can paint the sounds of spring? The nature 
lover will not attempt it, but will be content to 
breathe its fragrance with rejoicing. 

The sun was low on the horizon, the sky and the 
land all kround aglow with flaming color. 

"A youth is dead and gone up into the sky," said 
Igjugarjuk. "And the Great Spirit colors earth 
and sky with a joyful red to receive his soul." 



CHAPTER VI 

NOMAD'S LIFE IN THE BARREN GROUNDS 

A FTER our first introduction here, I allowed a 
**^ few days to pass without pressing my actual 
errand, spending the time in hunting and bartering 
a little for ethnographical material* I realized that 
it would take some time to gain the complete con- 
fidence of the natives here. 

We lived in our own tent. Among the natives of 
the coast we had always preferred as far as possible 
to live in the houses of tie natives as we found 
them, which gave us a better chance of making friends 
and being regarded as ffles&b^s of lie family. In 
the present instance, however* we kept to our own 
quarters, not only because we 2^,&j|QBe time, but 
also because our hosts here were? 4x> ptrt tfc i&ilc8y 
so uncleanly in their habits that it would have been 
difficult to accommodate ourselves to such conditions. 

The men were leading a life of idleness just at 
present, but the women were busy; we were indeed 
astonished at the amount of work which fell to their 
share. It was the women who went out gathering 
fuel, often from a considerable distance, which meant 
heavy toiling through the swampy soil; they had also 
to skin and cut up all the caribou brought in, aqd 

71 



72 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

attend to the fires and the cooking. Their hard 
life had set its mark upon them; it was not always 
age, but often simply toil, that had wrinkled their 
faces; their eyes were often red and rheumy from 
the smoke of the fires, their hands coarse and filthy, 
with long, coarse nails. Their womanly charm had 
been sacrificed on the altar of domestic utility; none 
the less, they were always happy and contented, with 
a ready laugh in return for any jest or kindly word. 
It suited our purpose well enough that the men 
were idle, as we had thus more opportunities of 
gathering the information we sought. In regard to 
all matters of everyday life they were willing enough 
to tell us all they knew. The thing which most of 
all impressed us was their entire independence of the 
sea. True, they had had some dealings with the 
natives of the coast districts, a few having made 
journeys for purposes of trade, but many of the men 
here had never even seen the sea. And this also 
accounted for the fact that all sea meat was strictly 
tabu. Old men were of opinion that their forefathers 
had always lived inland, their sole means of livelihood 
being based on caribou, salmon, and birds. Nor 
was there anything in their material culture to sug- 
gest any previous acquaintance with the sea. During 
the past generation, however, intercourse with neigh- 
boring tribes had been somewhat more general, and 
$here had lately been some emigration from the 
southern end of Hikoligjuag down over the great 
lakes to the coast at Eskimo Point. The country 
here was now inhabited by natives from the inland 
districts. Nevertheless, the natives with whom we 




W +; 
ffl is 



9 



NOMAD'S LIFE 73 

were living at present seemed for the most part to 
regard it as inconceivable that anyone could prefer 
the blubbery, evil-smelling beasts of the sea to the 
splendid game that was to be had on land. 

Each hunter had a modern rifle, and there was no 
difficulty in catching foxes enough to pay for the 
ammunition required. But they did not seem to 
realize that the use of firearms was in itself largely 
responsible for the frequent periods of famine. In 
the olden days, it is true, hunting was more confined 
to certain definite seasons; but the ingenious methods 
and implements of capture gave so rich a yield as 
to cover also the dead seasons when no game was 
to be had, as long as the hunting had been fairly 
good and sufficient meat stored for the winter. 

The first essential was to find a site for the village 
directly on the route followed by the caribou in their 
migrations, and as these routes differed for spring 
and autumn, the natives led a somewhat nomadic 
existence. They always returned, however, to the 
same spots, as extensive preparations were needed. 
Hundreds of stone cairns had to be erected covering 
a range of several kilometres, and the ground had 
to be chosen so that the caribou could be driven in 
exactly the direction required. Hunting in the open 
with bow and arrow gave but a poor return; it was 
necessary to work up within close range of the 
animals, which might be a matter of days. And 
one could never reckon on bringing down more than 
a couple of head, even where the herds were numer- 
ous. 

The caribou were shy, and the bow was only 



74 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

effective at short range. This difficulty was met 
by the following arrangement: 

Oblong boulders were set up, or stone cairns built, 
in two lines, forming an avenue. On top of each 
stone, or heap of stones, was set a lump of peat or 
tuft of grass, to look like a head. The avenue was 
very broad at one end, and so placed that the caribou 
in flight, coming over a hill, would find themselves 
between the two lines of figures. Behind were 
women and children acting as beaters, waving gar- 
ments and shouting like wolves. The animals seeing 
themselves, as it appeared, pursued by their enemies 
from the rear and hemmed in by a line on either 
side, had no choice but to go straight ahead. As 
they did so, the space between the lines narrowed in, 
like an old-fashioned duck decoy, and at the farther 
end, shelters were built where the hunters lay in 
wait. The caribou had now to pass within dose 
range of the shelters, and the hunters were able to 
take toll of them on the way. 

The same system of stone figures was employed 
on the lakes and rivers, at spots where the caribou 
were accustomed to take to the water. In this 
case, however, the hunters would lie in wait on the 
shore, ready to put out in their kayaks. Caribou 
do not swim very fast, and it was then an easy matter 
to overtake them and kill them with the spears 
which were specially fashioned for this form of hunt- 
ing. Given a broad crossing place and numerous 
herds, great numbers could be slain in this manner, 
till the water was choked with the bodies. Some 
were also taken in winter, in regions where they 



NOMAD'S LIFE 75 

were to be found at that season, by a system of pit- 
falls. 

Compared with the caribou, all other forms of 
game were but of minor importance. Fish were 
caught by spearing or with hook and line; birds, 
hares, lemmings and marmot taken in snares. The 
feathered game was mostly hunted in the autumn, 
when the birds are moulting and cannot rise easily. 
They are then pursued on the water in kayaks, and 
killed with small harpoons. 

Unfortunately, the kayak is now being superseded 
altogether by the gun, and it will not be long before 
kayaks are a thing of the past. The gun has im- 
mediate advantages, but it is doubtful whether it 
pays better in the long run. Naturally, it is tempt- 
ing to employ a weapon which does away with the 
need for elaborate preparation of dummies and 
shelters, and there is little difficulty on thinning out 
the herds with a long-range rifle. But it should be 
borne in mind that arrow and spear did their work 
silently, and without scaring the i^est, so that the 
caribou continued for centuries to follow the same 
routes from the forests to the Barren Grounds and 
back again. Now, since the introduction of fire- 
arms, a change seems to have taken place in this 
respect; the animals tend more and more to avoid 
the native villages, and famine has frequently re- 
sulted. In some districts, during the last few years, 
the inhabitants have been completely exterminated 
by starvation. 

Another difficulty which the Caribou Eskimos have 
to reckon with is the fact that the moving of the 



76 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

caribou in summer and autumn comes just at those 
seasons when travelling is most difficult. The great 
stretches of tundra are a pathless waste, and the 
rivers are available only as their course lies, often 
tending in the wrong direction for pursuit of the 
caribou. It is not until late in the autumn, when 
the rivers and lakes are frozen over, and the country 
is covered with snow, that they are able to cover 
any distance; but under these conditions, they are 
splendid travellers, skilful and untiring. In the days 
before the trading stations were established at Baker 
Lake and Eskimo Point, they would go south as 
far as Fort Churchill, and west to the region of 
Schultz Lake and Aberdeen Lake, Here they had 
their meeting place at the famous Akilineq, a ridge 
of hills south of the great lakes in the neighborhood 
of the Thelon River. Here they procured timber 
for sledges, kayaks and tent poles, from Lake Tiv- 
salik, where great tree trunks, brought down by the 
river from far up country, were washed ashore. One 
can imagine the patience required in those old days 
for any kind of wood work, when the only tools 
available were odd scraps of iron. Now, of course, 
the saw is generally in use; and sawn timber cut to 
standard sizes can be obtained at the trading stations. 
Akilineq was the meeting place for the natives 
from Baker Lake and Kazan River, who encountered 
here the tribes from regions so far distant as the 
North-west Passage, likewise coming up in search 
of timber. There was naturally a good deal of trad- 
ing between the different tribes thus brought into 
contact. The inland folk traded white men's goods 




TATILGAQ, WHO DESCRIBED THE NATIVE METHODS OF HUNTING 



NOMAD'S LIFE 77 

brought from Churchill, mostly knives, in exchange 
for seal skin thongs which were in great demand. 

There were also forests by the shores of these 
lakes, but as the trees were regarded as living beings, 
they were rarely visited. There was a widely cur- 
rent tradition, of ancient date, that the tree-folk 
would not suffer any human being among them for 
more than ten nights. 

It says much for the sfcifl and endurance of the 
Eskimos as travellers that these long journeys were 
made with very small teams, rarely more than two, 
and never more than five dogs, owing to the diffi- 
culty of procuring food for the animals. Both men 
and women, however, were hardy walkers, and would 
cheerfully harness themselves to the sledge and haul 
as well as any dog. Despite their small teams, these 
natives here use, curiously enough the longest sledges 
known to exist anywhere; tea metres in le&gth by 
only 43 centitnetres across are by BO means utiusttal 



they were easy to hatil, and tfaeir le&gtii macte 
steadiness and buoyancy in soft loose s&ow. 

We were anxious to ascertain whether any stone 
houses existed up inland, such as we had found all 
along the coast; our informants here, however, were 
positive that none such had ever been seen. Houses 
of this type would also be inconsistent with their 
mode of Hf e, which involved a constant moving from 
place to place at certain seasons of the year. 

The only form of winter dwelling known to the 
inland Eskimo is the snow hut; but having o oil or 
blubber, they are unable to heat them, though the 



78 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

thermometer in the cold season may often fall below 
minus 50. During the long, dark evenings, their 
only light is a sort of primitive tallow dip, made of 
moss and caribou fat. So hardy, however, are these 
people that they declare they never feel cold indoors, 
however severe the weather may be; and their houses 
are also protected against the blizzards by being 
simply smothered in snow, till they are hardly dis- 
tinguishable from the drift in which they are built. 

Just outside the living room proper, and connected 
with it by a passage is the so-called iga, or kitchen, 
built straight tip with steep walls, to prevent the 
snow from melting. Here the food is cooked, when 
any fuel is available; this, however, is by no means 
an everyday occurrence when the whole country lies 
deep in snow. For days in succession they may 
have to make do with frozen meat, and not even a 
mouthful of hot soup to help it down. 

Water supply is ensured by building the snow hut 
close to the shore of a lake, and a hole is kept open 
in the ice all through the winter, a small snow hut 
being built above the opening to keep it from freez- 
ing. Like all other Eskimos living exclusively on 
meat, these inland folk drink enormous quantities 
of water. 

The only serious difficulty they have to contend 
with is that they have no means of getting their 
footwear dried after a long day's hunting. If they 
have skins enough, the wet things are thrown away 
and replaced by new ones; failing this, the old wet 
things have to be dried at night by laying them next 
to the body. 



NOMAD'S LIFE 79 

In May, the snow huts begin to melt, and tents are 
then called into requisition, often of great size and 
magnificence, made on the Indian pattern, with 
smoke hole at the top, and of caribou skin through- 
out. In front of the house-wife's seat is the fireplace, 
and all meals are cooked here, inside the tent, the 
weather as a rule being very windy. One might 
imagine that the moving into tents meant a period 
of comfort and ease; this, however, is by no means 
the case. The cooking indoors precludes the use 
of a curtain at the entrance, and one has thus either 
to sit in a roaring draught, or in a smother of smoke 
from the fireplace. Often we had to jump up half 
stifled and hurry outside to breathe, though the rest 
of the inmates appeared to find no discomfort from 
the atmosphere. 

This, roughly, is the ordinary everyday life of the 
inland Eskimos, probably the hardiest people in the 
world. Their country is such as to offer but a bare 
existe&ce tinder the hardest possible conditions, and 
yet they think it the best that could be found. 
What most impressed us was the constant change 
from one to another extreme; either they are on the 
verge of starvation, or wallowing in a luxury of 
abundance which renders them oblivious of hard 
times past, and heedless of those that await them 
in the next winter's dark. 

Igjugarjuk, who had so vehemently asserted that 
he was no magician, and knew nothing of the past 
history of his people, soon changed over when he 
found that he could trust me, and realized that I was 
earnestly interested in such matters. And in the 



8o ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

end, I learned from him a great deal about aspects of 
Eskimo culture which were quite new to me. 

I found it impossible to get a clear and coherent 
account of their religious beliefs; as soon as one began 
to ask about matters outside the sphere of tangible 
reality, the views expressed were so contradictory 
that one could make nothing of them together. 
Nothing definite was known, nor did it seem to matter 
that the wise men of the tribe held different views 
one from another; the one thing certain was, that all 
study of such matters was attended with the greatest 
difficulty, and much remained beyond our knowledge. 
The general view of life after death is best shown in 
the following story, which was told to me by Kiv- 
karjuk: 

" Heaven is a great country with many holes in. 
These holes we call the stars. Many people live 
there, and whenever they upset anything, it falls 
down through the stars in the form of rain or snow. 
Up in the land of heaven live the souls of dead 
men and beasts, under the Lord of Heaven, Tapasum 
Inua, 

II The souls of men and beasts are brought down to 
earth by the moon. This is done when the moon is 
not to be seen in the sky; it is then on its way to 
earth, bringing souls. After death, we do not al- 
ways remain as we were during life; the souls of men, 
for instance, may turn into all kinds of animals. 
Pinga looks after the souls of animals, and does not 
like to see too many of them killed. Nothing is 
lost; and blood and entrails must be covered up alter 
a caribou has been killed. 

11 So we see that life is endless ; only we do not know 
in what form we shall reappear after death/ 1 



NOMAD'S LIFE 81 

The easiest way to learn, of course, was to inquire 
of an angakoq, and in the course of my long conver- 
sations with Igjugarjuk I learned many interesting 
things. His theories, however, were so simple and 
straightforward that they sound strikingly modern; 
his whole view of life may be summed up in his own 
words as follows: "All true wisdom is only to be 
learned far from the dwellings of men, out in the 
great solitudes; and is only to be attained through 
suffering. Privation and suffering are the only things 
that can open the mind of man to those things which 
are hidden from others." 

A man does not become an angakoq because he 
wishes it himself, but because certain mysterious 
powers in the universe convey to him the impression 
that he has been chosen, and this takes place as a 
revelation in a dream. 

This mysterious force which plays so great a part 
in men's fate, is called Sila, and is very difficult to 
define, or even to translate. The word has three 
meanings: the universe; the weather, and finally, a 
mixture of common sense, intelligence and wisdom. 
In the religious sense, Sila is used to denote a power 
which can be invoked and applied by mankind; a 
power personified in Silap Inua, the Lord of Power, 
or literally, the one possessing power. Often also, 
the term Pinga is used, this being a spirit in the form 
of a woman, which is understood to dwell somewhere 
in space, and only manifests itself when specially 
needed. There is no definite idea as to her being the 
creator of mankind, or the origin of animals used 
for food; all fear her, however, as a stern mistress 



82 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

of the household, keeping watch on all the doings of 
men, especially as regards their dealings with the 
animals killed. 

She is omnipresent, interfering as occasion may 
require. One of her principal commandments ap- 
pears to be that daily food should be treated with 
respect, care being taken that nothing is wasted. 
There are certain ceremonies, for instance, to be 
observed on the killing of a caribou, as mentioned in 
the story just quoted. 

All the rules of tabu are connected with Sila, and 
designed to maintain a balance of amicable relations 
with this power. The obligations imposed by Sila 
are not particularly burdensome, and perhaps for 
that very reason trespass is severely punished; as 
for instance by bad weather, dearth of game, sick- 
ness, and the like; in a word, all that is most to be 
feared. 

The angakoq serves as interpreter between Sila 
and mankind. Sila's leading qualities are those of 
healing in sickness or guarding against the iUwill of 
others. When a sick person desires to be cured, he 
must give away all his possessions, and is then car- 
ried out and laid on the earth far from any dwelling; 
for whoever would invoke the Great Spirit must have 
no possessions save his breath. 

Igjugarjuk himself, when a young man, was con- 
stantly visited by dreams which he could not under- 
stand. Strange unknown beings came and spoke 
to him, and when he awoke, he saw all the visions 
of his dream so distinctly that he could tell his fel- 
lows all about them. Soon it became evident to 



NOMAD'S LIFE 83 

all that he was destined to become an angakoq and 
an old man named Perqanaoq was appointed his 
instructor. In the depth of winter, when the cold 
was most severe, Igjugarjuk was placed on a small 
sledge just large enough for him to sit on, and carried 
far away from his home to the other side of Hikolig- 
juaq. On reaching the appointed spot, he remained 
seated on the sledge while his instructor built a 
tiny snow hut, with barely room for him to sit 
cross-legged. He was not allowed to set foot on the 
snow, but was lifted from the sledge and carried into 
the hut, where a piece of skin just large enough for 
him to sit on served as a carpet. No food or drink 
was given him; he was exhorted to think only of the 
Great Spirit and of the helping spirit that should 
presently appear and so he was left to himself and 
his meditations. 

After five days had elapsed, the instructor brought 
'hfrrt a drink of !ukew*ffioi water, and with similar 
exhortations, left frtm as before. He fasted now for 
fifteen days, when he was given another drink of 
water and a very small piece of meat, which had to 
last him a further ten days. At the end of this 
period, his instructor came for him and fetched him 
home. Igjugarjuk declared that the strain of those 
thirty days of cold and fasting was so severe that he 
"sometimes died a little." During all that time he 
thought only of the Great Spirit, and endeavored 
to keep his mind free from all memory of human 
beings and everyday things. Towards the end of 
the thirty days there came to him a helping spirit 
in the shape of a woman. She came while he was 



84 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

asleep, and seemed to hover in the air above him. 
After that he dreamed no more of her, but she became 
his helping spirit. For five months following this 
period of trial, he was kept on the strictest diet, and 
required to abstain from all intercourse with women. 
The fasting was then repeated; for such fasts at 
frequent intervals are the best means of attaining 
to knowledge of hidden things.* As a matter of fact, 
there is no limit to the period of study; it depends 
on how much one is willing to suffer and anxious to 
learn. 

Every wizard has a belt, which often plays a great 
part in his invocations of the spirits. I was fortunate 
enough to acquire one of these belts from a woman 
who was herself a witch doctor, named Kinalik. It 
consisted of an ordinary strap of hide on which were 
hung or strung the following items: a splinter from 
the stock of a gun worn in recognition of the fact that 
her initiation had taken place by means of visions of 
death; a piece of sinew thread, which had formerly 
been used to fasten tent poles with, and had on some 
occasion or other been used for a magic demonstra- 
tion; a piece of ribbon from a packet of tobacco; 
a piece of an old cap formerly belonging to her 
brother the brother was now dead, and was one 
of her helping spirits a piece of white caribou skin, 
some plaited withies, a model of a canoe, a caribou's 
tooth, a mitten and a scrap of sealskin. All these 
things possessed magnetic power, by virtue of their 
having been given to her by persons who wished her 
well. Any gift conveys strength. It need not be 
great or costly in itself; the intrinsic value of the 



NOMAD'S LIFE 85 

object is nothing, it is the thought which goes with 
it that gives strength. 

Kitmlik was still quite a young woman, very in- 
telligent, kind-hearted, clean and good-looking, and 
spoke frankly, without reserve. Igjugarjuk was her 
brother-in-law, and had himself been her instructor 
in magic. Her own initiation had been severe; she 
was hung up to some tent poles planted in the snow 
and left there for five days. It was midwinter, with 
intense cold and frequent blizzards, but she did not 
feel the cold, for the spirit protected her. When 
the five days were at an end, she was taken down 
and carried into the house, and Igjugarjuk was in- 
vited to shoot her, in order that she might attain 
to intimacy wi$h the supernatural by visions of 
death. The gun was to be loaded with real powder, 
but a stone was to be used instead of the leaden bullet , 
in order that she might still retain connection with 
earth. Igjugarjuk, in the presence of the assembled 
villagers, fired the shot, and Krnalik fell to the ground 
unomscious. On the following morning, just as 
Igjugarjuk was about to bring her to life again, she 
awakened from the swoon unaided. Igjugarjuk as- 
serted that he had shot her through the heart, and 
that the stone had afterwards been removed and was 
in the possession of her old mother. 

Another of the villagers, a young man named 
Aggjartoq, had also been initiated into the mysteries 
of the occult with Igjugarjuk as his teacher; and in 
his case, a third form of ordeal had been employed; 
to wit, that of drowning. He was lashed to a long 
pole and carried out on to a lake, a hole was cut in 



86 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the ice, and the pole with its living burden thrust 
down through the hole, in such a fashion that Agg- 
jartoq actually stood on the bottom of the lake with 
his head tinder water. He was left in this position 
for five days and when at last they hauled him up 
again, his clothes showed no sign of having been 
in the water at all and he himself had become a 
great wizard, having overcome death. 

These inland Eskimos are very little concerned 
about the idea of death; they believe that all men 
are born again, the soul passing on continually 
from one form of life to another. Good men return 
to earth as men, but evildoers are re-born as beasts, 
and in this way the earth is replenished, for no life 
once given can ever be lost or destroyed. 



CHAPTER VII 

WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 

VV7E very soon realized that the culture of these 
W Caribou Eskimos was of inland origin. It was 
the most primitive we had encountered during the 
whole of the expedition, and all the facts tended to 
show that we were here well on the way to a solution 
of one of our most important problems. 

Their religion, for instance, was of a pronounced 
inland type, differing essentially from that of the 
coast peoples, and in respect of tabu especially unlike 
that of the sea and shore. The ceremonies attend- 
ing birth and death in particular were far simpler 
than those in use among the coast Eskimos, Plainly, 
the people who first found their way to the sea had 
seen in it, and in the mode of life which it involved, 
new and mysterious elements which had given rise 
to their complicated mythology and ceremonial 

The fact that the sea was new to them was further 
confirmed by the entire absence of any implements, 
whether among those in use or others now obsolete, 
such as would be used by dwellers on the coast. 

Nevertheless, we soon found that they had many 
traditions in common with the Greenland Eskimos; 
indeed, a number of their folk-tales and legends are 
altogether identical with Greenland stories. 

Out of fifty-two stories which I wrote down among 

37 



88 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the Padlermiut at Hikoligjuaq, no fewer than thirty 
were identical with ones I had already heard in 
Greenland, and this despite the fact that for thou- 
sands of years past, no intercourse had taken place 
between the two groups of people. 

An unquestionable connection exists between the 
Greenlanders_~ and their Canadian kinsfolk in the 
matter of story and legend. These stories more- 
over show that the poor Eskimo can at times find 
room for thought of things beyond the mere material 
needs of the day; many of them show a forceful 
simplicity, a touch of epic strength, and a poetic 
sense, which command our admiration. 

Here are several of the shorter ones: 

THE OWL THAT WOOED A SNOW BUNTING 

There was once a little snow bunting; it sat on a 
tuft and wept because its husband was dead. Then 
came a big fat Owl and sang: 

Foolish one, weeping 
For a miserable husband 
With a spear 
Made of grass. 
I I will be 
Your husband. 

The little bird answered: 

Who would ever 
Have you for a husband? 
With your lumpy, clumsy 
And that ugly-fashioned beak, 
Podgy legs, and fat round face 
And a head without a neck ! 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 89 

But the owl was so angry at this, that it swooped 
down on the little snow bunting, and struck it in 
the breast and then, when it cried in pain, the owl 
jeered at it, saying: "Ho, what a woman, that can 
feel pain in the breast and yet have such a sharp 
tongue!" 

Told by KIVKARJTJK, of Hikoligjuaq. 
(Known throughout the whole of Greenland.) 

How THE WHITE MEN AND THE INDIANS CAME 

There was once a maiden who refused all men 
who wished to marry her. At last her father was 
so annoyed at this that he rowed off with her and 
his dog to an island out in the lake of Haningajoq, 
not far from Hikoligjuaq, and left her there with 
the dog. Then the dog took her to wife, and she gave 
birth to many whelps. And her father brought meat 
to the island, that they might not die of hunger. 
One day when they were grown up, their mother 
said to them: "Next time your grandfather comes 
out to the island, swim out to meet "him, and upset 
his kayak/' 

The dogs did so and the girl's father was drowned. 
Thus she took vengeance upon her father for having 
married her to a dog. But now that he was dead, 
there was no one to bring the dogs meat, so the 
girl cut the soles out of her kamiks, and placed them 
in the water, and worked magic over them. Then 
she set some of the dogs on one sole, and said: 
"Go out into the world and become skilful in aH 
manner of work!" 

And the dogs drifted out away from the island and 
when they had gone a little way, the sole turned into 
a ship, and they sailed away to the white men's 
country and became white men.. And from them, 
it is said, all white men are descended. 



90 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

But the rest of the dogs were set on the other sole, 
and as it floated away, the girl said: "Take ven- 
geance for all the wrong your grandfather did to 
me, and show yourselves henceforward thirsty for 
blood as often as you meet one of the Inuit." 

And the dogs sailed away to a strange land, and 
went ashore there and became the ItqigdKt. Prom 
these are descended all those Indians whom our 
forefathers dreaded, for they slew the Inuit wherever 
they could find them. And this they continued to 
do until their brothers, the white men from the 
island of Anarnigtoq, took land in their country 
and taught them gentler ways. 

Told by IGJUGARJUK, 
(This story is known in Greenland.) 

THE RAVEN AND THE LOON 

In the olden days, all birds were white. And then 
one day the raven and the loon fell to drawing 
patterns on each others feathers. The raven began, 
and when it had finished, the loon was so displeased 
with the pattern that it spat all over the raven and 
made it black all over. And since that day all 
ravens have been black. But the raven was so 
angry that it fell upon the loon and beat it so about 
the legs that it could hardly walk. And that is 
why the loon is such an awkward creature on land. 

(There is a Greenland version of this.) 

THUNDER AND LIGHTNING 

In the olden days, nobody ever stole anything. 
But then one day when a great song festival was 
being held, two children were left alone in a house. 
Here they found a caribou skin with the hair off, 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 91 

and a firestone, and desired to have these things for 
their own. But hardly had they taken them when a 
great fear came upon them. 

"What shall we do," cried one, "to get away from 
people?" 

"Let us turn ourselves into caribou," answered 
the other." 

"No; for then they will catch us; let us turn into 
wolves." 

"No; for then they will kill us. Let us turn into 
foxes." 

And so they went on, naming all the ^nfm^fes there 
were, but always fearing that men should kill them. 
Then at last one said: Let us be thunder and Eght- 
ning. For then men could not reach them. And so 
it came about; they went up into the sky and became 
thunder and lightning. And now when we hear the 
thunder it is one of them rattling the dry skin, and 
when we see the lightning it is the other one striking 
sparks from the stone. 

Told by Arnarqik, of Nahigtartorvik, Kazan River. 

(Also known in Greenland) 

THE OWL AND THE MARMOT 

There was once an owl who went out hunting, and 
seeing a marmot outside its house, it flew towards it 
and sitting down in front of the entrance, sang: 

" 1 have barred the way of a land beast to its home. 
Come and fetch it, and bring two sledges." 

But the marmot answered: " mighty owl, spread 
your legs a little wider apart, and show me that 
powerful chest," 

And the owl hearing this was proud of its broad 
chest, and spread its legs wider apart. 

Then the marmot cried: "Wider, wider still." 



92 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

And the owl feeling even prouder than before 
spread its legs a little wider still, and stretched its 
chest as far as it could. 

But then the marmot slipped between its legs and 
and ran off into its hole. 

Told by Kivkarjuk. 

I was told that there should be a larger settlement 
on the southern shore of Hikoligjuaq, and I deter- 
mined to cross and pay a visit to the natives there. 
On the day before our departure, a grand song fes- 
tival was arranged, to be held in Igjugarjuk's tent. 
In the afternoon the guests arrived, as many as the 
tent would hold. The singer stood in the middle 
with closed eyes, accompanying his song with a sway- 
ing movement of the hips, while the women, seated 
in a group on the bench, joined in the chorus every 
now and then, their voices contrasting pleasantly 
with the deeper tones of the men. 

Here are the words of some of the songs: 

IGJUGARJUK'S SONG 

Yai yai yai 

Ya ayai ya 

I ran with all speed 

And met them on the plain, 

The great Musk Ox with brilliant black hair 

Hayai ya haya. 

It was the first time I had seen them, 
Grazing on the flowers of the plain, 
Far from the hill where I stood, 
And ignorantly I thought 
They were but small and slight . . . 




QINGARUVDLIAQ, THE WOMAN WHO KNEW ALL THE MEN'S SONGS AND PROMPTED 
THEM WHEN THEY FORGOT THE WORDS 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 93 

But they grew up out of the earth 

As I came within shot, 

Great black giant beasts 

Far from our dwellings 

In the regions of happy summer hunting. 

AVANE'S SONG 

Lo, alas, I look and seek 
All impatient, eagerly, 
For the caribou in the hills; 
Am I old and worthless now, 
Since I hunt in vain? 
I who once could stand and shoot 
Swiftly without aiming 
Striking down with sudden arrow 
Bulls with spreading horn; 
Saw the great beast fall and lie 
With muzzle deep in mire. 

Women do not as a rule sing their own songs. No 
woman is expected to sing ttoless expressly invited by 
an angakoq. As a rule, they sing songs made by 
the men. Should it happen, however, that a woman 
feels a spirit impelling her to sing, she may step forth 
from the chorus and follow her own inspiration. 
Among the women here, only two were thus favored 
by the spirits; one was Igjugarjuk's first wife, 
Kivkarjuk, now dethroned, and the other Akjartoq, 
the mother of KinaKk. 

KIVKARJUK'S SONG 

I am but a little woman 
Very willing to toil, 



94 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Very willing and happy 

To work and slave . . . 

And in my eagerness 

To be of use, 

I pluck the furry buds of willow 

Buds like beard of wolf. 

I love to go walking far and far away, 

And my soles are worn through 

As I pluck the buds of willow, 

That are furry like the great wolf's beard. 



AKJARTOQ'S SONG 

I draw a deep breath, 

But my breath comes heavily 

As I call forth the song . . . 

There are ill rumors abroad, 

Of some who starve in the far places, 

And can find no meat, 

I call forth the song 
From above, 
H ayaya haya. 

And now I forget 

How hard it was to breathe, 

Remembering old times, 

When I had strength 

To cut and flay great beasts* 

Three great beasts could I cut up 

While the sun slowly went his way 

Across the sky. 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 95 

In addition to ordinary hunting songs and lyrics 
there are songs of derision, satires with a mercilessly 
personal address; two men will stand up in turn 
and accuse each other before the assembled neigh- 
bors. These accusations, even when well founded, 
are received with surprising calmness, whereas "evil 
or angry words" may have far more serious effects. 

I give here Utahania's impeachment of one Kanai- 
juaq who had quarrelled with his wife and attempted 
to desert her, leaving her to her fate out in the wilds; 
the woman, however, had proved not only able *to 
stand up for herself in a rough-and-tumble, but left 
her husband of her own accord and went to shift for 
herself, taking her son with her. 

Something was whispered 

Of man and wife 

Who could not agree. 

And what was it aft abo&t? 

A wife who in rightful anger 

Tore her husband's ftirs across, 

Took their canoe 

And rowed away with her son. 

Ay ay, all who listen, 

What do you think of him, 

Poor sort of man? 

Is he to be envied, 

Who is great in his anger 

But faint in strength, 

Blubbering helplessly 

Properly chastised? 

Though it was he who foolishly proud 

Started the quarrel with stupid words. 



96 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Kanaijuaq retorted with a song accusing Utahatiia 
of improper behavior at home; his hard words 
however, seemed to make no difference to their friend- 
ship. Far more serious was the effect of malicious 
words in the case of Utahania's foster-son who was 
once upbraided by his foster-father as follows: 

"I wish you were dead! You are not worth the 
food you eat." And the young man took the words 
so deeply to heart that he declared he would never eat 
again. To make his sufferings as brief as possible, 
he lay down the same night stark naked on the bare 
snow, and was frozen to death. 

Halfway through the festival it was announced 
that Kinalik, the woman angakoq, would invoke her 
helping spirits and clear the way of all dangers ahead. 
Sila was to be called in to aid one who could not 
help himself. All the singing now ceased, and Kinalik 
stood forth alone with her eyes tightly closed. She 
uttered no incantation, but stood trembling all over, 
and her face twitched from time to time as if in pain. 
This was her way of " looking inward," and pene- 
trating the veil of the future; the great thing was to 
concentrate all one's force intently on the one idea, 
of calling forth good for those about to set out on their 
journey. 

Igjugarjuk, who never let slip an opportunity of 
exalting his own tribe at the expense of the "salt 
water Eskimo," informed me at this juncture that 
their angakoqs never danced about doing tricks, nor 
did they have recourse to particular forms of speech; 
the one essential was truth and earnestness all the 
rest wasmere trickwork designed to impress the vulgar. 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 97 

When Kinalik had reached the utmost limit of her 
concentration, I was requested to go outside the tent 
and stand on a spot where there were no footmarks, 
remaining there until I was called in. Here, on the 
untrodden snow, I was to present myself before Sila, 
standing silent and humble, and desiring sky and air 
and all the forces of nature to look upon me and show 
me goodwill. 

It was a peculiar form of worship or devotion, 
which I now encountered for the first time; it was the 
first time, also, that I had seen Sila represented as a 
benign power. 

After I had stood thus for a time, I was calkd in 
again. Kirialik had now resumed her natural ex- 
pression, and was beaming all over. . She assured 
me that the Great Spirit had heard her prayer, and 
that all dangers should be removed from our path; 
also, that we should have success in our hunting 
whenever we needed meat. 

This prophecy was greeted with applause and 
general satisfaction; it was plain to see that these 
good folk, in their simple, innocent fashion, gave us 
their blessing and had done all they could to render it 
effective. There was no doubting the sincerity of 
their goodwill. 

On the following night we were racing at full speed 
over the wintry surface of Lake Hikoligjuaq. The 
firm ice was spread with a thin layer of soft, moist 
snow, acting as a soft carpet to the dogs' paws, 
and the long rest in complete idleness with plenty 
of fresh caribou meat had given them a degree of 
vitality that made it a pleasure to be out once more. 



98 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

We had two lads with us as guides, who had borrowed 
Igjugarjuk's dogs, but it was not long before they 
were hopelessly out-distanced, and we had to con- 
tent ourselves with a guess at our direction. 

Early in the morning, before the sun was fairly 
warm, we reached the southern shore of the lake and 
camped in a pleasant little valley, fastening the dogs 
in a thicket of young willow that stood bursting 
in bud to greet the spring. 

In the course of the day we went out to reconnoitre. 
And it was not long before we came upon a solitary 
caribou hunter observing us from a little hill. He 
was just taking to flight when the two lads from the 
last village, who had now come up, recognized him 
and called him by name, when he walked up smiling 
to meet them. He informed us that there was a 
village of five tents a couple of hours' journey farther 
inland, and that we could reach the place without 
difficulty, although the ground was bare. We tried 
to persuade him to come back with us to the camp, 
but he preferred to go on ahead and tell his comrades 
of the strange meeting. And before we had gone 
far, the whole party came down and overtook us, 
they had been too impatient to wait for our arrival. 
It was hard work for the dogs to get the sledge over 
the numerous hills, and even the level grotmd was 
difficult going, sodden as it was with water and 
broken by tussocks and pools. There were plenty 
of willing hands, however, and we made our way, 
albeit slowly, with a great deal of merriment. Miteq 
and I had to face an endless rain of questions. These 
inland folk look upon the sea as something wonderful 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 99 

and mysterious, far beyond their ken; and when we 
explained that we had had to cross many seas in 
coming from our own land to theirs, they regarded 
our coming in itself as something of a marvel. And 
we agreed with them in their surprise at our being 
able to understand one another's speech. 

Suddenly speech and laughter died away; the dogs 
pricked up their ears, and a strange silence fell upon 
all. There, full in our way, lay the body of a woman 
prone on the ground* We stood for a moment at a 
loss. Then the men wait forward, while we held 
back our dogs* The figure still lay motionless* A 
loud wailing came from the party ahead, and Miteq 
and I stood vaguely horrified, not knowing what it 
meant. Then one of the men came back and 
explained that we had found the corpse of a woman 
who had been, lost in a blizzard the winter before 
and he pointed to one of those bending over her; that 
was her husband. 

It had been a hard winter, and just when the cold 
was most severe, six of those in the village had died 
of hunger. A man named Atangagjuaq then deter- 
mined to set out for a neighboring village in search 
of aid, and his wife, fearing lest, weak as he was, he 
might be unable to complete the journey, had 
followed after him. She herself, however, had been 
lost in the snow before coming up with him. They 
had searched for her that winter, and in the following 
spring, but without result; and now here she lay, 
discovered by the merest accident right athwart our 
course, 

I walked forward to view the body of this woman 



loo ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

who had lost her life in a vain attempt to help her 
husband. There was nothing repulsive in the sight; 
she just lay there, with limbs extended, and an 
expression of unspeakable weariness on her face. It 
was plain to see that she had walked on and on, 
struggling against the blizzard till she could go no 
farther, and sank exhausted, while the snow swiftly 
covered her, leaving no trace. 

The body was left lying as it was; no one touched it. 
We drove on, and in an hour's time reached the 
Eskimo camp. 

These people are quick to change from one extreme 
of feeling to another. We had not gone far on our 
way before the dead woman, to all seeming, was 
forgotten, and the merriment that had met with so 
sudden a check broke out afresh. As soon as we 
had put up our tent, the men got hold of our ski, and 
went off to try them in a good deep snowdrift that 
still lay in a gap. They had never seen ski before, 
and great shouts of laughter greeted the first attempts 
of those venturesome enough to try them. One of 
the gayest of the party was Atangagjuaq, who but 
a few minutes earlier had stood weeping beside the 
body of his wife, 

By the 2 ist of June, we were once more on the ice of 
Lake Hikoligjuaq, and on the morning of the 22nd, 
just at stinrise, we reached the spot where the others 
of our party were encamped. That sunrise was, I 
think, the most remarkable I have ever seen. To 
the north, on the horizon, was a dense white mass of 
cloud, like a reflection from the lake itself, but with 
a narrow belt of delicate green below. The country 




YOUNG WOMEN 

They were always happy and smiling, and handsome as well. 



WITH NO EDITORS TO SPOIL 101 

round was outlined in masses of black. Then 
suddenly there was a glow of fire, a tongue of flame 
broke through the pale green below the cloud, lighting 
up all the sky; light, fragile veils of rosy cloud-stuff 
floated by overhead, and the ice below was tinged with 
the palest mauve. The contours of shore and hill 
stood out now darker than before, while flowers of 
fire appeared on the horizon Eke fairy-lamps Ht one 
after another, gradually merging into a& great con- 
flagration. Then up came the stm iteelf, and all 
the varied colors were lost ixi oae stark fed glow 
reflected in our faces as we looked. 

It was like driving into a burning city; and we 
remained spellbound ttntil the barking of dogs and 
shouts of welcome from our companions brought us 
back to reality and busy freshness of a new day. * . * 



CHAPTER VIII 

BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 

IGJUGARJUK had for some time past been talking 
* of making a trip down to Baker Lake, and was 
now getting ready for the journey. Then one day a 
canoe came up from the south, in charge of a young 
man, Equmeq, by name. It was decided that Birket- 
Smith and Bangsted, with the greater part of our 
ethnographical collections, should start with this 
party for Baker Lake, Igjugarjuk taking the rest, 
and Miteq and I going by sledge a plan which 
caused much head-shaking among the natives, who 
regarded sledging as dangerous or impossible at this 
season. 

Certainly, our journey turned out worse than we 
had expected. The ground was soft and wet, and 
very uneven, at the best, added to which we came 
every now and then to swollen streams, often so deep 
that we had to follow them some distance up to find 
a practicable crossing among the ice of the lakes. 
The constant detours, again, took up so much time 
that we had little left for hunting, and had to reduce 
our rations and those of the dogs accordingly. 
Igjugarjuk and the lake party had simply to follow 
the river and we were supposed to come up with them 
every evening. Actually we often failed to make 
their camp in time, but Igjugarjuk always waited 

1 02 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 103 

faithfully till we did come up, and gave us directions 
for the next day's route. On one occasion we came 
within a hair's breadth of losing the canoe with 
its precious load. We had just got in to camp, on 
the bank of a stream flowing into the main river, 
and found that our companions had laid out some 
newly slain carcases on the other side. Crossing in 
the canoe, we suddenly perceived the dogs making 
straight for the meat, and in hurrying to save it, we 
omitted to pull the canoe far enough up sliore; when 
we turned, it was floating rapidly away down to the 
main channel. Guns, ammunition* cameras, diaries, 
and everything of value was on board; in addition 
to .which, the canoe itself was our only practicable 
means of transport. 

The feverish chase that followed was beyond 
description. Igjugarjuk, who, by the way, could 
not swimr jobbed me in a mad obstacle raoe in and 
out of water, each of tis witfa one end of a line fastened 
roimdtliebody. Tfiet% w&e masses of looseiceia the 
fairway, aadl tna&aged toswimfrom floe to fioe, hatd- 
ingup Igjugarjtik to each before making for the next. 
So we went on, clambering and struggling desperately 
in pursuit. Fortunately, the canoe itself was checked 
in its progress by these same masses of ice; never- 
theless, we dared not relax our efforts. Our hands 
were torn and bleeding from the sharp ice crystals; 
and when at last we reached the canoe itself and 
dragged it into safety, we were so exhausted that we 
sank down helplessly beside it. Another few yards 
and it would have been carried into the main river, 
to certain destruction and ourselves with it. 



106 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

It is difficult for a Greenlander to understand how 
these natives here can give up and lie down to die 
in a country so rich in game. But it is not laziness, 
I fancy the wretched footwear they use in summer 
has a great deal to do with it. They have not the 
thick stout sealskin or walrus hide, but only light 
caribou skin, pleasant enough in winter on the cold 
dry snow, but miserably inadequate in the swampy 
tundra during summer, and with no sort of wear in it 
over rocky ground; a couple of days will wear through 
perfectly new soles. 

Late that night we reached the river Kunuag. 
After a difficult crossing, we took leave of our com- 
panions, who with their kayaks on their heads 
hurried back to their own people. We built a great 
fire, and roasted steaks of freshly killed meat on flat 
stones. All was clear ahead now, down to Baker 
Lake; the weather was fine, and as sleep is not so 
essential in summer, we were soon on our way once 
more. 

It was slow going over the swampy tundra, that 
squelched underfoot at every step. By six the next 
morning we reached a group of three tents, and 
were surprised to find the inmates here also on the 
verge of starvation. We had the better part of two 
caribou carcases with us, and seeing no reason to 
carry a heavier load than needed, we invited the vil- 
lage to a feast. The fine fresh meat was disposed of 
with remarkable celerity, and I had once more an 
opportunity of witnessing the feats of which an 
Eskimo is capable in this direction. Hunger how- 
ever, had by no means impaired the spirits qf these 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 107 

good folk; they smiled as they showed us their cook- 
ing pots, scraped dean and empty for the past week. 
And they broke up their tobacco pipes to get a taste 
of tobacco after the heavy meal. 

We were past astonishment when a gramophone 
was produced, and kept going for the rest of the 
afternoon. The natives declared, in sober earnest, 
that jazz tunes were no less comforting to an empty 
stomach than soothing to a full one. 

We had hoped to push on from here without 
further delay, but many obstacles lay between us 
and our return to Chesterfield, too maay to recount* 
The partial break-up of winter ice meant for us that 
progress by boat and progress by dog sledge were 
alternately barred. Once, native kayaks which we 
hired were crushed in the rocky narrows of a swollen 
river. Again, we had to cross a lake on a block of 
ice, with, our dogs drawing the whole mass across 
by swimmftig in harness. And wiaen, after days of 
soggy going, we finally' readied Baker Lake, we 
could not rouse the people of the trading post oat cm 
the island, though we burned signal fires for eight 
hours continuously. So we finally ferried across on 
an ice floe, using our skis as paddles. 

We found Birket-Smith and Helge Bangsted at 
the island, but they wished to continue their botanical 
studies, so we pushed on to Chesterfield without 
them. We met with more delays on the way down 
to the Inlet, chiefly from ice jams, and not until 
July 31 did we reach our destination. 

We had first visited Chesterfield in winter, and 
passed it in a blizzard, when everything was as arctic 



io8 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

as could be; when one's nostrils froze in the icy 
blast and the blood fairly hardened in one's cheeks. 
Our own experience had taught us to appreciate the 
natives' power of adapting themselves to their sur- 
roundings. Their extraordinary clothing, of soft 
caribou skin from head to foot, inside and out, 
enabled not only the men, but also women and 
children, to move abroad in all manner of weather; 
as long as they could manage to procure food enough, 
the cold of winter seemed hardly to affect them at all. 

Coming back now, in the summer, we found all 
changed to a surprising degree. The handsome 
dresses of caribou skin, so admirably suited to the 
racial type of the wearers, and to their surroundings, 
had given place to the cheap and vulgar products of 
the trading station. The men went about in jerseys 
and readymade slacks, their flowing locks sur- 
mounted by a cheap cloth cap, while the women had 
exchanged their quaint swallow-tailed furs, long boots 
and baggy breeches, for shapeless European dresses 
of machine-made stuff, in which grace and character 
alike were utterly obliterated. 

So also with their dwellings; the wonderful snow 
huts, fashioned, as it were, of the cold itself as a 
protection from the cold, were now replaced by big 
white canvas tents, which made the place look more 
like a holiday camp than an Eskimo settlement* 
And one could not go near them without finding 
one's ears assailed by the noise of some modern 
mechanical contrivance, either a gramophone or 
a sewing machine. 

I noted now for the first time how oddly these 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 109 

quondam inland folk they were mainly from the 
neighborhood of Baker Lake felt lost and out of 
their element here on the shore of the open sea. 
Just outside Chesterfield Inlet was a veritable high- 
road for the seal; and all round the adjacent Marble 
Island the walrus might be seen blowing and steaming 
at the surface of the water; yet never a man in all the 
settlement went out hunting either. The natives 
here, despite their astonishing agility and skill with 
kayak and spears among the turbulent waters of tlie 
rivers, were content now to let all this meat go by, 
while they themselves lived on tea and pancakes. 
The most they ever attempted in the way of hunting 
wastolayouta net in the bay just outside their tents 
and catch a few fish. 

This indifference to the abundance offered them 
by the sea was not due to laziness however, but rather 
a peculiarity of their inland culture itself. They 
could not <ispeese with their caribou; and it was a 
principle handed down through gesemt&oes that OIK 
could not mingle sea bunting with tfaat of the laad 
without losing the latter altogether. 

After a pleasant two-weeks stay at CSiesterfidd, 
during which Bkket-Smith and Bangsted rejoined 
us, and during which we received and sent off letters 
by the Hudson's Bay steamer, Nascopie, we set off 
on the long journey back to headquarters at Danish 
Island. It was already later in the summer than I 
wished, and plans whidi we had hopefully made for 
spending the summer in useful work together began 
to grow impracticable. I was anxious to see what 
the rest had been doing, Mathiassen and Freuchen 



no ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

in their investigation of ancient culture, particularly e 
We were fortunate in getting passage by motor- 
schooner as far as Repulse Bay, which we made in 
three days. Here we should, by agreement, have 
found Peter Freuchen encamped waiting for us with 
the motor boat we had built especially for summer 
work. The migratory ice, however, had kept him 
from getting out with it. 

We accordingly hired a whaleboat belonging to an 
Eskimo from Southampton Island, who was known 
to the traders as "John Ell." As it turned out, we 
needed him for various errands during most of the 
winter following, so we grew to know and admire 
John Ell. 

He was a man in many ways unlike the average 
type of native, having been educated to begin with 
on board a whaler, thus learning not only to speak 
English fluently, but also to manage a boat with 
remarkable skill, especially among the ice. He was 
looked up to as a leader by his fellows, and was also a 
man of property, having a fine team of dogs and a 
range of sledges designed for work at different 
seasons, a well-equipped whaleboat, and furthermore, 
a motor boat of his own. This last is uncommon 
among the Eskimos; John Ell had bought it for 75 
fox skins. He carried on an extensive correspond- 
ence with people in the neighborhood, using the sign 
language invented by a missionary named Peck, 
which is here generally employed. And he kept a 
regular account of his income and expenditure 
throughout the year. It was the more remarkable, 
seeing how much he had lived and learned among 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS m 

white men, to find that lie was a distinguished anga- 
koq, with a faith in native magic eqtial to his 
reputation. 

Winter weather on land and ice in the channel 
held us at Repulse Bay till September i , and then we 
crossed in a day as far as Kurd Channel, Here 
again we were held up for twelve days. We used the 
interval in hunting meat for our dogs, and other 
employments. Then we crossed at a favorable 
moment to Vansittart Island, and three <Jays later 
got through to headquarters. 

We found an empty house. Whereas we fead 
expected a rousing welcome after our long absence, 
there wasn't even a letter to tell us where our other 
comrades were. 

However, Freuchen and the Eskimos were only out 
at the hunting grounds, and they hadn't believed 
that we could get through the broken ice. We went 
out and found them* and our reunion was as joyous 
as any meeting in the Arctic is likely to be between 
Ioi3g separated. 



MatMassen, with Jacob Olsen, was still at South- 
ampton Island studying the traces of former Eskimo 
culture. It was not until February 1 8, and only after 
causing us anxiety for his safety, that he finally 
returned, and completed the final retanion of our 
party. 

Meantime, the rest of us were held at Danish 
Island, or nearby, for most of the winter, Freuchen, 
who started out in January for Baffinland, to begin 
studies later to be carried out in cxx^eration with 
Mathiassen, was quickly brought back with a bad 



H2 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

case of frostbite which made him temporarily an 
invalid. Birket-Smith and Bangsted were held at 
headquarters looking after him. 

I was occupied during the winter with two main 
tasks, completing my study and comparison of 
the various ethnographical collections, and round- 
ing them out with materials secured on another 
visit to the natives around Lyon Inlet. 

With regard to one item of our study, I felt that we 
had already secured satisfactory data; namely, the 
investigation of the culture of the Tunit. Therkel 
Mathiassen's work 1 here proved to be of greatest 
importance to our study of the people and their 
history as a whole. 

There are no written sources for the early history 
of the Eskimo people; it is to the spade that we must 
turn if we would learn something of their life in ages 
past. We have to dig and delve among the ruins of 
their dwellings, in the kitchen middens of their 
settlements, for proof of how they lived and hunted, 
how they were housed and clad. It is often a labo- 
rious task, but not less interesting on that account. 
And it was one of the principal tasks of the Fifth 
Thule Expedition to investigate, by means of archaeo- 
logical excavations, the history and development of 
the Eskimo people, and their migrations into Green- 
land. Our work in this field has brought to light 
some six or seven thousand items which afford a good 

1 Space forbids the inclusion here of my companions 1 reports in full, 
and I can give but the briefest indication of their main features. Both 
Freuchen's and Therkel Mathiassen's reports are published or shortly 
to be published in English elsewhere. The pages here following are 
taken from Therkel Mathiassen's own text. 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 113 

idea as to the mode of life prevailing among the 
Central Eskimos here in those distant ages. 

Naujan lies on the northern shore of Repulse Bay, 
a little to the east of the trading station. The name, 
which means "the place of the young seamews," is 
taken from a steep bird cliff on the banks of a small 
lake. From the lake, a valley runs down towards 
the shore, where it opens out into a bay, and it is 
in this valley, just south of the lake, that the great 
settlement of Naujan existed in ancient times. 

The Eskimos of the present day in these regions 
use only snow huts in winter; it was the more sur- 
prising therefore to come upon remains of quite 
a different type of house. We found at Naujan a 
whole little township of these houses, constructed of 
stone, turf, and the bones of whales. They were 
built so as to be partly underground and must have 
been far more substantial and warm, though less 
hygienic perhaps, than the light, cool, healthy snow 
huts of today. Various features placed it beyond 
question that at the time when these houses wene 
built, the land must have lain some ten metres lower 
than it does now; and this, too, explains why the 
settlement was found at some distance from what is 
now the beach, instead of practically on it as is custo- 
mary. Similarly, in confirmation of our theory, we 
found, on a little island near by, a pair of kayak 
stands pillars of stone on which the skirt kayaks are 
laid to be out of reach of the dogs some 15 metres 
up from sea;, actually, of course, they would have 
been built at the water's edge, to save hauling, up and 
down. 



II 4 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

The houses themselves had fallen to pieces long 
since, and the remains were scattered, weatherworn 
and overgrown with grass and moss to such an extent 
that our excavations gave but a poor idea of their 
original appearance. The implements and objects 
found among the ruins, however, gave an excellent 
view of the culture of the period from which they were 
derived. The materials comprised bone, walrus 
tusk and caribou antler, flint, slate and soapstone, 
whalebone, some wood, and occasionally metal, this 
last in the form of cold hammered copper (probably 
obtained by barter from the Eskimos of the west), 
with a single fragment of meteoric iron forming the 
point of a harpoon. 

It is of course impossible to mention more than a 
very few of the finds here; often, too, the most 
insignificant objects to all outward seeming prove 
most important from the scientific point of view. 
Among our most valuable finds, for instance, were 
three odd broken fragments of rough earthenware 
vessels. These are only known to exist among the 
Alaskan Eskimos, and the finding of them here was 
of importance; few, however, would have attached 
any value to those three dirty scraps of pottery. 

And now as to the age of this Naujan material. 
We may at once assert that nothing was found which 
could suggest any intercourse with Europeans. 
There were no glass beads which are ordinarily the 
first thing the Eskimos procure, and always found in 
their villages and the only fragment of iron found 
was of meteoric origin. This at once carries us back 
300 years. Beyond this, we have only the alter- 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 115 

ation in the level of the land to fall back upon. It 
takes a considerable period, of course, for the land 
to rise ten metres, but there is no definite standard 
by which to measure the lapse of time involved. 
In the north of Sweden, for instance, the land rises 
i metre in a hundred years; allowing the same rate of 
progress here, this would give us an age of 1000 
years but this is, of course, mere guesswork. 

As to the people who lived here in those days, 
they were beyond doubt genuine Eskimos; they lived 
on the shore in regular winter dwellings, drove dog 
sledges, and hunted whale, seal and walrus, besides 
bear and caribou; they trapped foxes, and caught 
salmon. They had at any rate no lack of meat, to 
judge from the enormous quantities of bones, which 
indeed, almost smothered the remains of the houses 
themselves* If we ask the present inhabitants 
of these regions, the Aivilik, as to the folk who dwelt 
in these now ruined houses, they will say, it was the 
TttBit. These Tunit were a mce of big, strong men 
who Eved in permanent dwellings and hunted whale 
and walrus; the men wore bearskin breeches and the 
women long sealskin boots just like the Polar Eskimos 
of today. When the Aivilik settled on the coast, 
the Tunit moved away to the northward; only on the 
inaccessible Southampton Island did a party remain, 
and the Sadlermiut, who died out here in 1903, were 
the last descendants of the Tunit in the country. 
Thus the Aivilik tradition, and it agrees in all 
essentials with the results of our investigations. 

For on comparing these Tunit of ancient Naujan 
with the present inhabitants, we find a great differ- 



Ii6 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

ence between them. The Naujan Eskimos lived 
on the shore, hunted the whale, and built their houses 
from the skeletons. The Aivilik live in snow huts, 
and spend most of the year hunting caribou up in 
the interior. Many of the implements and utensils 
in use among the Naujan folk, such as the bola, the 
bird dart, and earthenware vessels, are unknown 
among the Aivilik; the latter, on the other hand, 
have others unknown to the ancients, such as combs, 
big ladles made of musk ox horn, and toggles for dog 
harness. And on examining the types of implement 
in use among the two peoples, many distinct points of 
difference are found. 

Where did the Naujan Eskimos come from, and 
what became of them? 

It soon becomes apparent that they link up in two 
directions across the Eskimo region; with Alaska on 
the one hand and Greenland on the other. At Thule, 
in northern Greenland, a find has been made, the 
oldest of any extent from the whole of Greenland, 
which points to precisely the same type of culture 
as that which we found at Naujan; and we have 
therefore called it the Thule type. Similar finds 
have been made both in west and north Greenland, 
and the Polar Eskimos of the present day are very 
much like these Thule folk in many respects. The 
Greenland Eskimos, then, must have passed through 
these central regions at a time when they were still 
inhabited by the Thule folk. 

Looking now to the westward, we find in Alaska a 
race of big men, who hunt the whale, live in per- 
manent dwellings on the coast, use the bola, make 



BETWEEN TWO WINTERS 117 

earthenware, and have almost the same types of 
implements generally as those we found at Naujan; 
old finds from Alaska also exhibit even more marked 
resemblance to the Naujan type. The Thule folk 
then, must have come from Alaska, this is beyond 
question. They spread in a mighty wave from west 
to east, reaching right across to Greenland. At some 
time now far distant there was a more or less uniform 
type of culture prevailing throughout the whole of 
the Eskimo region; that which we now call the Thule 
type; then, in the central districts, an advance took 
place of people from the interior represented by the 
present-day Central Eskimo: the Aivilik, Netsilik, 
Copper Eskimos and Baffinlanders. These people, 
with their culture based on snow huts and caribou 
hunting, made their way down to the coast, where 
their mode of life was gradually adapted to some 
extent, so as to include the hunting of marine anfmals, 
while the ancient Thule culture disappeared from 
the central regions where now only the numerous 
ruins of stone and bone houses remain as evidence of 
the culture of earlier times. Thus too we have an 
explanation of many otherwise inexplicable simi- 
larities between the two topographical extremities 
of Eskimo culture; Alaska and Greenland; features 
found in the extreme east and in the extreme west, 
but lacking in the central region. 



CHAPTER IX 

FAITH OUT OF FEAR 

Y the middle of January, I had the ethnographical 
collections in shape so that I could leave Danish 
Island for good. But we still needed a few items. 
I wanted a few more skin dresses to round out the 
collection, and I wished to make a final study of the 
spiritual beliefs of the Eskimos of the region. 
Accordingly, I set oS for the hunting camp at the 
mouth of Lyon Inlet, to visit my old friend Aua. 

Aua's hunting camp lay midway out in Lyon 
Inlet; I reached it late one afternoon, just as the 
setting sun was gilding the domes of the snow huts. 

It was known that I was on the way, and above 
each hut waved a little white flag a sign that the 
inmates had relinquished their old heathen faith and 
become Christians. As I drove up, men, women and 
children trooped out and formed up in line outside 
Aua's hut, and as soon as I had reined in my team, 
the whole party began singing a hymn. The tune 
was so unlike what they were accustomed to in their 
own pagan chants that they bungled it a little, but 
there was no mistaking the earnestness and pious 
feeling which inspired it. There was something very 
touching in such a greeting; these poor folk had 

118 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 119 

plainly found in the new faith a refuge that meant a 
great deal in their lives. 

When it was over, they stepped forward one by one 
and shook hands* And here I could not but recall my 
first meeting with these same people a year ago, at 
Cape Elizabeth. Then, they had come leaping and 
capering round me in an outburst of unrestrained 
natural feeling ; now, all was ceremonial, and solemn to 
an almost painful degree. It was not long, however, 
before this wore off, and the old easy merriment 
showed forth again. The carcase of a seal was 
brought out and thrown to the dogs, and while they 
were busy with it, I was regaled with the latest news. 
Then my sledge was hoisted up onto a stand built 
of blocks of snow, and I myself invited indoors to 
thaw. Aua's wife, Orulo, good friendly soul, had a 
fine big bowl of steaming hot tea for me, and when 
this had driven out some of the cold I could settle 
down at ease among my old frie&ds. 

It was the most difficult time of the year just now; 
the stores o meat accumulated during summer had 
been used up, and it was a question of pixxnaring 
fresh supplies for men and dogs, from day to day. 
Seal were hunted now either at the breathing holes or 
in the open water beyond the edge of the ice. The 
weather was rough and stormy, snow falling every 
day, and the thermometer rarely above minus 5OC. 
The days were short, and in order to make the most 
of them, the hunters set off before daylight and re- 
turned after dark. All meat brought in was cut up 
and distributed at once throughout the camp, and as 
there was generally no more than would suffice for 



120 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

one day, the arrival of the next instalment was looked 
forward to with anxiety literally equal to that with 
which hungry folk look forward to a meal. 

The men had little rest these days. It is a weary 
business to be out for ten hours at a stretch, first 
searching about to find the blowhole of a seal, and 
having found it, to stand motionless in the driving 
snow waiting for the seal to come up to breathe. A 
seal has always a number of blowholes open at once, 
and it might often be hours before it appeared at the 
one actually under observation. No wonder then, 
that the hunters were stiff and sore by the time they 
returned. Throwing off all but their innermost 
clothing, they threw themselves down on the bench 
in the warmth of the hut, while the women busied 
themselves cutting up the carcases into juicy red 
fillets edged with rich yellowish blubber. Then, 
when the pots began to boil, came the reward of the 
day's toil, in the shape of a steaming cup of thick 
blood-soup. The next course was meat, speared up 
from the cauldron on long bone skewers, and dumped 
down upon a wooden tray enriched with the juices 
of many a former meal. A sense of warmth and 
comfort spread and grew, the little triumphs or 
disappointments of the day were recounted with 
good humor; material wants were satisfied for the 
time being, and peace and plenty reigned. 

These evenings, when we lay stretched at ease 
after a hearty meal, and the most taciturn had 
thawed into some degree of geniality, were the times 
I most looked forward to for converse with my hosts. 

In the collecting of folk lore, one is altogether 




MTTEQ CUTTING UP A NEWLY CAPTURED SEAL 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 121 

dependent upon the character and temper of one's 
sources; it is essential to have native authorities not 
only qualified in regard to knowledge of their subject 
but also gifted with the right appreciation of it 
themselves. They must be reliable, so that one can 
listen without criticising all the time, and one should 
if possible be on friendly terms with them throughout. 
Aua and his wife Orulo eminently fulfilled these 
conditions; we were excellent friends, and the two 
old folk, pooling the experience and learning of their 
respective lives, combined to furnish a mine of 
information. What one did not know the other did. 
The reader will recollect Aua from a previous chapter, 
and the account of his snow palace at Cape Elizabeth; 
it was he who then gave me the accounts of native 
belief as to the life after death, and the methods 
of native wizards in their spirit flights and the like. 
In addition to Aua himself, there were three other 
wizards in the camp, differing considerably in type 
and character. I endeavored throughout as far 
as possible to get them to take part in the 
conversation, in order to obtain as varied a general 
view as possible. One of them was a young man 
named Anarqaoq. He was not particularly skilful 
as a hunter, and had been more or less of a vagabond 
all his life. He had come originally from one of the 
Netsilik tribes in the neighborhood of King William's 
Land, where his first introduction to the practice of 
magic had taken place. He was a man of a very 
nervous temperament, easily influenced, and his 
speciality, as one might say, consisted mainly in the 
remarkable visions which came to him as soon as he 



122 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

was out alone caribou hunting in the interior. His 
imagination peopled the whole of nature with 
fantastic spirit creatures that came to him either 
while he slept, or even when fully awake and engaged 
on his normal occupations. In some way he could 
not explain, these spirits gave him an enhanced 
power of penetrating into the realms of mystery; and 
though his own accounts of such experiences often 
appeared naive to say the least, they sufficed to 
impress his fellows with a sense of his importance as 
one familiar with the unknown powers. I gave htm 
a pencil and paper one day and asked him to draw 
some of these " visions." After some hesitation he 
complied. And I could not but feel that he was 
himself convinced of their reality; he did not simply 
sit down and draw the things at once, but would 
remain for some time manifestly under the influence 
of strong emotion, trembling often to such a degree 
that he could hardly draw at all. 

It is difficult indeed for the ordinary civilized 
mentality to appreciate the complexity of the native 
mind in its relations with the supernatural; a "wiz- 
ard" may resort to the most transparent trickwork 
and yet be thoroughly in earnest. Anarqaoq himself, 
afforded an instance of this. One evening a child 
came in crying, but unable to say what was the 
matter a not uncommon happening with children; 
as everyone knows. Our wizard, however, grasped 
and utilized the opportunity. He dashed out into 
the darkness and returned some time later covered 
with blood and with great rents in his clothing, 
having fought and defeated the "evil Spirits" that 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 123 

were seeking to harm the child. No one suspected 
that he had snatched up a lump of half frozen seal's 
blood from the kitchen, and with this, and a few 
self-inflicted wounds upon his garments, supplied 
the needful evidence to impress his fellow villagers 
with the truth of his story. 

Another wizard was Unaleq, also a Netsilik. I 
chose out these two in particular for occasional 
interrogation because the Igdlulik, to which tribe Aua 
himself belonged, regarded the Netsilik as their 
inferiors, and Aua was thus impelled to be more 
communicative himself. 

Unaleq was, I think, the most trustful and 
optimistic soul I have ever met. Actually one of the 
poorest and most unskilful hunters for some distance 
round, he was nevertheless convinced that his 
"helping spirits " had endowed him with super- 
natural powers enabling him to assist his fellows. I 
got him to draw these spirits for me, as A&arqaoq 
had done, though again, not without considerable 
difficulty, despite the tempting nature of the prize 
offered a knife bigger and brighter and sharper 
than he had ever owned in his life. When he had 
finished, I assured him that he would be successful 
in his hunting on the following day, as I had dreamt 
I saw him catching a seal. Whether due to laziness 
or lack of skill, he had caught not a single seal all that 
winter. But on the following day he did. The 
confidence with which my dream inspired him had, 
perhaps, encouraged him to effort beyond his usual 
capacity; at any rate, he brought home a seal. 

And finally, there was Aua's brother, Ivaluartjuk, 



124 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

whose contribution to our stock of legends and 
myths was of the greatest value. We met him for 
the first time at Repulse Bay. He was a duly quali- 
fied wizard, but rarely practised his art, his speciality 
being folk tales, of which over fifty were written 
down from his dictation. Space forbids the inclusion 
of further stories at length, but there is one important 
point in this connection which must be noted, to wit, 
the similarity, or indeed, identity of many of the 
Canadian Eskimo folk tales with those already known 
from the Eskimos of Greenland. A few instances 
have been noted in the foregoing; and the further 
evidence afforded by this later material places the 
question of kinship beyond all doubt. The following 
are a few of the themes in the stories told by Ivaluart- 
juk having counterparts or very close variants in 
different parts of Greenland: 

The coming of men: at the very beginning of the 
world, women went out and found children sprawling 
among the bushes. Later, they grew to be many 
throughout the world. 

Day and night. In earliest times, all was dark; 
the fox wished it to be dark that it might steal from 
the dwellings of men. But the raven could not see to 
find food in the dark, and wished for light. And 
there was light. 

The raven that married a goose, and was drowned 
when the birds flew over the sea. 

The fatherless boy who was ill-used by his fellows, 
till a spirit (the moon) took pity on him and made 
him a strong man, when he returned and took 
vengeance. 

Igimarajugjuk, who ate his wives. 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 125 

The soul that lived in the bodies of all beasts. 

Sun and moon brother and sister who loved each 
other, till the sister, ashamed, fled away by night, 
the brother in pursuit. Both carried torches, but 
the one went out, hence the faint glow of the moon 
compared with the sun. 

The man disturbed in liis hunting by children at 
play; he shuts them up in a mountain where they 
starve to death. 1 

There are, of course, numerous themes common to 
the folklore of many different countries and races, 
so that the subject itself does not always count for 
much. But in the case of these stories we often 
find, not only dose resemblance in points of detail, 
but precisely identical words in the dialogue. 

Aua of course, as a wizard himself, was an author- 
ity not wily on folklore and customs generally, but 
more especially on all matters connected with the 
supernatural, as well as the complicated rites and 
observances coming under the head of tabu. His 
account of the origin of his own profession is worth 
noting. Briefly, it was as follows: 

In very early times there were no wizards, and 
people generally were ignorant of many things per- 
taining to their welfare. Then it came about that 
there was great famine at Igdlulik, and many died 
of starvation. One day, many being assembled in 
one house, a man there present declared that he 
would go down to the Mother of the Sea. None of 
those present knew what he meant by that. But he 

X A representative collection of these Greenland stories is given in 
Eskimo Folk Tales, by Enud Rasmussen and W. Worster, London, 
GyldendaL 



126 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

insisted, and begged to be allowed to hide behind 
the skins, as he was about to undertake something 
for the good of all. They allowed him to do so, and 
presently, pulling the skins aside, they saw that he 
was already almost gone, only the soles of his feet 
remaining above ground. It is not known what in- 
spired him to do this thing, but some say he was 
visited by spirits that came to him out in the great 
solitude. And he went down to the Mother of the 
Sea, and brought back her good will and the grant of 
game for the hunters, so that thenceforward there 
was no longer dearth, but great abundance of food, 
and all were happy once more. Since then, the 
angakoqs, have learned much more about hidden 
things, and aided their fellows in many ways. They 
have too their own sacred speech, which is not to be 
used for common things. 

A young man wishing to become an angakoq must 
first handover some of his possessions to his instructor. 
At Igdlulik it was customary to give a tent pole, wood 
being scarce in these regions. A gull's wing was at- 
tached to the pole, as a sign that the novice wished to 
learn to fly. He had further to confess any breach 
of tabu which he might have committed, and then, re- 
tiring behind a curtain withhis instructor submitted to 
the extraction of the "soul" from his eyes, heart and 
vitals, which would then be brought by magic means 
into contact with those beings destined to become his 
helping spirits, to the end that he might later meet 
them without fear. The ultimate initiation always 
took place far from all human dwelling ; only in the 
great solitude was it possible to approach the spirits. 
Furthermore, it was essential that the novice should 
start young; some, indeed, were entered to the pro- 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 127 

fession before they were born. Aua himself was one 
of these, his mother declaring that her coming child 
was one that should be different from his fellows. 
His birth was attended by various remarkable 
features, special rites were observed, and strict 
discipline imposed on him during childhood and early 
youth; " nevertheless, though all was thus prepared 
for me, I tried in vain to become an angakoq by 
the ordinary methods of instruction." Famous 
wizards were approached and propitiated with gifts, 
but all in vain. At last, without knowing how, 
he perceived that a change had come over him, a great 
glow as of intense light pervaded all his being (this 
is a recurrent feature in the process) and a feeling of 
inexpressible joy cameover him, andheburst into song. 

"But now/' he went on, "I am a Christian, and so 
I have sent away all my helping spirits; sent them 
up to my sister in Baffin Land." 

Occasionally, the spirits themselves lay hold of a 
man aad of their own accord invest him with super- 
sati&al powers; this is generally reckoned as a pain- 
ful process, attended by terrifying phenomena. 

It is the business of an angakoq to heal the sick, 
to protect the souls of his fellows against the 
machinations of hostile wizards, to intercede with the 
Mother of the Sea when seal are scarce, and to see 
that traditional customs are properly observed. 
Infantile diseases, for instance, are generally reckoned 
as due to some breach of tabu on the part of the 
mother; famine may likewise be sent as a punishment 
for similar neglect, and the angakoq has then to 
find and persuade the culprit to confession. 



128 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Such manifestations as I had an opportunity of 
witnessing myself were, I must confess, disappointing 
to the critical observer. Acquainted as he would 
be with his neighbors' life and doings, it was not 
difficult for the angakoq to hit upon something done 
or left undone by one or another. The trance-like 
state into which he cast himself was not impressive 
in itself, and as for the spirits supposed to be present, 
one can only say they did not make their presence 
felt. The wizard stood in the middle of the hut 
with his eyes closed, talking in a strained, unnatural 
voice; the rushing of mighty wings, which in the old 
stories accompanies such spiritual visitations, was 
conspicuous by its absence, 

I had frequently brought the conversation round 
to the subject of tabu with a view to ascertaining 
the purpose of these highly complicated and 
apparently meaningless observances; this thing in- 
sisted on, and that strictly forbidden. But here 
lay the difficulty. Everyone knew, and all were 
unanimously agreed, as to what must be done or 
avoided in any given situation, but as to the why 
and the wherefore, none could advance any explan- 
ation whatever. They seemed, indeed, to regard it 
as unreasonable on my part to demand, not only a 
statement, but a justification, of their religious rites 
and ceremonies, Aua was as usual the one I mainly 
questioned, and one evening, when I had been 
endeavoring to extract some more positive inform- 
ation on this head, he suddenly rose to his feet and 
invited me to step outside. 

It was twilight, the brief day was almost at an end, 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 129 

but the moon was up, and one could see the storm- 
riven clouds racing over the sky; every now and then 
a gust of snow came whirling down. Aua pointed 
out over the ice, where the snow swept this way 
and that in whirling clouds. "Look," he said 
impressively, "snow and stonn; ill weather for 
hunting* And yet we must hunt for our daily food; 
why? Why must there be storms to hinder us when 
we are seeking meat for ourselves and those we love? " 

Why? 

Two of the hunters were just coming in after a 
hard day's watching on the ice; they walked wearily, 
stopping or stooping every now and then in the wind 
and the snow. Neither had made any catch that 
day; their watching had been in vain. 

Why? 

I could only shake my head. Aua led me again, 
this time to the bouse of Kttvdlo, next to our own. 
The lamp bttmad with the tmiesk glow, giving out no 
heat at all; a couple of chfldrea cowered shivering in 
a copier, huddled together tmder a skin rug. AndAua 
re&ewed his merciless interrogation: "Why should 
aH be chill and comfortless in this little home? 
Kuvdlo has been out hunting since early morning; if 
he had caught a seal, as he surely deserved, for his 
pains, the lamp would be burning bright and warm, 
his wife would be sitting smiling beside it, without 
fear of scarcity for the morrow; the children would be 
playing merrily in the warmth and light, glad to be 
alive. Why should it not be so? " 

Why? 

Again I could make no answer. And Aua took me 



I 3 o A CROSS ARCTIC A MERICA 

to a little hut apart, where his aged sister, Natseq, 
who was ill, lay all alone. She looked thin and worn, 
and too weak even to brighten up at our coming. 
For days past she had suffered from a painful cough 
that seemed to come from deep down in the lungs; 
it was evident she had not long to live. 

And for the third time Aua looked me in the face 
and said: "Why should it be so? Why should we 
human beings suffer pain and sickness? All fear it, 
all would avoid it if they could. Here is this old 
sister of mine, she has done no wrong that we can see, 
but lived her many years and given birth to good 
strong children, yet now she must suffer pain at the 
ending of her days? " 

Why? Why? 

After this striking object lesson, we returned to the 
hut, and renewed our interrupted conversation with 
the others. 

"You see/' observed Aua, "even you cannot 
answer when we ask you why life is as it is. And so 
it must be. Our customs all come from life and are 
directed towards life; we cannot explain, we do not 
believe in this or that; but the answer lies in what I 
have just shown you. 

"We fear! 

"We fear the elements with which we have to fight 
HI their fury to wrest out food from land and sea. 

"We fear cold and famine in our snow huts. 

"We fear the sickness that is daily to be seen 
amongst us. Not death, but the suffering. 

"We fear the souls of the dead, of human 
animal alike. 




fi 
o 



H 



B 





B 

55 
D 

8 


D 

o 

J* 



o 

B 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 131 

"We fear the spirits of earth and air. 

"And therefore our fathers, taught by their 
fathers before them, guarded themselves about with 
all these old rules and customs, which are built upon 
the experience and knowledge of generations. We 
know not how nor why, but we obey them that we 
may be suffered to live in peace, And for all our 
angakoqs and their knowledge of hidden things, we 
yet know so little that we fear everything eise. We 
fear the things we see about us, and tfee things we 
know from the stories and myths of our forefathers. 
Therefore we hold by our customs and observe all 
the rules of tabu/ 1 

Aua's explanation was reasonable enough from his 
point of view. There was no more to be said. 

But I will endeavor now to give a brief summary 
of the leading principles in the system of tabu, with 
its ordinances and pix^MMtians. 

It is to begin witfa wy lai^ely a matter o 
propitiatory sites and ceremooies attending the 
treatment of the Atwmalg killed; preparing food, skins, 
ete. Here, there is a fundamental distinction 
between land game and the products of the sea. 
The fauna of each has its own distinct origin, and it 
is believed that any contact between the two is 
offensive to both, involving punishment of the person 
responsible. The caribou of the land have their 
"mother," as the seal and walrus together have 
theirs, and the two must never be confused. 

Then it is a matter of faith that all living creatures 
have souls; and the souls of animals slain for food 
or other useful purpose by man are affected by the 



132 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

manner in which their bodies are treated after 
death; even, indeed, by the manner of their killing. 
There are a host of little apparently trivial things 
that must be done or must on no account be done, -in 
connection with hunting, cooking, making clothes 
and the like; and they are regarded so much as a 
matter of course that it is difficult,when living among 
the natives and observing them, to pick out this or 
that little matter and get at the purpose underlying 
it. The whole system is further complicated by 
4 'name" principle running through daily life and 
observances in a similar way. A person's name 
is always derived from that of someone deceased, 
and carries with it the namesake's qualities; one 
becomes, indeed, a member of the great community 
of all who have borne the same name back to the 
ultimate distant past. Each living human being 
is thus attended by a host of namesake-spirits, who 
aid and protect him as long as he is faithful to rule 
and rite, but become inimical on any transgression. 
The soul of the caribou detests everything per- 
taining to the creatures of the sea ; in caribou hunting, 
therefore, all implements and material associated, 
with hunting at sea must be left behind. On the 
other hand, footwear which has been used for caribou 
hunting must on no account be used when hunting 
seal or walrus. Caribou are moreover, peculiarly 
sensitive in regard to "contamination" by women; 
when slain, they must be skinned in such a fashion 
that certain parts of the carcase are protected against 
direct contact with a woman's hands. Women at 
certain periods, and in certain conditions, are for- 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 133 

bidden to touch either the meat or the skin. Dogs 
must not gnaw the bones of caribou during the 
hunting season. A piece of the meat and a piece of 
the tallow must be placed under a stone near the spot 
where the animal was killed; this is an offering to the 
soul in the hope that it may attract other caribou to 
-the hunter. 

Walrus hunting has its own special rules, which 
again are to some extent distinct from those which 
apply to seal. Salmon, curiously enough, are reck- 
oned as "land meat*' and may not be eaten on the 
same day as seal or walrus meat. 

Tabu at Igdlulik was particularly strict, as it was 
here, according to tradition, that the Mother of the 
Sea met with her fate, and she is thus nearer and 
more easily offended than elsewhere. It was said 
that she hated the caribou because they were not of 
her own creation; hence the rtde that wfiale, seal and 
walrus meat mmfc mw& be eatm on the same day as 
caribou; must not evea be f ottnd in the same httt at 
the same time. 

Some of the sea-beasts are of the 



order, and have to be propitiated after death; ifatts 
whale, ribbon seal and bear. No work may be done 
in the huts for so many hours after the killing; parts 
of the carcase must be hung up together with certain 
implements. Ordinary seal are easier to manage, but 
here again there are complicated rules as to refraining 
from this and that tint-ill it has been skinned. Certain 
articles must not be touched, women must not comb 
their hair. Sinews of the seal must never be used for 
sewing, on pain of premature death. 



134 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Birth and death have their own peculiar rites and 
observances. Various means are employed to facili- 
tate birth, mainly of the magic order, such as the 
wearing of certain amulets, or dressing the hair in a 
certain way* No assistance may on any account be 
rendered to the woman at the actual birth; she is 
placed beforehand in a separate tent or hut, and 
there left until the child is born. She is then moved 
to another house where she lives by herself for two 
months; others may visit her, but she must not enter 
any other house. For a whole year after she is not 
allowed to eat raw meat, or the meat of any animal 
save those killed in certain ways. There are endless 
observances designed to 'secure good luck or useful 
accomplishments for the child when it grows 
up. 

Death involves first of all the attendance of the 
nearest relatives for a period of three days if the 
deceased be a man, four days if a woman; during 
this time the soul is supposed to remain in the body, 
which must not be left alone. No work must be 
done, nor any hunting save in extreme need, during 
these first days of mourning. No one is allowed to 
wash, comb hair or cut nails. Curious methods are 
employed for purification of the hut or tent, and 
certain magic formulae are used. The body is never 
buried or enclosed in a cairn, but simply laid out on 
the earth at the chosen spot, with a few loose stones 
placed at head, shoulders and feet* In winter, a 
small snow shelter may be built above the corpse. 
Models in miniature of implements used by the dead, 
suitable for man or woman as the case may be, 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 135 

are fashioned and placed beside the corpse for ttse 
"on the other side." 

Persons tired of life and wishing to hang them- 
selves a recognized form of suicide are required 
to do so while alone in the house, and by certain 
methods; it is also a rule that the suicide shall leave 
the lamp burning in order that his body may be at 
once observed as soon as anyone enters the hut. 

A woman who has lost a near relative is jnegarded 
as unclean for a year after; she toay not work on 
caribou skin, or speak of any animal used for food 
except in the peculiar te&ms employed for magic 
incantations. A man who has lost his wife may iiot 
drive or strike his own dogs for a year after. 

When any breach of these irksome regulations has 
been committed, the only means of making repar- 
ation and warding off the evil consequences that 
would otherwise ensue* is for the ddinqueat to con- 
fess at once to his fellows* Tbere.is, however, a 
natural tfflwilliiig^aess to <16 so; and fttrt&ennore, the 
of the whole code renders it very easy for 



one t0 offend unwittingly* Even where every reason- 
able care is taken, there is constant danger of incur- 
ring the enmity of spirits and supernatural powers; 
and it becomes the task of the angakoq, then to 
intervene. 

All these observances however, are mainly 
negative; designed to avoid actual disaster; they 
do not make for any positive advantage beyond 
the ordinary level of security. He who would 
achieve anything further xxrast have recourse to 
amulets and charms, or spells* 



136 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Amulets consists mainly of certain portions of 
the body of certain animals, which, are sewn into the 
clothing. The Igdlulik natives, unlike those of 
Netsilik, use very few amulets, but their idea as to 
the purpose and effect is the same. The virtue lies 
in the soul of the creature represented, though it is 
only certain parts of its body which can convey 
the power. A woman with a newly born infant for 
instance, will use a raven's claw as a fastening for 
the strap of her amaut (the bag in which the child is 
slung on her back) ; this is supposed to give strength 
and success in hunting to the child later on. 

The mystic power of an amulet is not invariably 
at the service of the person wearing it; the actual 
object for instance, may be given away to another, 
but its inherent activity will not operate on his 
behalf unless he has given something in return. 
It is a regular thing for a young hunter to obtain a 
harpoon head from some aged veteran no longer able 
to hunt for himself; the "luck" of the former owner 
then passes with the chattel to its new possessor. 
Clothes may be lucky in themselves. One lad at 
Igdlulik whose father was always unlucky at caribou 
hunting, was given the sleeve linings of a particularly 
successful hunter, and these were fitted successively 
to every tunic he wore, and brought him luck. There 
axe amulets for various qualities, such as making the 
wearer a good walker, preserving him from danger on 
thin ice, keeping him warm in the coldest weather, 
giving extra stability to his kayak, and so on. 

Then there are "magic words" for use in various 
emergencies. The efficacy of these is impaired as 



FAITH OUT OF FEAR 

soon as they are made known to others, and it is 
therefore difficult as a rule to get hold of them. 
They consist mainly of fragments from old songs, 
handed down from earlier generations, They can be 
bought, at a high price, or bequeathed by the 
"owner " on his deathbed to another. But they must 
never be heard by any save the one who is to use 
them, or their power will be gone, 

Aua himself had, as a young man, learnt certain 
charms of this sort from an old woman named 
Qeqertuanaq, in whose family they had been handed 
down from generation to generation dating back 
to "the very first people on earth." And by way of 
payment Aua had undertaken to feed aad clothe her 
for the rest of her life. They had always to be 
uttered in her name, or they would be of no avail. 

Here is one of than, designed to lighten heavy 
loads. The speaker stands by the fore end of his 
sledge, looking ahead aad says: 

I speak with the month of Qeqertaanaq, and say: 

I wffl walk with kg mtisdes strong as the sinews <m 
the shin of a Httie caribou catf . 

I mil walk with leg muscles strong as the sinews on 
the shin of a little hare, 

I will take care not to walk toward the dark. 

I will walk toward the day. 

(This may be said also when setting out on a 



X*^/ 

Jor ctaieg sickness among ndgbfoors 
may be tttfeeral by one who is weH. Thesp^kerg^s 
up eariy in tfae toocirii^ before airycme dse is asir, 



138 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

takes the inner upper garment of a child, and drawing 
down his own hood over his head, thrusts his arms 
into the sleeves of the child's garment as if to put 
it on. Then these words are uttered: 

I arise from my couch with the grey gull's morning 
song. 

I arise from my couch with the grey gull's morning 
song. 

I will take care not to look toward the dark, 

I turn my glance toward the day. 

Words to a sick child: 

Little child! Your mother's breasts are full of milk. 

Go to her and suck, go to her and drink. Go up into 
the mountain. Prom the mountain's top shalt thou find 
health; from the mountain's top shalt thou win life. 

A charm to stop bleeding: 

This is blood from the little sparrow's mother. Dry it 
up ! This is blood that flowed from a piece of wood. Dry 

it up. 

A charm for calling game to the hunter: 

Beast of the sea! Come and place yourself before 
me in the dear early morning! 

Beast of the plain ! Come and place yourself before me 
in the dear early morning! 

These charms, quaint or meaningless as they may 
seem, are used by the Eskimos in all sincerity and 
pious faith, as prayers humbly addressed to the 
mighty powers, of JMature. 



CHAPTER X 

"I HAVE SEEN SO HAPPY t" 

A TJA'S wife Orulo was one of those women who 
** give themselves up entirely to their housewifely 
duties. She was never idle for a moment from 
morning to night and could get through a wonder- 
ful amount of work. Her favorite occupation was 
sewing, and of this there was plenty, as the men's 
clothes were constantly in need of repair after the 
wear and tear of hunting. But she had many other 
things to attend to besides. It was her business 
to fetch in snow for water* and beep the hut sup- 
plied, to have a stock of meat thawing near the lamp 
for 5fflB3dia&e use, aad a supply of food foe the dogs 
ready eirt tip when the men came home. There was 
blubber to be pressed and beaten that the oil might 
run out, the lamp itself to be tended carefully 
and kept from smoking. If the temperature inside 
the hut rose beyond a certain point, the roof would 
begin to drip, and had to be plastered with fresh 
snow from within. Occasionally, when a part of 
the roof or wall thawed through, she had to go out 
and cut away the weakened portion, fitting fresh 
blocks of snow into the hole. There was blubber 
to be scraped from the raw skins of newly killed 

139 



140 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

seal, the skins themselves stretched out to dry on the 
frame above the lamp, and pieces of hide intended 
for boot soles had to be chewed from their original 
state, which was almost as hard as wood, until they 
were soft enough for working. All these manifold 
duties however, she took cheerfully as part of the 
day's work, and went about humming a scrap of some 
old song, as happily as could be. And there was 
sure to be a cheerily bubbling pot on the boil more 
welcome music still by the time her menfolk came 
in from their hunting* 

With it all she found time to look in and see that 
all was well with her neighbors, lending a helpful 
hand where needed, and finding a bit of meat, or a 
lump of blubber, from her own store for those 
who were badly off. 

I had often asked her to tell me something of her 
life, and such of her experiences as she reckoned the 
most important, but she always turned it off as a 
joke, declaring that there was nothing of the least 
importance to tell about. At last one day when 
we had the hut to ourselves, she returned to the 
subject of her own accord. I was busy with my 
own work, and hardly conscious of her presence, 
when she began without preamble. And there, 
sitting cross-legged on the skins, working the while at 
a pair of waterproof boots, she told me the story of 
her life. 

"I was born at a place near the mouth of Admir- 
alty Inlet, but while I was still quite small, my par- 
ents left Baffin Land and came to Idglukk. The 
first thing I can remember was that my mother lived 



"I HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY!" 141 

alone in a little snow hut. I could not understand 
why my father lived in another, but then I was told 
that it was because my mother had just had a child, 
and must not be near the hunters. But I was allowed 
to visit her myself; only when I went there first, I 
could not find the entrance. I was so little at that 
time that I could not see over the big block of snow 
that the others stepped over when they went in, and 
there I stood crying out * Mother, Mother, I want to 
come in, I want to come in/ At last someone came 
out and lifted me over and into the hut. Then when 
I got inside it seemed that the couch erf snow she 
was lying on was ever so high, that I could not get up 
there by myself, and again someone had to lift me. 
Yes, I was as little as that at the time when I first 
can remember. 

'The next thing I remember is from the time we 
were at Piling, up m Baffin Land. I remember hav- 
ing the feg of a bii$;to sat^ ever so t% it was* brat 
that was because I was oely t^ed to haviog ptarmi- 
gan, and tills was tine kg erf a goose. I remember 
w fcat a huge 1% bijrci it inasfc be* 
cannot remember any taoro taufcii o&e day 



it seems to wake up again, and we were Jiving at a 
place called the Mountain. My father was ill, and 
all the others had gone away hunting caribou and we 
were left alone. My father had pains in his chest 
and lungs, and grew worse and worse. And there we 
were all alone, my mother and two little brothers and 
myself , and mother was very unhappy. 

"One day I came runninginto the tent crymg out: 
'Here are white men coming!' For I had seen some 



142 A CROSS ARCTIC A MERICA 

figures that I thought must be white men. But whea 
my father heard me, he sighed deeply and said, 
'Alas, I had thought I might yet be suffered to draw 
the breath of life a little while ; but now I know that I 
shall never go out hunting any more/ 

1 Tor the figures I had seen were evil trolls ; no white 
men ever came to our country in those days. And 
my father took it as a warning that he was about to 
die, 

"I made no secret of what I had seen, but told it to 
the others without thinking either way about the 
matter. But my little brother Sequsu kept it secret; 
and he died of it shortly afterwards. When one 
sees evil spirits, it is a great mistake to keep it secret. 

"Father grew worse and worse, and when at last 
we saw he could not live much longer, we put him on 
a sledge and carried him off to a neighboring village, 
where he died. I remember they wrapped him up in 
a skin and carried him away; the body was laid out on 
the bare ground, with its face toward the west. My 
mother told me that this was because he was an old 
man; when old men die, they are always placed so as 
to look toward the quarter whence the dark of even- 
ing comes; children must look towards the morning, 
and young people towards the point where the sun 
is at noon. This was the first I ever learned about 
the dead, and how we have to fear them and follow 
certain rules. But I was not afraid of my father, 
who had always been kind to me. And I thought it 
was unkind to let him lie there out in the open, all 
in the cold with no covering; but then my mother 
explained that I must no longer think of him as in 




TYPICAL WOMEN OF THE TRIBE 



"I HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY!" 143 

that body, for his soul was.already in the land of the 
dead, and there he had no longer any pain. 

"After this we went to live with an old man who 
took my mother to be another wife to him, and we 
lived in his hut. It was soon after this that my 
brother Sequsu fell ill; he had pain in his stomach, 
and his liver swelled, and then he died. I was told 
that it was because he had seen those evil trolls with 
me before our father died, and because he had kept it 
secret, it had been his death, for it is always so- 

"In the autumn, when the first saow had fallen, 
the others went off hunting up inland, and my 
other brother went with them. I remember my 
mother was very anxious about this, for she did not 
think the old man could get any game, having only a 
bow and arrows. But she could not get food for her- 
self, and so had to let my brother go with them* 

"A stmnge thing happened a little after tbis. My 
mother had cooked some walrus ribs and was m&mg 
eating, wfaaa the bone sbe bad in bar baud feegtn to 
utter sounds. She was SQ feigfatei^ sbe slopped 
eating &fc once and threw down the bone. I 
mBember her face T&ent quite white, and she cried 
out: 'Something has happened to my son!* And so 
it was; for in a little while they came back aod 
instead of walking straight into the hut, the man 
went to the window and called to my mother and 
said: 'Dear Little Thing, it is through my fault that 
you have no longer a son.' Dear Little Thing was a 
name he had for my mother. And then he came in 
and told us how it had come about. They had been 
for several days without food and were seeking the 



144 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

spot where he had cached a caribou some time before, 
but could not find the spot. So they separated, his 
wife going one way and he with the two boys the 
other. But still they could not find it. It was 
autumn, the first snow had fallen, and a cold wind 
sent it whirling about them every now and then; 
and their clothes were poor for such hard weather. 
So at last they lay down behind a stone shelter, 
worn out and almost perishing with cold. The 
days were short now and the night seemed very long, 
but they must wait for daylight before they could 
begin their search again. Meantime, the woman 
had found the meat, but now she had no means of 
knowing where to find the others. Being anxious 
about them she ate but little herself, and gave the 
child she was carrying a tiny piece of meat to suck. 
She had made a shelter of stones, as the others had 
done, and lay there half dozing, when suddenly she 
awoke, having dreamed of my brother* The dream 
was that she saw him quite plainly before her, very 
pale and shivering with cold. And he spoke to her 
and said: 'Now you will never see me again, This 
has come upon us because the earth-lice are angry 
at our having touched their sinews before a year had 
passed after my father's death.' 

"I remember this so distinctly myself,, because it 
was the first time I ever heard about not doing 
certain things for a year after someone had died. 
When he said earth-lice, he meant caribou; that is a 
word the wizards use. 

11 Now the woman could sleep no more that night 
because of her dream. My brother was very dear to 



"/ HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY!" 145 

her, and she used to say magic words over him to 
make him strong. 

"Next morning, when it was light and the others 
were ready to start again, my brother was so weak 
that he could not stand, and the two others were too 
exhausted to carry him. So they covered him up 
with a thin caribou pelt and left him. Afterwards 
they found the meat, but they did not return to my 
brother. He was left to freeze to death. 

"My stepfather had his old mother still living; sbe 
was blind, and I remember 1 was terribly afraid of 
her because I had heaffd that ouee, i 



she had eaten human flesh. A wise woman had said 
charms over her to cure her blindness, and shehad 
just begun to see a veary little, but then she ate 
some blubber, and that is a thing one must never 
do when being cured of anything by magic; after 
that she became quite blind again and nothing oonld 
make her see* 

"The following spring we left that place and came 
to Admiralty Inlet. We got there jttst at the time 
wben ersFeryone was getting ready to go up country 
hunting caribou, One of the women had just given 
birth to a child before her time, and could not go 
with the rest, so my mother went instead, and took 
me with her. We stayed up <xmntryalll3iatsiimmer. 
The hunting was good, and we helped the men to pile 
up the meat in store places or cot it up into thin 
slices and laid it out on stones to dry- It was a 
merry fif e, we had all kinds of nice things to eat, and 
the day's work was like so much play. Then I 
remember one day we were terrified by a woman from 



146 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

one of the tents crying out: 'Come and look, Oh 
come and look.' And we all ran up and there was a 
spider letting itself down to the ground. We could 
not make out where it came from, it looked as if it 
were lowering itself on a thread from the sky. We all 
saw it quite plainly, and then there was silence among 
the tents. For when a spider is seen to lower itself 
down from nowhere in that way, it always means 
death. And so it was. Some people came up from 
the coast shortly after, and we learned that four men 
had been out in their kayaks and were drowned; one 
of them was my step-father and now we were 
homeless and all alone in the world once more. 

"But it was not long before my mother was married 
again; this time to a young man, much younger than 
herself. They lived together until he took another 
wife of his own age; then my mother was cast oS and 
we were alone again. Then my mother was married 
once more, to a man named Aupila, and now we had 
some one to look after us. Aupila wanted to go 
down to Pond's Inlet, to look for some white men. 
He had heard that the whalers generally came to that 
place in the summer. So he went off with my 
mother, and I was left behind with another man and 
his wife. But I did not stay with them long, for the 
man said he had too many mouths to feed already, 
and I was passed on to someone else. Then at last 
Aua came and found me; 'my new husband' that is 
my little name for Aua ; and he took me away and that 
is the end. For nothing happens when you a#e 
happy, and indeed I have been happy, and had 
seven children/' : 



"/ HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY!" 147 

Orulo was silent, evidently deep in thought. But 
I was eager to hear more, and broke in without 
ceremony: 

"Tell me what is the worst thing that ever hap- 
pened to you/' 

Without a moment's hesitation she answered: 

"The worst that ever happened to me was a famine 
that came just after my eldest son was born. The 
hunting had failed us, and to make matters woerse, the 
wolverines had plundered all our depots of caribou 
meat. During the two coldest months of winter, Atta 
hardly slept a single night in the hut, but was out 
hunting seal the whole time, taking such sleep as he 
could get at odd moments in little shelters built 
on the ice by the breathing holes. We nearly starved 
to death; for he only got two seal the whole of that 
time. To see him, sdfering himself from cold and 
hunger, out day after day m the bitterest weather, 
and all m vain, to seeten gra^fting thfameraiMl weaker 
all the tame oh, it wa& <tecrfHet" 

"And wliat was t&e meest thing caf all you 
remember?" 

Orulo's kindly old face lit up with a metty 
she put down her work and shifting a little 
began her story: 

"It was the first time I went back to Baffin Land 
after I was married. And I, who had always been 
poor, a child without a father, passed on from hand to 
hand I found myself now a welcome guest, made 
much of by all those who had known me before, 
My husband had come up to challe&ge a raaa he fc&ew 
to a song contest, a&d there were great i easts 



I 4 8 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

gatherings, such as I had heard of perhaps but never 
seen myself." 

"Tell me something about them/ 1 

"Well there was the Tivajuk, the Great Rejoicing, 
where they play the game of changing wives. A big 
snow hut is built all empty inside, just for the danc- 
ing, only with two blocks of snow in the middle of the 
floor. One is about half the height of a man and 
is called the jumping block, the other is a full man's 
height and is called the lamp block. Two men, they 
are the Servants of Joy, are dressed up, one like a 
man, the other like a woman, and both wear masks. 
Their clothes are made too small for them on purpose, 
tied in tightly just where they ought to be loose, and 
that makes them look funny, of course. It is part 
of their business to make everyone laugh. 

"Then all the men and women in the place assemble 
in the dance hut, and wait for the two masked dancers. 
Suddenly the two of them come leaping in, the man 
with a dog whip and the one dressed as a woman with 
a stick; they jump over the jumping block and begin 
striking out at all the men in the hut, chasing them all 
out until only the women are left. The maskers are 
supposed to be dumb, they do not speak, but make 
signs to each other with great gestures only giving a 
sort of huge gasp now and again with all the force of 
their lungs. They have to leap nimbly about among 
the women, to make sure there are no men hidden; 
then out they go to the men waiting outside. One 
of the men waiting now goes up to the two, ami 
smiles, and whispers the name of the woman he 
specially wants. At once the two maskers rush 



" / HA VE BEEN SO HAPPY!" 149 

into the hut, and touch the woman named under the 
sole of the foot. Then all the other women are 
supposed to be ever so pleased to find that one of 
their number has been chosen, Then the three go 
out together; and every time the maskers go in and 
out they have to jump over the jumping block with 
long strides trying to look funny. They lead out the 
woman who has been chosen, and bring her back 
directly after with the man who asked for her; tibe 
women are never allowed to know who it is that 
wants them till they get outside. Both have to 
look very solemn when they come in, aad pretend not 
to notice that the others are laughing. If they laugh 
themselves, it means a short life. All the others then 
call out 'Unu-nu-nu-nu-nu-nu' and keep on saying 
it all the time, in different voices, to make it sound 
funny. Then the man leads the women he has 
chosen twice round the lamp block, aad all sing 
together: 

"Mask, mask, kapisg, teasing mask, 

Twirl and writhe aad dance with joy, 

Give him gifts now, 

Dry moss for lamp wicks; 

Mask, mask, leaping teasing mask! 

"While this song is being sung, the two maskers 
have to keep on embracing each other, making it as 
funny as they can, so that the others have to laugh, 

"So the game goes on until every man has chosen 
a woman, and then they go home. 

"Another festival that is only held where there are 
a lot of people together is called Qulungertut. It 



ISO ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

begins with two men challenging each other to all 
kinds of contest out in the open, and ends up in the 
dance house. 

"Each of them has a knife, and as soon as they 
meet, they embrace, and kiss each other. Then the 
women are divided into two parties* One side sings 
a song and they have to keep on with it all the time, 
a long, long song; the other side has to stand with 
arms up waving gull's wings all the time and see who 
can keep on longer. Here is a bit of the song: 

"See here they come 
Gaily dressed in fine new skins, 
Women, women, all young women, 
See, with mittens on their hands 
They hold the gull's wings high aloft 
See their skirt tails waving, waving, 
All the time as they are moving. 
Women, women, aU young women, 
You may know them by their motion 
As they step towards the men who 
Take them for their prize of contest. 

"The side that first gives in has to step across to the 
others, who make a circle round them,^ 'and then the 
men come in and try to kiss them. 

"After this game there was a shooting match with 
bow and arrows. A mark was set up on a long pole, 
and the ones who first hit it ten times were counted 
the best. Then came games of ball, and very exciting 
contests between men fighting with fists, until the 
end of the day, and then a song festival to end up 
with, and that lasted aU night. Here are some of 
Aua's songs: 



"/ HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY!" i 5I 

WALRUS HUNTING 

I could not sleep 

For the sea was so smooth 

Near at hand. 

So I rowed out 

And up came a walrus 

Close by my kayak. 

It was too near to throw, 

So I thrust my harpoon into its side 

And the bladder-float danced across the waves. 

But in a moment it was up again, 

Setting its flippers angrily 

Like elbows on the surface of the water 

And trying to rip up the bladder. 

All in vain it wasted strength, 

For the skin of an unborn lemming 

Was sewn inside as an amulet to guard. 

Then snorting viciously it sought to gather strength, 

But I rowed up 

And ended the strti||gia 

Hear that, O men from stea^croefe aad fjords 

That were always so a?eady fe> praise yourselves; 

Now you can fifl your lungs witli song 

Of another man's bold hunting. 

BEAR HUNTING 

I spied a bear 

On the drifting floe 

Like a harmless dog 

It came running and wagging its tail towards me 

But all so eager to eat me up 

That it swung round snarling 

When I leaped aside. 



152 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

And now came a game of catch-me-who-can 

That lasted from morning till late in the day, 

But at last it was wearied 

And could play no more, 

So I thrust my spear into its side. 

CARIBOU HUNTING 

Creeping noiselessly I moved across the marsh 

With bow and arrows in my mouth; 

It was far, and the water icy cold, 

And not a scrap of cover to be seen. 

Slowly I dragged myself, 

Dripping wet but still unseen, 

Up within range. 

The caribou were feeding, 

Nibbling at ease the juicy moss 

Till my arrow stood quivering deep in the breast 

Of the biggest. 

Then terror seized 

Those heedless dwellers of the plains, 

In a moment they scattered 

And swiftly trotting hurried away 

Beyond the refuge of the hills/' 

Orulo had spoken earnestly of her life, and I could 
feel, as she went on, how the memories affected her 
while she recalled them. When she had ended her 
story, she burst into tears, as if in deep sorrow. I 
asked her what was the matter, and she answered: 

"Today I have been as it were a child again. In 
telling you of my life, I seemed to live it all over 
again. And I saw and felt it all just as when it was 
really happening. There are so many things we 



"I HAVE BEEN SO HAPPY/ 19 153 

never think of until one day the memory awakens. 
And now you have heard the story of an old woman's 
life from its first beginning right up to this very day. 
And I could not help weeping for joy to think I had 
been so happy . ." 



CHAPTER XI 

SEPARATE WAYS 

prolonged absence of Therkel Mathiassen at 
* Southampton caused us, at last, so much un- 
easiness that I began making preparations for a 
relief expedition, and even sent down to Repulse 
Bay for a guide, thoroughly acquainted with the 
region, to go with me. 

February 2ist was a perfect beast of a day, with a 
howling blizzard, and bitterly cold. Nobody stirred 
out of the house if he could help it. The Greenland 
Eskimos were indoors mending harness, the rest of 
us posting up our journals. Then, suddenly, the door 
burst open, and in tumbled Therkel Mathiassen, 
with Jacob Olsen at his heels, followed by John Ell, 
and a crowd of Southampton Islanders. 

Mathiassen had been eight months absent. We 
gave him a rousing welcome, as may be imagined. 

The expedition had done good work and met with 
not a few adventures by the way. Southampton 
Island is the most isolated piece of territory in the 
whole Hudson Bay district, and accessible by open 
boat for only a few days during the summer. They 
had planned to spend only a fortnight there, but 
unfavorable weather and other mishaps detained 
them. The local natives couldn't do anything for 
them, and when Mathiassen violated tabus by 
cracking caribou skulls with iron hammers, he 

154 



SEPARATE WAYS 155 

aroused their fears. One night, Jacob Olsen over- 
heard one of the locally employed Eskimos and his 
wife plotting to kill Mathiassen and himself, and 
frustrated the attack* The lack of personal malice, 
however, was so evident, that the plotters were for- 
given and allowed to continue with the party. The 
difficulties arising from native prejudices, together 
with an injury to Olsen's hand and a loog sickness of 
Mathiassen's, due at the beginning to his inability to 
eat the rotten walrus meat, made the trip to Sofrtfa- 
ampton Island, though fruitful of good expedition 
material, a kind of nightmare. We weane all glad to 
forget it in the preparation for the next year's work. 

For we had now come to the parting of the ways, 
and the Fifth Thule Expedition was about to split 
up into five separate projects each with its own field 
of work, scattering over the greater part of the 
Arctic Coast of Canada. 

Maihiassea was to go by dog-dtedge to Pond's 
Inlet in Baffin Land, to supplement his ethnological 
investigations with imp-making and other studies 
in that territory. 

Birket-Smith with Jacob Olsen as interpreter, 
was to continue with the Caribou Eskimos, and then 
go on to the Chipywan Indians, near Churchill. 

Peter Freuchen, was to stay fear a while to look 
after the transportations of our collections, and then 
survey the route to Chesterfield. The Greenlanders 
would remain at headquarters, until they cotdd be 
taken back to Greenland by Freuchen. 

And I, myself, was to start, about the loth of 
March, for my long sledge trip through the 



156 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

west Passage, with only Miteq and Anarulunguaq to 
help me. Helge Bangsted would accompany me a 
little way, and then, after further excavations, would 
return to help Freuchen supervise the removal of otir 
effects. 

The rest of this account will have to do only with 
my own observations, but I carried with me for some 
time the regret of breaking off contact with com- 
panions with whom I had been so happily associated 
for eighteen months. And it is a pleasure to recall 
that our work together was never marred by the 
slightest discord among ourselves. 

The Greenlanders, too, had done their part well. 
Like all other Arctic expeditions we had based our 
maintenance on the help afforded by these faithful 
hunters and workers. There was Arqioq, a steady 
sensible fellow of thirty odd, who had spent most of 
his life with one expedition or another, including two 
from America. Bosun, a few years younger, had 
been my foster son at Thule since he was ten years 
old. He was a dead shot, a good comrade, and 
cheerful under the most adverse circumstances. 
Their wives, too, had done all that was possible to 
make our headquarters homelike and comfortable. 

Especial gratitude was due to Jacob Olsen, not 
oinly for his indispensable services to Mathiassen, 
but also for his abilities. In contrast with the 
others, who had lived always native fashion, and 
were only baptized just before we left Greenland, 
Olsen was a man of some education, having spent six 
years in a seminary and acquired a considerable 
knowledge of books, though he was no less adequate 



SEPARATE WAYS 157 

as a hunter on that account. He was valued as an 
interpreter, and was useful even in collecting 
ethnographical material. 

I should like to close this part of the book with a 
recollection of one of our last evenings at home. I 
had just come in from a run over the ice, and was 
driving up in the twilight towards the house, where 
the light from the windows shed a glow on the space 
in front. Seme of the dogs were stepping, 33 if 
making the fflost of their time bdfoiB fresh iiard week 
set in; groups of men and women weie at .work by 
lantern light getting the new sledges rea%- for use. 
The daylight was not long enough for all these was to 
be done. Hammers rang, and the rhythmic bacfc- 
and-f orth of the plane spoke cheerily of work wefi in 
hand. A wild scene, maybe, yet not without a 
beauty of its own. Dark against the white plain 
rose the two peaks where we had raised memorial 
stones to those whom death had taken on the thres- 
hold; at the foot, stood the domed snow huts, with 
little ice windows twinkliBglafce stars. 

Into the midst of this I drove, my team scattering 
their sleeping companions to every side and bringing 
up against the wall where they were accustomed to 
lie themselves. And as we halted, I heard someone 
singing a little way ofL The words seemed curiously 
appropriate to the occasion: 

Only the Air-spirits know 
What lies beyond the hills, 
Yet I turge my team farther o& 
Drive on and on, 
On and on! 



CHAPTER XII 

STEPPING OUT 

""FHE Arctic spring was full of promise on that 
^ March morning when we took leave of ote 
companions and set out on our long sledge trip* 
Two continents lay between us and home. 

Our party consisted of but three persons in afl;' 
Miteq, Anarulunguaq and myself. Miteq, a you&g 
man of twenty-two from Thule was a very old friend 
of mine; I had known him, indeed, from the time 
when he lay screaming lustily in his mother's amatrt. 
He was a skilful and untiring hunter, and a good 
driver, besides being a cheery companion. Anaru- 
lunguaq, a woman of twenty-eight, was Miteq's 
cousin. Oddly enough, she had as a child been on 
the point of being killed off as a burden to the 
community, as is often done with fatherless childreii, 
but her little brother's intercession had saved her 
life. And here she was setting out upon a journey 
that wa& to make her the most famous woman 
traveller of her tribe. I could not have wished for 
better companions than these two. 

"Our equipment was the simplest possible. We 
1iad two long six-metre sledges of the Hudson Bay 
type, with ice shoeing, each drawn by twelve dogs, 
and with a load of 500 kilos, to each sledge. About 

158 




ANARULUNGUAQ, THE YOUNG ESKIMO WOMAN FROM GREENLAND 

She accompanied the Expedition on the long sledge journey through the North-west Passage and 
round the north of Alaska, returning to Greenland via New York and Copenhagen. 



160 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

tance they stopped, and I at once went forward to 
meet them and assure them we were friends. They 
carried long snow knives and sealing harpoons, but 
I thought it best to carry no weapon myself. They 
were greatly astonished to find a white man in these 
regions, and more so when I hailed them in their 
own tongue: 

" You may lay aside your weapons; we are peace* 
able folk who have come from afar to visit your land/' 

On this the elder of the pair stepped forward and 
said: 

"We are just quite ordinary people, and you need 
fear no harm from us. Our huts are near; our 
weapons are not meant to do you hurt, but it is well 
to have weapons here when meeting strangers/' 

We went back to our hut, and the two men, who 
had been somewhat shy at first, were soon at ease and 
friendly. They were particularly interested in the two 
Greenlanders, who came from so far a country and 
yet spoke the same tongue. They themselves, it 
appeared, were on their way down to Repulse Bay 
with fox skins, to buy new guns, their own having 
been lost in crossing a river some time before. 

Despite the blizzard, we now decided to move 
over to our new friends* quarters. Orpingalik, 
the elder of the two, explained that they were but a 
short distance away. It cost us three hours fierce 
batting with the storm, however, before we reached 
the spot. There were two snow huts built together, 
cosy, well furnished and well supplied with food. 
The natives here were remarkably well built and 
handsome, differing in many ways from the ordinary 




I , 

. .c 



s 



c I 

g 1 



81 

S 

2 I 

S 1 



STEPPING OUT 161 

Eskimo type and rather like the Indians in feature, 
but their frank, open smile and character generally 
were those of the true Eskimo. We soon made 
friends with them. 

Orpingalik was an angakoq, and well up in the 
legends and traditions of his people, and I was glad 
to avail myself of the tine while my companions were 
busy getting our goods down, to have a talk with him 
about such matters. I was anxious in the first 
place to learn how mao j of the stories I had already 
written down among the IgdluliBgrniut were known 
to him, and we went through at least a hundred of 
these together. Also, he gave me some rare magic 
songs, or spells, which I paid for in kind, giving him 
in return some of those I had obtained from Aua. 
The transaction was regarded as perfectly legitimate, 
as the magic would take no harm when it was a white 
man who acted as the medium of conveyance. 

jaani spefls asae rltffireilt to 



late, as the words themselves asne <rftea 



the actual context; they have to be uttered in a 
peculiar way, with great distinctness aad sometimes 
with pauses here and there; the virtue Ees to a great 

extent in the way they are spoken. 

One which Orpingalik regarded as of great value 
was the Hunter's Invocation, which is roughly as 
follows: 

I am ashamed, 
I fed humbled and afraid, 
My grandmother sent me oat 
Sent me out to seek 



162 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

I am out on an errand 

Seeking the precious game, 

Seeking the wandering fox. 

But alas, it may be I shall frighten sway 

That which I seek. 

I am ashamed, 

I feel humbled and afraid, 

My grandmother and great-grandmother 

Sent me out to seek. 

I go on their errand after game, 

After the precious caribou 

But alas, it may be I shall frighten away 

That which I seek. 

When he had given me this, he declared that we 
were now almost like brothers. Another useful 
song is the Poor Man's Prayer to the spirits, which is 
spoken at dawn before setting out hunting, when 
the blubber is running low and fresh supplies are 
urgently wanted. 

father- and motherless, 

O dear little one-all-alone 

Give me , 

Boots of caribou. 

Bring me a gift, 

A beast of those beasts 

That make luscious blood soup; 

A beast of the beasts 

From the depths of the sea 

And not from the plains of earth. 

Little father- and motherless one, 

Bring me a gift. 



STEPPING OUT 163 

This is ttsed for seal; when hunting caribou, on the 
other hand, one must say: 

Caribou, 

Earthlouse, 

Longlegs 

One with Big Ears 

And stiff hair on the neck, 

Flee not from me. 

Here I bring skin for boot safes, 

Here I bring moss far lamp wicks, 

Come then gladly 

ESther tome 

Hither to me. 

Orpingalik himself was a poet, with a fertile 
imagination and sensitive mind; he was always 
singing when not otherwise employed, and called his 
songs his "comrades in lotieHness*** Here is tlie 
beginning of one of them written when he was 
slowly recovering from a severe Illness, It is called 
My Breath. 

I will stag a song, 

A little song about myself 

I have lain sick since the autumn 

And now I am weak as a child, 

Unaya unaya. 

Sad at heart I wish 

My woman away in the house of another 

In the house of a W&T* 

Who may be her refuge, 

Firm and sure as the strong winter ice. 



164 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Sad at heart I wish her away 
In the house of a stronger protector 
Now that I myself lack strength 
Even to rise from where I lie. 
Unaya, unaya. 

Who knoweth his fate? 

Here I lie, weak and unable to rise, 

And only my memories are strong, 

I asked Orpingalik how many songs he had made 
up, and he said " I cannot tell you, for I do not know 
how many there are of these songs of mine. Only I 
know that they are many, and that all in me is song. 
I sing as I draw breath." 

Singing is indeed very prevalent among these 
people. They go about singing all day, or humming 
to themselves. The women sing not only their 
husbands' songs, but have songs of their own as well 
Orpingalik taught me one that belonged to his wife. 
They had a son, Igsivalitaq, who had killed a man 
some years before, and was now living as an outlaw 
up in the hills near Pelly Bay, in fear of being brought 
to justice by the Mounted Police. His mother had 
made a song about him, as follows: 

Eyaya eya, 

I find again 

The fragment of a song 

And take it to me as a human thing, 

Eyaya -eya. 

Should I then be ashamed 

Of the child I once bore, 

Once carried in my ainaut, 





c 
> 

$ 

5 

3 



a 

i 



STEPPING OUT 165 

Because there came news of his flight 

Prom the dwellings of men? 

Eyaya eya. 

Ashamed I may be, 

But only because he had not 

A mother flawless as the bhie sky 

Wise and without unwisdom. 

Now tibe gossip of others shall teach him, 

And II! repute follow that teaching. 

I should incteed be ashamed, 

1, who bone a ddM 

That was not to be my refage; 

I envy instead all those 

Who have a host of friends behind them 

Beckoning on the ice 

When they have taken leave at a merry feast before 

starting. 

Alas, I remember a winter 
When we set off from the island, 
The air was warm 

And the tiiawing snow saag under tbe mmtfm* 
I was as a taiBe beast aanong isen. 
But when the news came 
Of the killing, and of the ffigfct, 
Then the earth became as a mountain peak, 
Its summit needle-pointed, 
And I stood trembling. 

The song is interesting less for its form than for the 
evidence it aifords as to the workings of the primitive 
mind. 

On the 5th of April we took lea ve of QrpingaSk aad 
his people, the whole party shoutiisg after tas as we 
drove off: 



166 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

"Tamavta tornaqarataingerdlasa" ("May we all 
travel with tic evil spirits in our train"). 

We had bought a store of meat from Orpingalik 
before leaving, and were to pick it up on the way 
from the spot where it was cached. Part was fish, 
the rest seal meat and caribou. The fish we found 
without much difficulty, and were delighted to find 
that we had purchased, for a pound of tea, a pound 
of sugar, twenty cakes of tobacco and a small pocket- 
knife, something like six hundred pounds of fine sea 
trout, besides the seal and caribou. To get at this 
last, however, we had first to hunt up Igsivalitaq 
the outlaw, who knew where it was. This was rather 
a delicate task, and Orpingalik had warned us to be 
careful how we approached him. We found his hut, 
but it was empty, and fresh tracks showed that he 
and his party had made off to the northward. Fol- 
lowing up the tracks, we came up with him in the 
course of the day. I greeted him with the same 
words as his father had used at our first meeting: 

"We are just quite ordinary people, and you need 
fear no harm from us/' 

The outlaw was evidently relieved to find that he 
was not being hunted down, but only receiving 
visitors with greetings from his family. He gave a 
shout of delight, and his wife came out from the snow 
hut and joined in the welcome. 

Later, Igsivalitaq gave me an account of the 
circumstances which had led to his act of homi- 
cide and certainly, h had acted under consider- 
able provocation. I advised him in any case most 
earnestly to make no attempt at escape in the event 



STEPPING OUT 167 

of his being sought for by the Mounted Police, and 
above all not to resist capture by aimed force; it was 
unlikely! I thought, that he could be punished very 
severely. At the same time I endeavored to instil 
into him some idea as to the sacredness of human 
life and the wickedness of killing a fellow-man; my 
exhortation here, however, was unfortunately im- 
paired in its effect by what the poor outlaw himself 
had heard, through some traders from Repulse Bay, 
as to the doings of the white men in the Great War. 

On the following day, under Igsivalitaq's guidance, 
we filled up our stores from the depot of seal and 
caribou meat, and drove on again to a camp of snow 
huts some distance out in the fjord. 

Arviligjuaq, "The Land of the Great Whales, " is 
a term used to denote the whole of the PeUy Bay 
district, and is derived not from any actual pre- 
valence of whales in those waters ^as far as I could 
learn, there are none but from some hill formations 
on land, which viewed from a distance present the 
appearance of whales. 

The people here were Arviligjuarmiut, a tribe 
related to the Netsilik group, but holding apart from 
them as regards their territorial limits, and keeping to 
the district between Lord Mayor's Bay and Com- 
mittee Bay. This winter, they numbered in all but 
fifty-four souls, men, women and children, divided 
among three settlements, two on the ice in Pelly Bay 
and a third on the west coast of the Simpson 
Peninsula. 

The whole region seemed to be one of plenty, and 
the Arviligjuarmiut informed me proudly that the 



168 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

scarcity and famine, such as the Netsilingnriut west 
of Boothia Isthmus often suffered, were altogether 
unknown among themselves. This was due to the 
variety of game at their disposal in sequence through- 
out the year; caribou, musk ox, seal and fish; should 
one form of hunting fail, there was always another 
to fall back on. 

The Arviligjuarmiut, whose country lies right off 
the routes followed by white men through these 
regions, have from the first learned to rely on such 
material as their own territory afforded for the 
making of weapons and implements generally. 
Knives are made from a kind of yellowish flint, 
brought from a considerable distance, in the neigh- 
borhood of Back's River. Fire was obtained from 
"Ingnerit," i.e., firestone, iron pyrites, found near 
the sea west of Lord Mayor's Bay. Sparks were 
struck so as to fall on specially prepared tinder made 
from moss soaked in blubber. Soapstone for lamps 
and cooking pots was procured from the interior 
south of Pelly Bay. 

The greatest difficulty was the scarcity of wood. 
Owing to the masses of drift ice always collecting 
out in Boothia Gulf, drift wood never came up into 
the fjord; the nearest place where it could be obtained 
was on t&e shores of Ugjulik, west of Adelaide Pen- 
instia* Mostly, however, the natives here learned 
to manage without wood; they made long slender 
harpoon shafts of horn, the pieces being straighteiied 
out laboriously in warm water and joined length to 
length. Tent poles were fashkmed in the same way, 
only one being used for each tent. Owing to the 



STEPPING OUT 169 

scarcity of iron and flint, harpoon beads were made 
from the hard sfambone of the bear, 

When summer was at an aid, and the tents no 
longer required, they were turned into sledge run- 
ners. This was done by laying out the skirts in a pool 
to soak, and when thoroughly softened by this 
means, folding them orcr aad over into long narrow 
strips of several thicknesses, and leaving the whole 
to freeze hard in the shape of a runner. Musk ox 
skins were used in the same way. These runners of 
frozen sdrins were ftirther straigtbeaied by a pocking 
of raw fish or meat between the layers, the whole 
being frozen to a compact mass. Then in the 
spring, when warmer weather set in and the sledges 
thawed and fell to pieces, the tent strin runners did 
final service as food for the dogs, and the meat 
"stuffing" as food for their masters. 

There were originally two trade routes offering 
means of oommnnieatkjii with tribes from whom iron 
and wood cotdd be procttred in case of i^eed, Goe 
was via Rae Isthmus down to Chesterfield,, where, 
before the new trading station was established, 
knives cotdd be procured from natives who had been 
down to Churchill. The other was across Back's 
River to Saningajoq, the country between Baker 
Lake and Lake Garry, and thence to Aldlineq, the 
famous hill district on the Thekm River, where the 
Eskimos from the shores of the Arctic used to meet 
the Caribou Eskimos for purposes of trade. Wood; in 
particular, was brought from here. 

And these hardy f oHc were not afraid o 



long journeys by sledge, beti^* away sometimes for a 



170 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

whole year, in order to procure some luxury which 
they could well do without; on the other hand the 
possession of a real knife, or a wooden sledge, con- 
ferred a certain distinction upon its owner, while the 
woman who could make and mend her husband's 
clothes with a needle of iron or steel was an object 
of envy among her less fortunate sisters, 

It is generally believed that the wreckage of the 
Franklin Expedition was of great importance in 
the domestic economy of the North-west Passage 
Eskimos, and in particular, that their supplies of 
wood and iron were for years obtained from this 
source. I never found any confirmation df this; 
on the other hand, I did find that the Eskimos right 
from Committee Bay to Back's River, from King 
William's Land to the Kent Peninsula, possessed 
implements whose origin could be traced back to the 
John Ross Expedition, which appeared in Lord 
Mayor's Bay in the autumn of 1829 and wintered 
there. The natives round Pelly Bay had still many 
reminiscences of this expedition, and the sober fash- 
ion in which they spoke of these experiences, now 
nearly a hundred years old, goes far to show how 
trustworthy these Eskimos are when dealing with 
anyone who understands them. 

They state that John Ross's ship was first observed 
early in the winter by a man named Avdlilugtoq, who 
was out hunting seal. On perceiving the great ship 
standing up like a rocky island in a little bay, he 
moved cautiously towards it, as something he had not 
seen before. The sight of' its <taH' masts, however, 
convinced him that it nrast be a great spirit, and he 



STEPPING OUT 171 

tttraed and fled. That evening, and throughout the 
night, the men held council as to what should be 
done* Ultimately, it was decided that if they did 
not take active measures themselves, the great spirit 
would certainly destroy them; they therefore set oS 
on the following day, armed with bows and har- 
poons, to attack it. They now discovered that there 
were human figures moving about beside it, and 
therefore hid behind bk>cks of ice in order to see what 
manner of beings these might be. The white men, 
however, had already sighted them, aod caoia to- 
wards them. They stepped out then from their 
hiding places to show they were not afraid. The 
white men at once laid down their weapons on the 
ice, and the Eskimos did the same; the meeting was 
cordial, with embraces and assurances of friendship 
on both sides, though neither could understand the 
other's tongue. The Eskimos had heard of "white 
men " but this was the first time that any had visited 
their country , Tbe whi 



costly gifts all tn^.nn^r of things winch they ocmld 
never have procured for tfaerasdires and there was 
much intercourse between them, the natives going 
out with them on journeys and helping them in 
various ways from their knowledge of the country. 
The names of some who went out more often than 
the rest with the white men are still remembered: 
as Iggiararsuk, Agdlilugtoq, Niungitsoq and Ing- 
nagsanajuk. 

After the first winter, the ship was beset by the 
ice and ultimately sank in Itsuartooik (Lord 
Mayor's Bay), but the "insldes" of the ship were 



172 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

saved, being carried on shore in boats to Qilanartut; 
and when the strangers finally went away for good, 
they left behind them a great store of wood, iron, 
nails, chain, iron hoops and other costly things, 
which are still in use at the present day in the form 
of knives, arrow heads, harpoon heads, salmon 
spears, caribou spears and hooks. Some time after, a 
mast came ashore, and from this sledges, kayaks and 
harpoons were made. The mast was first cut up by 
saws made from barrel hoops; it took them all the 
summer and autumn to do it, but there was plenty of 
time. 

There are interesting stories current also as to the 
Franklin Expedition. One old man named Iggiarar- 
juk relates as follows: 

" My father, Mangak, was out with Terqatsaq and 
Qavdlut hunting seal on the west coast of King 
William's Land, when they heard shouts, and per- 
ceived three white men standing on the shore and 
beckoning to them. This was in the spring, there was 
already open water along the shore, and they could 
not get in to where the others stood until low water. 
The white men were very thin, with sunken cheeks, 
and looked ill; they wore the clothes of white men, 
and had no dogs, but pulled their sledges themselves. 
They bought some seal meat and blubber, and gave 
a knife in payment. There was much rejoicing on 
both sides over the trade; the white men at once 
boiled the meat with some of the blubber and ate it. 
Then they came home to my father's tent and stayed 
the mght, returning next day to their own tent, 
which was small and not made of skins, but of 
something white as the snow. There were already 
caribou about at that season, but the strangers 



STEPPING OUT 173 

seemed to hunt only birds. The eider duck and 
ptarmigan were plentiful, but the earth was not yet 
come to life, and the swans had not arrived. My 
father and those with him would gladly have helped 
the white men, but could not understand their 
speech; they tried to explain by signs, and in this way 
much was leaareed, It seemed that they had for- 
merly been many, but were now only few, and their 
ship was left out on the ice. They pointed towards 
the south, and it was understood that they proposed 
to return to their own place overland. Afterwards, 
no more was seen of them , and it was cot k&prmi what 
had become of them." 

And lest any doubt should remain as to the ver- 
acity of his account, Iggiararjuk mentions the names 
of all those who were in the camp when the white 
men came: Mangak and his wife Qerneq, Terqatsaq 
and his wife UkaEaq, Qavdlut and ids wife Ihttana, 
Ukuararsuk and Ms wife PrrtuHk, Baaatoq and his 



Among other visits from white mea, they remem- 
ber those of John Rae ia 1847 aad 1854, 

I am quite ready to axfamt that there is nothing 
particularly exciting about these reminiscences in 

themselves, but this very fact: the lack of any 
special interest in the episodes, affords proof of the 
memory and reliability of these Eskimos. Their 
encounters with the white men were of the most 
castial order, and there was no time for them to 
become closely acquainted with the stranger; uewr- 
theless, the accounts of such meetings are preserved, 
even after this long lapse of years, m a manner Which 
speaks for itself as to their reliability. And if we 



174 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

look up the official reports of the respective expedi- 
tions concerned, we find that the native tradition 
is in excellent accord with the facts there stated. 

The last day was given up to sports of various 
kinds, among which target shooting with bow and 
arrow was particularly effective. The targets were 
life size figures built of snow* And I noted here, 
that while the arrows might strike at a distance of 
100 metres with force enough to kill, the shooting at 
this range was very uncertain. Accurate shooting 
was limited to a distance of 20 to 30 metres. Most 
of the men of course possessed firearms, which would 
naturally lead them gradually to neglect their practice 
with the bow and arrow. Nevertheless, the musk ox 
hunting of the previous autumn., in the neighbor- 
hood of Lake Simpson, had been carried out 
exclusively with-bow and arrow, and twenty or thirty 
beasts would be brought down by this means. 

The same evening, I had a visit from a man named 
Uvdloriasugsuk, who had come in from his camp a 
day's journey to the north-west. He was a big, 
broad-shouldered fellow with a long black beard; a 
steady and reliable man, greatly esteemed by all who 
knew him. Nevertheless, he had shot his own 
brother the winter before. And it was in con- 
nection with this frilling that he wished to see me. 
The brother, it appeared, was a man of unruly 
temper, who went berserk at times, and had killed 
one man and wounded others in his fits. His fellow 
villagers therefore decided that he must be killed, aad 
Uvdloriasugsuk, as head of his village, was deputed 
to act as executioner. Much against his will, for he 



CHAPTER XIII 

GOING PRETTY FAR WITH THE SPIRITS 

day when we were lying out in Pelly Bay east 
of Boothia Isthmus, two men came running up 
out of the blizzard in front of the hut. 

It was like a naked man suddenly knocking at the 
door. They had no sledge, no dogs, and carried no 
weapon save their long snow knives. And this was 
the more extraordinary since their dress showed that 
they came from a distance. 

We got them in and thawed them up a little, and 
after a good meal they were able to give an account 
of themselves. They were two brothers from the 
neighborhood of the Magnetic Pole, out with a load 
of fox skins which they were going to trade for old 
guns with the natives at Pelly Bay. Qaqortingneq, 
the elder, was turning back now; and we decided to 
go back with him to visit his tribe. 

The rest of his party were in camp some distance 
off; he brought them up and introduced them; two 
wives and a foster son. Quertilik, the prettier of the 
two women, had, he explained, cost him a whole 
wooden sledge; the other, Qungaq, had been pur- 
chased for the modest price of a bit of lead and an 
old file. He explained, however, that he had got her 
cheap, as her husband had just died of hunger. The 
boy had been bought in infancy, for a kayak and a 

176 




QUBRTILIK, NALINGIAQ'S PRETTY DAUGHTER, WIFE OF THE CHIEF QAQORTINGNEQ 



WITH THE SPIRITS 177 

cooMug pot men, of course, are worth more than 
women. 

We did a little trading, ourselves, and I secured a 
blue fox skin for our collection at the price of a few 
beads. On the following morning we struck camp 
and set out together aox>ss Franklin Isthmus, mak- 
ing for an encampment of Netsifingmiut out on the 
ice between ITItig William's Land and Boothia 
Isthmtis. 

Q& the 31*1 of May we camped oorthof tteMtrrchi- 
son River, in a great plain leading down to Shepherd 
Bay. An endless expanse of white spreads aS 
around, broken only here and there by a few isolated 
hillocks jutting up like seals 1 heads from the waste. 
Qaqortingneq was an intelligent fellow, and thorough- 
ly acquainted with the Netsilik district; also, he drew 
excellent maps. The camp, however, had been 
shifted since he left it, and it was not until the even- 
ing d: tifoe 5th thai our dogs picked tip the soeat. 
Even then it was not the camp itself, but & et*riods 
indication. Ahead of us on the kse lay a kng Iiaa dl 
seal skulls, with the snouts pointing in a particular 
direction. This Qaqortingi^q explained was the 
work of the hunters on shifting camp, it being 
generally believed that the seal would follow in the 
direction in which the snouts of the slain were set. 
In the present instance, it served as a guide to us, 
pointing the way the party had gone. 

After some fruitless chasing about among confusing 
tracks, we came upon the village. Great blocks of 
snow were set up roimd it, not for shelter, but as 
frames on which to lay out the skins to dry. The 



178 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

people of Kuggup Panga (The River Mouth) had 
evidently no need of sheltering walls; they had, how- 
ever, set up spears and harpoons in the snow outside 
their huts, and long snow knives above the doorways, 
to keep off evil spirits. 

No white man had visited these people since the 
coming of Amundsen twenty years before, and I was 
a little anxious as to how they would receive us. 
Coming upon them as we did in the middle of the 
night there was no time for much in the way of 
explanation, 

I crept into a house, together with Qaqortingneq's 
foster-son, Angutisugssuk, who was one of the party 
that had accompanied us from Pelly Bay. It was 
his mother's house we now entered. 

" Here are white men come to visit us," he cried 
excitedly. His mother jumped up at once from a 
bundle of dirty skins, knelt down on the sleeping 
bench and bared her breast, which the boy hurried 
forward to kiss. This is a son's greeting to his mother 
on returning from a long journey. In the midst of 
these squalid surroundings, this recognition of the 
bond between them, the son's homage to the mother's 
breast, was to me doubly impressive. 

We had hardly made ourselves known to them 
when I observed that the women were gathering 
in an odd sort of order about our sledges; and soon 
they began marching round them in solemn pro- 
cession. On enquiring the reason for this I was 
informed that it was a ceremony designed to ward off 
any possible danger from the "spirits" which had 
accompanied us on our way unknown to ourselves. 



WITH THE SPIRITS 179 

It is a custom on the corning of strangers, for all the 
women who have borne children, to step a circle 
round the sledge with its team; undesirable spirit 
entities are then "bound" within the magic tihncle 
and can do no harm* 

By the time we had unloaded our goods and gear, 
friendly hands had built a hut for us, and we were 
hardly settled in our qttarters when two huge seals 
wem dragged tip before the door as food for ourselves 
and our dogs. 

Early the next morning we were awakened by the 
unceremonious entry of the Tillage wizaixl, one 
Niaqunguaq. He was in a trance, and talked in a 
squeaky falsetto; the burden of his message being 
that his "helping spirits" had visited him during the 
night and declared that Qaqortingneq had eaten of 
forbidden food, videlicet, the entrails of salmon, 
while in our company. This is tabu during the seal 
hunting season* It was a safe gtbess anyhow, as the 
frozen fish were there among our stores witen. we 
unpacked the sledge, plain for alt to see. Incensed 
authority was pacified, howwear, by the fragrance 
from our coffee pot, which I had quietly put on tbe 
oil stove while he was capering about, I took the 
opportunity to question him further as to these 
helping spirits of his, and learned that he counted 
about a score. One was a naked infant he had found 
sprawling on the bare earth far from httman habi- 
tations; another was an Indian who had appeared 
to him with icicles in his hair and a flint knife stack 
through his nose; a third was a lemming with a 
httman fare, which could also take the form of an 



i8o ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

eagle, a dog or a bear. This lemming was his special 
guardian angel. Despite the importance thus con* 
ferred, and his dignity as a wizard, he was not above 
enjoying a mug of coffee, and when he left, we were 
on the most friendly terms. 

We spent the rest of that day going visiting from 
hut to hut. I soon discovered that we were in a 
hunting camp, where all were intent upon the most 
pressing of all our human occupations, the getting of 
their daily bread. It would be better therefore, for 
my purpose, to call on them some other time, later 
in the year, when they had settled in King William's 
Land. I decided accordingly to move on to the 
Magnetic Pole, where there was said to be a big cainp. 

I myself was anxious to make a collection of amulets 
from among the Netsilingmiut, where they were in 
use to an extent beyond what was customary with 
other tribes, 

On the nth of May I took leave of my comrades 
and set off to the northward through Rae Strait, 
taking with me one Alorneq, whose personality is 
best indicated by the fact that his gums were always 
dry from constant smiling. 

We had no very precise idea as to where our people 
were to be found, as camps in the spring shift with 
the movements of the seal. We had first of all to get 
up to the north of Matty Island and into Wellington 
Strait, where we might hope to come upon sledge 
tracks leading in the right direction. It was difficult 
indeed to keep any sort of direction here. The 
compass itself was useless owing to the proximity of 
the magnetic pole, and the low south-eastern .shore 



WITH THE SPIRITS 181 

of King William's Land with Franklin Isthmias, is 
hardly to be distinguished from the sea ice, while the 
few mountain ranges are always wrapped in a veil 
of driving snow, We drove for two days without 
sight of a landmark anywhere; then we got a glimpse 
of the south-west coast of Boothia Isthmus, and on 
the third day went OB tip through Roes Strait, where 
we knew there had been a camp earlier in the winter. 
A fresh north-easter was blowing as we passed the 
north coast of Matty Island, and in Wellington 
Strait we began to look about on the chance of sight- 
ing bear, which not infreqtseiitly come in here 
hunting seal on their own account. 

It was at Cape Adelaide, close to the Magnetic 
Pole, that we came upon the first snow huts; these 
were deserted, but the quaint little "offerings" of 
seal skulls pointed the way the hunters had gone; 
we followed up their tracks, and came upon more 
huts, first five, then three, then twelve, and tfeea 
twelve again. 

Alorneq is a magnificent tracker; he knows people 
by the way they build their httts, the way tfaey Be 
down to sleep, as well as by their actual spoor, and 
long before we come up with the party he is able to 
tell who they are. When we did come upon them it 
was with a certain suddenness, our dogs disappearing 
headlong out of sight in what proved to be the 
entrance to a hut. 

Alorneq went from one to another announdbag oar 
arrival, all turned out without the slightest hesitation 
and helped us to rights, and we were socm settled 
among them as comfortably as could be. 



1 82 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Amulet hunting is rather a delicate business, and I 
had to proceed with care. My business was to 
obtain, in the name of science, all that I could of these 
little odd trifles which are held by the wearers to 
possess magic power, and worn as a protection against 
ill. But it had to be done in such a manner that I 
should not be held accountable afterwards for any 
evil that might befall those who had parted with 
their treasures. 

I spent the first day making myself known to all, 
and seeking as far as I could to win their confidence. 
This meant, incidentally, partaking of generous 
meals at the shortest intervals for after all, human- 
kind is much alike all over the globe, and one of the 
best ways of getting to know your neighbor is to 
dine with him. 

Meantime, Alorneq had unpacked the trade goods 
and set them out for all to see. There were brand 
new glittering needles, taken out of their papers and 
laid in a heap, there were knives and thimbles, nails 
and matches and tobacco little ordinary everyday 
trifles to us, but of inestimable value to those beyond 
the verge of civilization. I was pleased to note that 
there was a constant stream of visitors to our little 
exhibition. 

That evening, on returning to he hut, I found it 
packed with eager men and women. All had some- 
thing to offer in exchange, principally skins such as 
traders usually ask. There was a murmur of dis- 
appointment when I announced that I did not 
propose to trade on the 'usual lines. I explained that I 
had come from a distant land in order to learn the 



WITH THE SPIRITS 183 

customs of other tribes, and bad visited them in 

particular on account of their amulets, of which I had 

heard so much* I then gave them a lecture oil the 

subject of amulets and their power, the gist of which 

was that as I was a f oreigner from across the wide 

seas, the ordinary rules and regulations applying to 

amulets, tabu and the lite did not apply to tne. I 

had in the meantime made the acquaintance of their 

0?m medicine man, and quoted him in support of my 

arguments, together with other atttfaorities -famous 

angakoqs of other tribes, whose names, it is true, 

they had never heard before, but whose words never- 

theless carried weight. I pointed out that an owner 

of an amulet still enjoyed its protection even in the 

event of his losing the amulet itself and this was 

agreed. How much more then, must he retain its 

protective power when, by giving away the artide 

itself, he secured the material advantage of some- 

thing valuable m e&dhasge? Na&M&ss to say, I 

emphasised tins feet that I wsas mfc 



power of the charm, whidi must rernain with the 
original owner, but only the article itsdf f and its 

history, 

Despite all arguments, it was plainly a matter that 
required thinking over. I left them to sleep on it, 
and decide next day whether they would trade or not. 

It was late next morning before we awoke and 
removed the block with which the entrance to a hat 
is closed at night. This was a necessary preliminary 
to our receiving visitors, as it is not considered good 
manners to call OB people until their htit had been 
opened. 



i84 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Aforaeq and I made some tea and had some 
teeakfast, but nobody came along. I was beginning 
to fear the worst when a girl strolled casually down 
towards the hut and stood hesitating. I had noticed 
bar the day before, admiring some of our beads. We 
invited her to come in, and she crawled through 
the passageway with all the amulets she was wearing 
on behalf of her son when she should have one. 
Women rarely wear amulets on their own account. 
The Tpdritnn idea is that it is the man and not the 
woman who has to fight the battle of life, and conse- 
quently, one finds little girls of five or six years old 
wearing amulets for the protection of the sons they 
hope to bear lor the longer an amulet has been 
worn, the greater is its power. 

Has giri, whose name was Kuseq, now handed me 
a Httfe akin bag containing all her amulets, newly 
removed from various parts of her clothing, where 
they were generally wean. I took them out and 
examined them, a pitiful little collection of odds and 
eaods, half mouldy, evil-smelling, by no means calcu- 
lated to impress the casual observer with any idea 
of magic power. There was a swan's beak what was 
that for? Very sweetly ami shyly the girl cast down 
her eyies a&d answered : "That I may have a maa- 
cfe&l for my fost-boni/ 7 

'that tl^B was the head of a ptarmigan, with a 
fo^tdftfeesasobe bin! tied <m; this was to give the boy 
speed and e^israoee in hunting caribou. A bear's 
toolb gate powraful faws and sound digestion; the 
pelt of an ermine, witti fctjM attached, gave strength 
and agifity; a little dried flounder was a protection 



WITH THE SPIRITS 185 

against dangers from any encounter with strange 
tribes. 

She had still a few amulets besides, but these she 
preferred to keep, so as to be on the safe side. Mean- 
time, a number of others had found their way into 
the hut, young men and women, who stood xramd 
giggling and adding toonr finst otstomer's embarrass- 
ment, Bu& their scornful smiles gave place to 
wonder whea they saw what we gaye her in retani; 
beads eaoagfa for a whole little aeddaoe, two beanti- 
ful bright needles and a sewing ring into the bargain. 
The girl herself could not conceal her satisfaction at 
the deal; and when she went out, I realized that 
this little daughter of Eve had set jtast the example 
that was needed* 

In a couple of hours time there was such a tun on 
the shop that I was really afraid the premises would 
be lifted bodily Irani their fouodatiort, and before 
bedtime I was able to anoocmoe that we had "sold 
out/* In retara, I had a raoqne collection of 
amulets, comprising several htradred items, 

Among those most frequently reaming asd con- 
sidered as most valuable, were portions of the body 
of some creatttre designed to convey Its attributes; 
as the tern, for skill in fishing, foot of a toon, for 
*3ri1l in handling a kayak, head aad daw of a raven, 
for a good share of meat in all htmting (the raven 
being always on the spot when any animal is killed), 
teeth, of a caribou, worn in the clothing, for skill in 
caribou hunting. A bee with its brood sewn tip in a 
scrap of skirt grres "a stiong head"; a % makes 
the person invtdnerable, as a % is difficult to hit* 



186 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

One o the few amulets worn by women on their own 
account is a strip from the skin of a salmon, with 
tine scales along the lateral line; this is supposed to 
give fine strong stitches in all needlework. 

We paefced up our collection and stowed all away, 
ready to move off the next morning. Our departure 
was delayed however, at the last minute, by a visit 
from the local medicine man, whom I had, as already 
mentioned, appealed to as an authority in support of 
my theory as to the harmlessness of the transaction. 
He now demanded further payment in return. It 
was plain, he said, that I must be a man of remarkable 
power myself, and a lock of my hair, for instance, 
would be uaosfc valttable as an amulet in the event of 
trouble with spirits later on, He suggested that I 
should pvte a piece to each of those who had traded 
with me. I was rather taken aback at this; with 
every wish to give niy friends a fair deal, I could not 
bat remember that it was winter, in a chilly climate, 
and I was loth to set out on my further travels 
entirely bald. We compromised therefore with a few 
lodks of bak for the most important customers, the 
lesfc being satisfied with bits of an old shirt and ttaric 
divided amongst them. 

actual haircuttiog was the worst part of it, 
lode bd^g sliara, ot rather sawn, off by the 

himself with a sHtmltig knife, and not over 
nt ifaat. Scfesocs were unknown among these 
dbytifetiiaie^^ 
Sf^aiaace was baldly what my hair- 

at ,b8ie JM&M ociasider t^t of a gentlemaa, 
* gofc away^alwtifc midday, instead of at 




NIAQUNGUAQ, THE WIZARD 

The white band across his forehead, made from the soft underskin of the caribou, marks 
him as an angakoq, or witch-doctor. 



WITH THE SPIRITS 187 

daybreak as I had intended* But the whole village 
waved us a hearty farewell, and I had the satisfaction 
of feeling that we left than convinced of having 
obtained full value for what they had given, aod 
something oveir. 



CHAPTER XIV 

AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 

HTHE visit of Back, in 1833, was the first ever paid 
* by white men to the Utkuhikhalitigmiut the 
name generally given to the natives inhabiting the 
ddta and lower reaches of the Great Fish River. 
The woitl means "Dwellers in the Land of Soap- 
stone" aad tefe&s to a deposit of the mineral south of 
Lake Franklin* 

The wMte men were very kind, and gave the 
natives handsome and costly gifts. Nevertheless, 
so runs the tradition, there was a great fear of the 
strangers, and the angakoq had said that no good 
was to be looked for from that quarter. Therefore, 
wfaesi the white men took their departure, after only 
erne night's stay, an elder of the tribe stood forth 
on a rock in the river and uttered a spell to prevent 
them from ever returning. "And that was in the 
olden days, when there was yet power in magic 
spells,** Hence the fact that no white men have 
erer ge&tted among the Utkuhikhalingmiut since 
that day. 

Oertatuly t the story is in agreement with the facts 
iosoiar as the people of this region, near the mouth of 
the Great Fish River, as well as the kindred tribes 
farther up inland, are among the least known of all 

i&8 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 189 

the Eskimos. No one has made any stay among 
them, and there is no description extant of their Hfe 
and ways. The one occasion on which any Arctic 
expedition came into contact with them was the visit 
of Back above mentioned, in 1833, and this was a 
matter of a few hoars only, the more unproductive 
from the fact that none of the white men understood 
the Eskimo tongue. The same was the case in 1855, 
when Janes Anderson, of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, foHowing Back's route, encouuiaed them on 
his way down to Montreal Island seeking news of 
the Franklin Expedition. And finally there was 
Sehwatka, who in 1879 passed a settlement on the 
Hayes River on his way to TH^g William's Land, 
likewise in search of news as to the fate of Franklin's 
men. None of these travellers could say more than 
that they had come upon a remarkable people in 
these regions; naturally therefore, I was eager myself 
to make their acquaintance. 

Miteq and one of the Netsffik natms were to go 
on to the trading station of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, at Kent Peninsula, taking such collections as 
we had accumulated up to date and bringing back 
various supplies, notably of ammunition, some of 
that intended for our own use having been already 
disposed of in the way of exchange. We were to 
meet on, the west coast of Kmg William's Land, at 
tins fwEfifrttmrot <rf Malenialik, where most of the 
aafchres from tfcai district would then be assembled 
for the fishing sod caribou hunting. 



native called Inugtufc, with his wife Nauluagjaq and 



190 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

two young sons. They were on their way to Lake 
Ftenkfin to barter hide and blubber for powder and 
among the iialaiadEskiioos there. Inugtukwasa 



skilful hunter, but like all the Netsilik, a very poor 
driver. And he proved an excellent comrade when I 
learned to know hmi a little better. At first I was 
inclined to vegaxd him with some distrust, owing 
perfjaps to what I had learned as to his antecedents, 
He had obtained his present wife by murdering her 
husfoaiid, Pujataq, at the same time adopting the 
two sons of the man he had killed. The whole family 
now Evied together in the greatest harmony, and 
there seensed to be real affection between them aH 
waged 'which was the more remarkable as the two 
lads would, n arriving at man's estate, be expected 
to tafce TOBgeasce for the murder of their father. 
Inugtnfc himself was a tnati of good family as such 
tfeiiigsgoiniheseregicms, and it was currently believed 
tliat his father had been carriedup to heaven "as 
thunder and lightaing" when he died. 

AocoarHng to the information I had received, the 
nearest sefetlemeirt of the UiJoahildialingmiut was at 
Itivnarfuk, near Lake Frankfin, the same spot whei^ 
tiheyhadb^afotaid in 1833 and 1855. The distance 
there lo tte snow hut colony at south-west of 




isg of the 3ist of May, our dogs 
picked i^p ^ie sceaot of ^osme*hing near at hand; and 
we weie mm jtd; aboufc tte spot where we expected 
to fiad tliaEEL Sure enough, a few mintttes later we 
Ml into a camp of nine tents. 



AN INNOCENT PMOPLB If* 

Despite the suddenness of our appearance, there was 
nothing of the shouting and conf tision cttstoinaiy on 
such occasions. They could see at once from our 
clothes, our sledges and the niantiftr in which our 
teams were harnessed, that we were strangers, and 
from a distance, but there was no rain of questions 
as to who ire wae aad wfant ws wanted, or the like. 
The naesi of the porty came down towards us, ao 
^ bat mGyving qtoetly and with 
They were fee 1% maa^ wdl dressed, 



and with an earnest, aliaost solemn severity of 
cottnteaaixse, more resembling TmltAng thai*. Eskiaos. 

I explained who I was and what was my object 
in visiting them. The language occasioned BO 
difficulty, and it was not long before they laid aside 
their first formal stiffness and began helping us 
to fasten the dogs, set up a tent and get our goods in 
order. This dooie, the spokesman 
name w^s Unattmitaoq, stepped tip to ii^aadkxikig 
me straight in the face, asked: 

" Are you one of those white men who forbid the 
Eskimo to eater thdr teats?" 

I explained that it was my earnest desire to learn 
as mttch as possible about my new friends in the 
short time I was able to stay there, and that anyone 
who eared to visit me would be welcome. 

A imiriTO?r of approbation greeted this armounoe- 
meet. I added, that such trade goods and other 
pgrope^aslhadwith:^ 

the teat, siooe I took it for granted that they wotild 
be safe thane. Upoai wiadi Ikiiiilik, oae d tJbe 



192 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

"Among our people, it is only dogs that steal/* 

I spent the rest of that day improving the acquain- 
tance of my hosts. They had made a favorable 
impression oa me from the first, and it was a relief 
indeed to find oneself among people positively clean, 
clean even to their hands and feet, after the indescrib- 
able dirtiness of the Netsilingmiut. They were, 
moreover, far more intelligent and quick of appre- 
hension, and answered questions briskly and to the 
point. All were eager to give me information. 

They were, I found, not altogether unacquainted 
with white men and white customs, though the near- 
est trading station was so far distant that it some- 
times took half a year to get there and back. The 
was only made by the younger men, so that 
ol the oider ones had ever seen a white man 
fodfere. 

Writing was a great source of wonder and amuse- 
ment to them, and nay journal, in which I was 
constantly making notes, occasioned much comment. 
All were delighted with the fineness of the paper 
leaves, which they took to be a specially delicate 
variety of s?rin. And when I wrote down what they 
said and afterwards read it aloud, they applauded; 
evideaotly, tie "creature" had a good memory! 

Tbe inland EsJdnio, of the Great Fish River, or, as 
> |8D: called, from tibe name of its discoverer, 
Rrw, number only 164 souls in all, men, 
and dhiMim. They divide themselves 
aooosding to their villages into three groups, the 
UlfaifaTcfialirigmitit in the Delta and lower reaches, 
especially the country south of Lake FrankHn, the 




NULIALIK, THE MOST SKILFUL CARIBOU HUNTER ON THE GREAT FISH RIVER 

With his long hair about his ears, and circlet of white caribou skin, he looked more like 
an Indian than an Eskimo as did almost all of these inland folks. 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 193 

Sangningajormiut farther tip the river and in the 
district between Meadow Bank River and Baker 
Lake, and finally the Ualiardlet right tip among 
the great inland waters, Lake McDougaH, Lake 
Garry and Lake Pefiy, which they caB Imarjttaq, 
Qajarvik and Igdliviaq, This last group is now 
dyingout, and atmibers at present oily 28 so^. All 
these people axe entirety independent of the sea 
a$d neper move down to the coast. UBS bcmever, 
wm not always the case; the UaHareftet tffied to go 
down to Queen Maude Gulf, mostly about Ogden 
Bay, for the seating, white the others went down to 
Elliot Bay and as far along as Cape Britannia. 

Now, they use tallow in place of blubber for their 
lamps, that is, for lighting purposes; for cooking and 
heating they use lichen and moss and a kinrl of 
heather. As a matter of fact, there is very little 
cooking dace, most of their food, both fish and meat, 
being eaten raw. Also, they dry their wet dothes 
on the body. 

The temperature here is for several months of tiie 
year somewhere between minus 40 and minus 60 
C. Nevertheless, these people declare that they do 
not feel the ootd "much"; snow htits may be a Httib 
cold when newly built, but when covered with a good 
layer of fresh snow and filled with live human bodies, 
they SQO& gpt warm. The UtkuliildbLaliiigmitit, in- 
deed, regard themselves as much better off than the 
NefcsafogBjitit. FamiBe is not unknown, but is by 
130 meaos of freqttent occurrence, and oaly ocears 
when a loog spd! of ertra bad wither prcveaate tlie 
men from hunting, or when the hmiting itseJf proves 



194 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

fruitless both for caribou among the bills and fish 
in the lakes. 

There is an old tradition to the effect that the 
UtJaihikhalingmiut were once a great people, so 
atmiearous that the hills around Lake Franklin were 
waled in the smoke of their cooking fires. They 
were a warlike people, constantly fighting with their 
neighbors, and killing among themselves was of fre- 
quent occurrence. 

As an illustration both of the spiritual culture and 
the manner in which it was revealed, I give the follow- 
ing account of an interview with Ikinilik, whom I 
have already mentioned as one of the elders of the 
tribe, and who was, aJso, a remarkable personality. 

I triad to explain to him in the first instance, that 
I was interviewing him on behalf of a daily news- 
paper; that all that passed between us would be made 
known to many people through the medium of " talk- 
marks*' such as he had seen me making in my note 
books, printed on sheets of the fir** "skin" for men to 
learn what is happening each day. 

But this in itself he regarded as a witticism, a 
humorous exaggeration; the world of the white men 
was big, no doubt, yet it could not after all be bigger 
thaa that a mm might learn all the news there was 
by mqukiflg at tbe nearest tent, 

In tfee fe$I0wi&g, I give question and answer word 
for mx& f according to my own notes written down, cm 
tbe s|x>k ^ It will be observed that the parts deaBng 
with religious beEefe are to some extent a repetition 
of what has already been given in my conversations 
with Aua; I have retained these however, on purpose, 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 195 

as it seems worthy of note that two men from different 
parts, and of different types, should express almost 
identical views on the most important probkins of life. 

Tkinilik settled himself comfortably among the soft 
caribou skins, and lighting his pipe the bowl of 
which was about the size of a small thimble started 
off with & laughing aCusioii: 

"From what you my, it would seem thai folk in 
that far country of yottrs eat talk rnaiis just as we 
eat caribou meat." And cootcndbog the simile, 
he went on: "Well, now, begin with your qoestioos 
and get your fire going; then I win cut tip the meat 
and put it in the pot." 

I began accordingly* "Tell me something about 
your religion. What do you believe?" 

But at this all those present answered in chorus, so 
that I was barely able to distanguisii IkiniBk's voice: 

"WedoootbeEeve, wecmlyfear. And roost <rf all 
we fear Nulkjttk/' 

I tried again to explain to the party what an inter- 
view was- "Only cue must aas*wr f ff I said, and 
hoping they would take this as final, I went on : 



But every boy and girl in the place knew something 
of Nuliajuk from their nursery rfnyaaes; it was too 
much to expect them to keep silence, AH wanted to 
tefl what they knew, and it was with difficulty that 
could make himself heard above the rest, 
name W3 give to tbe Mother of 



Beasts, AD the game we himt o^ 
her come aU tte earifocm^ 

fishes/ 1 



196 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

I asked him then: "What else do you fear?" 

And this time the others refrained from joining in, 
Apparently they had at last understood that the 
interview was a matter between Ikinilik and myself. 
Urinililc answered: 

"We fear those things which are about us and of 
which we have no sure knowledge; as, the dead, and 
malevolent ghosts, and the secret misdoings of the 
heedless ones among ourselves/* 

"Do all human beings turn into evil spirits when 
they die?" 

"No; only when those nearest to them have 
neglected to observe the customs laid down from the 
time of death until the soul has left the body. ' ' 

"And wiben does the soul leave the body?" 

shook his head and smiled, with an 



expression almost of pitying condescension in his 
fine, wise eyes: to think that a grown man should be 
so inquisitive! The onlookers, too, were smiling as 
he answered. 

"If it is a woman, five days after death; if a man, 
four/' 

But I was not to be deterred from my questioning, 
aadwenton: 

"Is there anything else you fear?" 

" Yes, tbe spirits of earth and air. Some are small 
as bees^and midges, others great and terrible as 
nKJtmtains- 

" Whathappeostothesoelwhenitleavestliebody? " 

^HdniBk shifted ia his place, aad the wrinkles round 

imeyesdeepenedaKttle; of aHtheridiodoasqttestiQas. 

**Whea people die," he began, in his slow, rich 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 197 

voice, "they are carried by the moon up to the land 
of heaven and live there in the eternal hunting 
grounds. We can see their windows from on earth, 
as the stars. But beyond this we know very little of 
the ways of t&e dead. Some few of the angakoqs 
in former times made journeys to the land of heaven, 
and told what they saw. They visited the moon, 
and in every case were there shown into a house with 
two rooms. Here they were invited to eat of most 
deEcate food, the entrails of caribou; but at the 
moment the visitor reaches out his hand to take 
it, his helping spirit strikes it away. For if he should 
eat of anything in the land of the dead, he wiQ never 
return. The dead live happily; those who have 
visited their land have seen them latighing and play- 
ing happily together. 

"There was once a woman named Nananuaq; she 
died, and was carried off by the moon. But she did 
not stay long in the taod of the dead; Hie moon 
changed bar into a man and sent her bade to her 
husband. The Imsb&ad was veiy pleased to have 
his wife bode again, but was sorely dssap$x>mted to 
find that she would not sleep with him. Sbe told 
him what had happened, and when be had assured 
himself that it was the truth, he was so angry that he 
to MH her. He went out of the house to 



a hote in the ice: *I mtist have water to drink,* 
he saxl, *for that is the custom after one has died.* 
fiifc the woman fed away to her graaddiild, who 
lived oear by, aael when bar Imsband came after feer 
to fetch her back, sfce HSed him as he eatered 
passage, 



196 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

I asked him then: "What else do you fear?" 
And this time the others refrained from joining in* 
Apparently they had at last understood that the 
interview was a matter between Ikinilik and myself , 
answered: 



"We fear those things which axe about us and of 
which we have no sure knowledge; as, the dead, and 
malevolent ghosts, and the secret misdoings of the 
heedless ones among ourselves/* 

"Do all human beings turn into evil spirits when 
they die? " 

"No; only when those nearest to them have 
neglected to observe the customs laid down from the 
time of death ttntil the soul has left the body . ' * 

"And when does the soul leave the body?" 

TkmfliV shook his head and smiled, with an 
expression almost of pitying condescension in his 
fine, wise eyes: to think that a grown man should be 
so inquisitive! The onlookers, too, were smiling as 
he answered, 

"If it is a woman, five days after death; if a man 
four." 

But I was not to be deterred from my questioning, 
aadwenton: 

"Is there anything else you fear?" 

** Yes, the spirits of earth and air. Some are small 
as bees and midges, others great and terrible as 
motmtams." 

"WJiafchappeos to thesoulwhenit leaves thebody?" 
Ttrinittlr shifted in his place, and the wrinkles round 
epeie<iaEttle; of afltheridiodousqu^tions. 
people die," he began, in his slow, rich 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 197 

voice, "they are carried by the moon tap to the laad 
of heaven and live there in the eternal bunting 
grounds* We can see their windows from on earth, 
as the stars. But beyond this we know very Ettle of 
the ways of the dead. Some few of the aogakoqs 
in former times made journeys to the land of heaveaa, 
and told what they saw. They visited the moon, 
and in every case were there shown into a house with 
two rooms. Here they were invited to eat of most 
defecate food, the entrails of caribou; but at the 
moment the visitor reaches out his hand to take 
it, his helping spirit strikes it away. For if he should 
eat of anything in the land of the dead, he will never 
return. The dead Eve happily; those who have 
visited their land have seen them laughing and play- 
ing happily together. 

"There was once a woman named Nanaauaq; she 
died, and was carried off by the moon. But she dM 
not stay long in the kad of: tibe dead; the moon 
changed her into a man aod seat her back to her 
husband. Tbe hcE&aod was viery |jleased to have 
his wife back again, but was sorely disappointed to 
find that she would not sleep with him. She toM 
him what had happened, and when he had assured 
himself that it was the truth, he was so angry that he 
determined to fcfll her. He went out of the house to 
col a hole m the ice: 1 must have water to drink/ 
be said, *for that is the custom after one has died,* 
' lad away to bar gjsanddbild, who 

r ii*$ 

to fetdi her bade, ske Hited Mm as be mfcered t&e 
passage. 



198 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

"This woman told her fellows on earth many 
things about life after death, and it is from her that 
we have our knowledge. Our angakoqs nowadays do 
Bot know very much, they only talk a lot, and that is 
all they can do; they have no special time of sttidy 
and initiation, and all their power is obtained from 
dreams, visions or sickness. I once asked a man if he 
was an aogakoq, and he answered: 'My sleep is 
dreamless, and I have never been ill in my HfeT Now 
that we have moved up inland away from the sea 
we do not need to bother ourselves about what is 
tabu in connection with sea-beasts, and then also 
we have guns, which makes all hunting much easier 
thanitwas. Young hunters nowaday shave too easy 
a time of it to trouble about consulting wizards. In 
the oldea days when our food for the whole winter 
d&peoded on the autumn hunting at the sacred fords, 
it was a very different matter; all the regular obser- 
vances and many particular ones in addition were 
dictated daily by the angakoqs who knew all about 
such things. But now we have f orgotten all the old 
spells and magic songs, aad you will find no amulets 
sewn up in our inner garments. The people have 
food enough, and do not bother about their souls." 

This opeaas the way for a question of importance, 

"What do jm understand by 'the soul?" 1 1 asked. 

TfcimKk WES plainly surprised that I could ask 
stadi a tiling; nevertheless he answered patiently: 

"It is some thing beyond understanding, that whicii 
makes UK a human being." 

"Caa you teH me any more about the life after 
desih?" 




TWO LITTLE GIRLS FROM LAKE FRANKLIN 



AN INNOCENT PEOPLE 199 

"Only that we remain forever as we were whea we 
died; old people do not become young, and the young 
do not grow old; children do not grow ttp at alL" 

Here the interview was brought to a dose by the 
equivalent of the dinner gong, a summons which 
could not be ignored It was nnsreover, my last 
public appearance among these friendly people, as I 
was leaving the same night. The river was breaking 
ttp and difficult to pass already. 

Looking back upon my short stay amosig them, I 
cannot help noting that the esteem ajad admiration I 
felt for them at the time has been in no wise impaired 
by subsequent impressions elsewhere* I shall always 
look upon the Utkuhikhalingmiut as the handsomest 
and most hospitable, as well as the most cultured 
people of all those I met with ttemghout the whole 
length of my journey; and the cleanest and mosfc 
contented to boot. 

Oddly enough, the only Monsatioii I h&d abani 
them prior to my visit was from a tettar writtoa by- 
Captain Joe Bernard, published in Diaisioiid Jemaess* 
book on the Copper Eskimos. Bernard, W$K> woit 
tiptoVidriaLandini9i8 and wintered tibere, based 
his opinion on the NetsJlingmiut, and summarily 
disposed of the others in the following terse dictum: 

"The UikuhiMialingmiiit are probably the most 
nrisemble people in the winter tame I haw ever seen 
or heard of." 

Which shows bow opmiQQS may dSier Mid 
capful one should be in foramg aa ogtemm as 
one tribe from what one has heaas! 



It was a little affeer midnight wfaea I sfcarte*^ 



2oo ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the wfcole village, men and women, turned out to see 
us off, wishing us all that was good out of their own 
abundant content. Hie mountains were already 
bathed in cold white fight, and we were anxious 
to get well out onto the sea ice before the heat of the 
sum made the work too fatiguing for our teams. 
Amid a chorus of farewells from our friends we struck 
off over the great water, One might almost say: 
through it; for a mush of sodden snow and water came 
threshing up over the sledges, and we ourselves were 
soaked through at once, having to go down on our 
knees in order to heave the sledges dear when they 
stack fast. 

Altogether about as wretched going as one could 
wish for the starting of a journey, but we took little 
heed o it, and laughed as we plunged into the icy 
mess through which we had to toil that day. The 
snow-broth seethed about the runners, and we drove 
through it singing. 




A. C 



CHAPTER XV 

TRULY THANKFUL 

/"VN the I3th of June we made King William's Land, 
^^ at Malerualik, the spot where we had arranged 
to meet Miteq on his return from Kent Peninsula. 
Miteq was not there, but we found instead our old 
friend Qaqortingneq, together with a man named 
Itqilik (which means "The Indian/") who had come 
all the way from Bellot Strait, having spent several 
years in North Somerset. These were just the people 
I wanted to meet, and learning at the same time that 
all the Netsilikfolk from all villages between Adelaide 
Peninsula and Boothia Isthmus would be gathering 
in King William's Land, I decided that I could not *$e> 
better than spend the summer here, I had always 
wanted to learn the ways of ^ome primitive tribe 
more t&oroughly than I had been able to do as yet, 
and the region in which I now f ottod mysetf was cane 
of the most isolated aad inaccessible tiiroughotit the 
whole Eskimo territory. lYoe, it was not altogether 
troexplored, since Schwatka, Roold Amundsen aad 
Godfred Hansen had been heane already, but their 
objects w^^ not the same as mine, and without in 



predecessors, I might fairly say I had struck a 
field as f ar as nay own braadh <rf sfei^w 
It was pleasaat , ate>, to be able to look 



201 



202 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

longer stay than hitherto, and make plans that 
allowed for good long spells of work, instead of hurry- 
ing from place to place. 

On the 20th of June I made my first reconnaissance 
of the immediate surroundings. The country rises 
as one moves inland, in terraces marking the site 
of earlier beaches, with long narrow lakes in the 
hollows between, fed by small streams from the melt- 
ing snow. There are a few ranges of hills, but as soon 
as one gets away from the sea, the country at this 
time of year presents the appearance of a great 
grassy plain- Spring was at its height, and the earth 
on every side was bursting into life. Geese, duck and 
waders were gathered in thousands on the lakes and 
marshy ground; ted patches of saxifrage glowed 
among the rocks, the first of flowers to greet the light 
and warmth of the sun. 

A few kilometres out from camp I came suddenly 
upon a whole ruined village of stone houses of the 
ancient Eskimo type. I had already heard from 
the natives elsewhere that such were to be found in 
these parts, but had not seen any myself . No per- 
manent winter dwellings had indeed been recorded 
from hese* aad it was now of the greatest importance 
to examine these, by way of supplementing our 
laaieriai from the exeavatkms in the Hudson Bay 
district. Plainly, I could hardly have chosen a 



A day cr two after tfek discovery I made a short 
to Nnnariassaq, a island off the south- 



cast coast ol Qcieea Maud Gulf. Ifere, in a little 
I found a whole row of stone cairns, and on 



TRULY THANKFUL 203 

enquiry, found that they were of somewhat curious 
origin, being, indeed, monuments erected to the 
memory of the dead. It appears that some wooden 
had gone out spearing salmon on the ice while their 
husbands were away hunting caribou inland. The 
ice broke up suddenly and carried them out to sea, 
one only making her way back to land. Each 
of the men then built a monument "as a triimte of 
respect to the souls of the dead." I was surprised 
to find such an observance among a people who, as a 
general rule, do not even bury their dead, bat lay 
them out on the bare ground. 

One old man here offered me meat for my dogs if I 
could let liT-m have some ammunition. This m&n 
whose name was Amajorsuk, was the proud possessor 
of a wooden leg which he had made and fitted for 
himself. Ten years before, when gttns were first 
introduced at Baker Lake, he had the misforttme to 
lose one foot by an accidental sfaok Efe sow went 
about with a kind of artificial kg made from the 
crosspieces of a sledge lashed round the thigh and 
padded with caribou skin below the fcoee, the whole 
ending in a " foot M of musk ox horn, which served its 
purpose excellently. Amajorsuk himself was not in 
the least disheartened by his handicap; he was indeed, 
a BK)6t cheesy soul, mid a skilful hunter as wdL 
Btit it says nmch for the courage and etidtii^nee sf 
these people, that a man should have gone thrcmgh all 
the suffering and hardship the aeddeai must have 
caused him In the first place, and tJhea ha ve leaned 
to shift for himself and bear his part witii ibe nest 
tmdear sudi oonditioos. 



204 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

On the ist of July, Anarulunguaq and I set to 
work on the ruins at Malerualik, The natives there 
by no means sympathized with our interest in these 
remains, holdbg that such things were best left 
alone, Moreover, they knew we should have the 
greatest difficulty in fiaading food here at this time of 
year. Already numbers had left for the interior, 
where the fishing season was now about to begin. 
By the $th of July the place was deserted save for our 
own fittlfi party, My two hunters went out each day 
after seal, while I grubbed about among the ruins, 
By the 25th, the position had become critical. 
Despite all our efforts, it was impossible to get meat 
eooogji to feed oar dogs as long as we remained 
here* Fortunately, however, Anarulunguaq and I 
had worked hard at our excavations in the meantime, 
aaod felt justified in shifting our quarters in search 
of other fdk and other fare. 

With ourselves, my two hunters and their families, 
we made quite a little caravan when we set off, taking 
with us tents, sleeping bags and rugs, cooking utensils 
and some extra footwear. The dogs were called 
into requisition this time as beasts of burden, and 
their padk-saddles caused us some difficulty at first. 
Once they have grown accustomed to the work how- 
eror, togs can easily carry a load of 25-30 kilos each 
&r a long day's inarch. 

Q0& day we came ttpon ahtige flock of geese, moult- 
ing and unable to fly. Being short of ammunition, 

let i&e dogs loose, and a n&omeirt later we had a 
of binds. 



TRULY THANKFUL 205 

and the last remains of some old rotten blubber was 
looked on as a treat. Altogether* we were short of 
quite a number of things; we had so tea, coffee, 
sugar and no tobacco. living as we did chiefly on 
raw meat, and going about with an aftertaste of suet 
or blubber in one's mouth, it was hard to be deprived 
of one's pipe at the end of the day. The only luxury 
we possessed was some saccharine; and with a makse- 
shift herb that grows here and there we could turn out 
something the color of tea, and tastiiig of nothing 
particular. 

On the 5th of August we readied Amitsoq, the 
principal fishing station. I had heard so much about 
it during title past two months, that the reality 
pixwed rather a disappointment. The whole en- 
campment consisted of but five poor tents, and the 
reports of the yield up to date were not encouraging; 
caribou few, salmon scarce, and no food for the dogs! 
We had come too early; the fishery would not begin 
tiH the isth of August, and would be practically ror 
by the end of the month. 

We stayed here a week, during which time I wrote 
down over fifty of the native stories, and obtained a 
great deal of valuable information as to ancient cus- 
toms and ways* We managed to shoot six cariboo, 
which gave an ample supply of meat for ourselves 
aod the rest of the camp* 

I have never m my life see& half -starved, 
wretchedly dad, daH~rfddm people so cheerily 
heedless of their troubles, so f uH of fttn aad saenv 
ment tmder the most Sooa&of 

the children were positively in rags, their kgs, arnas 



206 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 



hands red and swollen with the cold, yet they 
pkyed about as if unconscious of it all. The native 
idea of happiness in the Hereafter is a life where all 
is play- And they seemed to be well on the way to 
realizing it here, for men and women as well as child- 
ren spent five or six hours of each day playing games. 
The woric on which they relied for their daily 
sustenance was confined to three visits per diem to 
the salmon pool, each occupying perhaps ten minutes; 
and even this was more like a game than serious work, 
to judge from the laughter and fun that went on. 

The salmon fishing was worked on a simple plan. 
Tbe fish were found in a stream connecting two lakes; 
the stream was dammed and a shallow basin built 
with stones, leaving an entrance which was allowed 
to remain open all day until the signal was given; 
it was then closed, ami the whole party, armed with 
fish speais, plunged in and set about spearing the 
fish, traps being set to catch any that might other- 
wise escape. Later on in the summer, or early 
autumn, the fish would be taken in such quantities 
that each family amid, in the space of a fortoight, 
obtain something like a thousand kilos of excellent 
fish, which was storied for the winter. 

It was extremely difficult to obtain fuel of any 
scfcrt at AfQtitsoq. The Cassiope which is ttsed in 
some parts is not found here, the nearest subs&tate 
beitig Dryas, which is moreover in bloom at this titee 
of year* It is most difficult to keep alight, aad one 
to be constantly blowing it. It took Aijara- 
five hours to cook a potful of fish aad boi 

fcefctle of water in this fasfakfcu ItisBot stirprismg 



TRULY THANKFUL 

then that most prefer to eat their food raw. Raw 
meat tastes very nice really, but I never quite got 
accustomed to eating raw fish fresh from the water. 
The fishing here often provides those reserves o 
food that may be indispensable in winter should the 
caribou hunting fail, and the place is regarded as 
sacred, just as are certain spots particularly fm- 
qt&eated by the caribou. Strict rules had to be 
observed. Eating of majrow-bones, or fresh caribou 
brains, was forbidden; the heads, if brought to the 
spot, had to be picked dean and dropped in an 
adjacent stream where there were no fish. No 
needlework was to be done in the tents, nor might 
the men attend to their fishing gear there. No 
caribou skins old or new, might be worked on; not 
a tear might be mended nor a worn spot patched, 
Consequently, the whole party went about in 
their ragged last year's garments. The only 
kind of sewing allowed was for the 



of footwear, and the hide for this purpose had to be 
cut beforehand. This work, aaid ibe necessary 
repairs to fishing i 



at a particular spot away from the camp. Most 
of the party gathered here when not sleeping or at 
their games. 

These gauges were of a very simple character, bttt 
served their purpose as a means of exercise and 
feecpiog warm. A favorite m& was a mister ef 
hide-and-seek and "touch." Another was "fceeprag 
silence," the one who langfas first beasg giwa a 
comkal nick-name which he is o&figed to ^swer te> 
for the rest of the day . The^i th^e is the gaiae of 



208 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

"Bear" in which one player personates the bear, 
crawling about on all fours, while the rest dance 
about him and he attacks them as best he can, 
There was one game of ball which caused no end 
of fan and excitement. It is played by partners two 
aad two against the rest, each of a pair trying to 
throw to the other. All is fair in this game, collaring, 
tripping, charging from beyond, and all is taken 
in good part. Young and old joined in the game, 
and once started, it would go on for the rest of the day 
and be started again the next. Husband and wife 
were generally partners; and it was really touching 
to see the affection between the pairs. I have randy 
met with people where the men were so proud of 
their wives, the women on their part being tireless 
in t&elr praise of their respective husbands. 

A curious form of pastime, popular especially 
among the children, was the Tunangussartut, or 
"spirit game," which consists in "taking off" the 
seances of the anga&oq, often in a really humorous 
manner. Spirits are invoked, imaginary enemies 
battled with and vanquished, exactly in the grown- 
up manner; the dread of evil powers is caricatured to 
the life, and prayers and spells uttered word for word 
as in cases of actual pail or distress. The whole 
thing was iaak blasphemy; and yet the grown-ups 
iooidBg m would gasp and rock aad hold their sides 
witfe latighter f as if they fottnd a certain satisfaction in 
tfeeir young hopefuls make fun of what to 



tibesa was solemn earnest And them perhaps, a few 
hours later, a sudden ^disposition, or a bad dream, 
wooM eaffl afl the adtilts together in a real seance, 



TRULY THANKFUL 209 

none the less solemn now for the comic interlude just 
past* I asked one of my friends here how it could be 
that they were not afraid of incurring the anger of the 
spirits by these disrespectful harlequinades. But 
he answered that "of course" the spirits understood 
it was only in fun; and surely they knew how to take 
a joke! He seemed, indeed, astonished that anyone 
could raise the question at alL 

On the lath of August, to my regret, I Mt obliged 
to take leave of my friends here and try hunting 
elsewhere. We divided our party into two, Anaru- 
lunguaq and I, with one of the hunters, returning to 
Malerualik, while the other, with half the dogs, 
went over towards Gjoa Harbor to see if better 
fortune anight be had there. 

We reached Malerualik once more on the 17th, and 
found the goods we had left there untouched a 
matter by no means certain unless special precautions 
are taken to protect stores from being pksndefsd by 
the various prowling beasts. It was good to nee the 
sea again; and there was stiH some wodc to fee 4oae. 
Anarulunguaq and I bad another spdfl at tfce ruins, 
but we were not suffered to go CHI very kxng. Qt* the 
25th of August, we had a gate ram tibe isoiiMflest, 
bringing with it the first saow and frost. We had, 
however, got through most of the excavation worfc 
aod oQEeefced a fine jofc of material. 

With the autusm BOW $e**iiigii^ 
indoor wsdc I bad siffl to do m writi^; cwfe 
and oteervatioos tip to da*e, I d$ei$ed that w& |pd 



(Cape York) type. Anaartilttugiiaq m& I 



2io ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

work on this on the evening of the 29th, most of 
the building being done by Anarulunguaq, who is 
an expert at the work, while I brought up stone from 
the ruins. Among her people it is customary for 
the women to build the winter houses, while the men 
are out hunting in the autumn. By the 3ist, we had 
the place complete save for the final dressing of turf 
that was to cover the rough stone. At this stage 
some old acquaintances appeared on the scene, 
Alorneq, Itqilik, and another named Oqortoq. They 
helped us with the finishing touches, and the same 
night we were able to serve up a modest banquet in 
oar new quarters. 

Hie talk soon turned to the subject of Miteq and 
faisfailtire to appear. Oqortoq^swifewasanangakoq 
of SQUIB note, and had moreover, a few days before, 
found a bit of lead cm the shore of a stream. The 
kad had probably been dropped by some caribou 
hunter, but it was now regarded as a special token 
from the spirits, such as may sometimes be accorded 
to those specially favored. A great invocation was 
therefore held, resulting in the intelligence that Miteq 
was on his way home, and not far away; we were 
farther Informed that he had killed two bears on the 
way, aiid had encountered various difficulties, not 
specified* 

This seemed encouraging, and lifcely enough but 
was some doubt among the rest of the party 
yet. It was openly asserted that we should 
see Miteq again; he and his <x>mpanion must 
certamty have been murdered long since by the 



TRULY THANKFUL 211 

Ottr guests had come down to visit some caches 
they had laid down dtiring the spring. On leaving, 
each of them presented me with a stick of tobacco; 
which, by the way, they had originally bought from 
me at our first meeting. I was the better able to 
appreciate the kindness of the gift in that I knew it 
amounted to half their own supply, and aH three wwe 
ardent smokers. 

Another commodity now running short with us was 
the very ordinary box of matches. Matches were 
frequently demanded in payment when I was buying 
amulets, and as the fresh supply Miteq was to have 
brought up had not yet arrived, we found ourselves 
now reduced to a ration of two matches per diem. 
Anarulunguaq managed, however, by keeping peat 
embers on the hearth from one time of using to the 
next. After all, one can always manage to get a 
light native fashion, though it savors somewhat of 
thestoneage. More serious was the Jade of ammuni- 
tion for our guns, now that winter was dose afe hand. 

The 3rd of September was fine, with a dear sky, 
a slight frost and a faint breeze finom the west. 
Anartdtmguaq and I were sitting outside the teat 
gazing out over the water in the quiet of the after- 
noon, when Anarulunguaq suddenly brake oat 
excitedly: 

"Look, look, what is that? I i&0gfat it was low 
water, and there is a reef I am sure was not 
before. Look, it is moving!" 

Ste pointed across to 
ttefofemd of Eta; and tfeete 
thing dark in the water. 1 1 was a aiiall caooe, making 



212 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

in towards us. KayaJks are only used in fresh water 
lakes in this region, and are never seen out at sea, 
There were two men in this one; they could only be 
Miteq and his companion. We had been looking out 
for tfaem since the middle of June, and now that they 
were actually in sight it seemed to take our breath 
away. 

I got out my glass; sure enough it was they. And 
in less than an hour they had landed. We raced 
down to meet them long before they reached the 
shore, delighted to find them both alive and weE, 
but eager to hear what news they brought; and 
wiiat supplies. Unfortunately, there was disappoint- 
ment in store to temper the joy of our meeting. 
Miteqfs first aamouncement ran: 

"No ammunition, no tobacco, no tea, coffee, sugar 
or flour/ But," he added with a laugh, "we are 
thoroiighly alive ourselves, and it might easily have 
been otherwise!" 

The canoe grounded on the pebbles, Miteq sprang 
ashore and we embraced heartily. 

His report may be given in brief. On leaving King 
William's Land at the end of May, they had found the 
ice so impassable along the shores of the mainland 
that they had crossed over to Land's Island, near 
Victoria Land, and thence to White Bear Point 
(A the sotil&em coast of Queen Maud Gulf. On the 
way down to Melbourne Island they had twice 
emxfttntered the Eatdlinermiut, who had given them 
a most hostile inception. Only the women came 
down to meet them, the wen lying in ambush dose 
romi^ ready to fell ttpoa them should occa^on arise, 



TRULY THANKFUL 213 

As a rule they managed to get on friendly terms, but 
in one or two places, the natives had been so sarfy 
and their behavior so suspicious that they judged 
it best not to sleep among them. They generally 
fastened the dogs in a circle round their tent, so as 
to be sure of being aroused in case of danger from any 
quarter. Our collections had been delivered safe and 
sound to the Hudson's Bay Company's representative 
at Kent Peninsula, but the trade in fox skins there 
had been so exceptionally heavy that season that the 
station had sold out of everything by the time they 
arrived. They had just managed to get enough 
ammunition to last them OB their way back. The 
rivers flowing out into Queen Maud Gulf had broken 
up at the beginning of Jttne, and they had had to 
borrow a canoe to get through. All their dogs had 
been left with some Eskimos near EUice Kiver t 
where they themselves had stayed a month waiting 
for the ice to dear sufficiently f or them to proceed 
along the coast. As it was, they had only with the 
greatest difficulty managed to inafce tibeir way down 
in the frail canoe. 

Despite the bad news, we were of course only too 
glad to have them both back safe and sound* And I 
was greatly relieved to find that I should not be all 
alone among strangers without ammunition, for tbere 
would be a hard struggle now to keep our dogs. If 
we lost them, the sledge trip to Nome would be otife 
of the qtiestion. 



By this time the laatiws were begmniog fe 
their way back to Malerualik aad we bad soon croer 



214 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

a hundred souls in camp. The caribou hunting was 
about to begin, and there was great excitement as to 
how it would turn out. 

On the 1 5th of September, the advance guard of the 
caribou made their appearance. There was a short 
that echoed through the camp, and all turned out, to 
find the animals trotting down over the hills to the 
eastward. At a distance, it looked like a great body 
of cavalry on the move, the herd advancing in line of 
50 to 100 abreast, in steady formation down towajttls 
the foni at Eta. The hunters snatched up their 
guns and hurried off, dropping down into cover 
immediately, among the little hummocks on the line 
by which the caribou must pass. It was the first 
regular eaacotmter of the season, and the unsuspecting 
beasts feept cm at a steady trot towards the coast, 
until a deafening volley brought them up short. 
They stood as if paralyzed for a moment, and they 
gazed about helplessly in search of the invisible foe; 
this gave the hunters a fresh chance, and shot after 
shot rang out, the Animals dropping on every side, 
and further confusing the rest, until the entire 
cavalcade brake up into scattered groups that dashed 
away headlong into the interior, 

Mteqandlhadt^ennopartmthk as we 

h$d oi% 75 cartridges between us, and I had no wish 
to sg& them wasted in the reckless firing that oftea 
takes place fa the excitement of dealing with a mass 
of game at cfose quarters. As it was, the total bag 
amounted to some 50 beasts, which had, I reckoiied, 
cost from five to sevea shots apiece; a poor result for 
tfee aqpeodittife, coinpared with what might have 



TRULY THANKFUL 215 

been obtained under the droHnstanaes, Hie Eski- 
mos, however, accustomed to reckon with the slower 
and scantier yield of bow and arrow, would reckon 
it very satisfactory. 

There was not snow enough on the ground to start 
sledging, and on the i8th, early in the morning, Miteq 
and I set off up country to go hunting on our own 
account. We came back the same evening with 
seven fine caribou we had deliberately picked out 
the finest and fattest a heavy load, but more than 
welcome. 

It was on the 2ist of September that the Great 
Event took place. 

I was just walking up towards the tent when I 
noticed a stir among the others scattered about, 
Then suddenly all came pouring out from the tents, 
men, women and children, and a great cry of wonder 
went up: 

O oh. . . . O o ok . . . ! ff 



then off they went again, htmying d0wn past me in 
great excitement. I thought at first it most be a Bew 
detachment of caribou in sight, and was prepared 
to giveacurtt^usaltoanyooe wanting tob 



gun, Then oae of the oreanost hailed me, 
bis hand in t&e direction of tbe shore: 

"Look, took there! tf 

I turned and looked; and toM myself ft wasBotfcmig 
of the sort; I must be dreaming* A sbij? under fefl 



216 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

sail making straight in towards us? Who ever heard 
of such a thing? To the young folk gathered round, 
agape with wonder, this was the Great Event of aJl 
their lives. A ship? They had never seen a ship. 
And see how it floated, that great thing! And where 
on earth could they have got all that wood? Here it 
came, actually moving, swimming on the water like 
some great bird, yes, and with sails spreading out 
above like huge white wings. . . 1 

In the midst of all this wonder and excitement, it 
occurred to me that there would be ammunition on 
board that ship whose it was, or what its errand, I 
did not trouble to think. 

A pair of ski lashed together served as a flag-staff, 
and in a moment we had hoisted the Danish flag and 
the Union Jack over our dwelling. An hour later the 
vessel was at anchor close inshore, and a motor boat 
came sputtering up to the beach with two white men 
on board, who introduced themselves as Peter 
Norbeig of Hernoesand, Sweden, and Henry Bjoern 
of Praestoe, Denmark. 

After all, it is a little world 1 

They had come up to establish a station for the 
Hudson's Bay Company in King William's Land. 
The vessel was called El Sueno and had originally 
been a private yacht stationed at San Francisco. 
To our unaccustomed eyes , she seemed a very frigate ; 
though she was but 20 tons. And in this cockle-shell 
of a craft, without engines even, and with a heavy 
boat in tow, Peter Norberg had forced a way through 
the most difficult part of the old North-west Passage, 
namely, Queen Maud Gulf, a piece of seamanship 



TRULY THANKFUL 217 

the extent of which he himself was far from realizing. 
They had no charts, and no technical aids to navi- 
gation whatever, but as Peter Norberg very amply 
put it, both came of a seafaring race, the old viking 
strain had been turned to good account. 

No fewer than forty vessels had taken part in the 
struggle for the North-west Passage, Roald Amund- 
sen, with his little Gjoa was the first to win through; 
and here was Peter Norberg coming in second with a 
bit of a craft that could hardly be called a vessel 
at all, and had only been built for pleasure cruising 
round the Golden Gate. 

Ten minutes later I was on board, with my teetfa 
deep in an orange. A little later, I sat staring with 
wide eyes at a real cup of actual steaming coffee. 
There were such things as Bread, and Cheese, and 
Butter, on the table, but I did not touch them; 
bring quite content to sit puffing great clouds of 
smoke. And having got used to tfaewoodar of ail this 
after a while, it seemed quite natural to be sitting 
on a box containing 5000 cartridges of the precise 
calibre we had been using; I Ksteoed calmly, was in a 
dream, to the promise of unlimited ammunition. * . 

Truly, a turn of events aH on a sttdden! 

I gaaed out through the open porthole; the soow 
was a glittering carpet of innumerable tiny crystals; 
and across it moved tlie caribou in their hundreds, 
trotting on all unaware towaitts death and 
tioa. 



CHAPTER XVI 

FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 

OHUT off from the rest of the world by ice filled 
*-* seas and trackless wastes of vast extent, the 
Kttle hatadful of people who call themselves the Net- 
sffingmiut have been suffered to live their own life, 
such as it is, up to the present day uninfluenced 
by any form of alien culture. Their own enttcoer- 
afck>a of the various tribes belonging to their people 
is as follows: 

The Arvaigjuaitmut, in the neighborhood of 
PeBy Bay, numbering 32 xneaa and 22 women; the 
Netsilingmiut proper, 1 from Boothia Isthmus, 39 
men and 27 women; the Kttngmiut, from the banks 
of Mra-chison River, 22 men and 15 women; the 
Arvertoraiut from BeUot Strait and North Somer- 
set, 10 men and 8 women, and finally, the Hivifer- 
mitit of Adelaide Peninsula, 47 men and 37 womeaa, 
'making a total of 259. 

t Finom mid-July until December, these people live 
tip m the iaterkr, occupied ia caribou htmtiog aad 
; the rest <rf the y^r is devoted to seal 



hunting on the ice. The name Netsffingmmt, wbidfa 

la owafeasfc to the Caa&on Ssaos and t&e i^tms of tlie Htafeon 
B^ 4Naic^ t^ N*dliagimat pi^^ 

evideat ixem their soags a**c| tfeek itam^s. Among the otlier tribes, the 
^ M 



218 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 219 

means "Seal Folk" hardly derives from any special 
abundance of seal in their district , but is rather due to 
their having, after a previous period inland, moved 
down to the coast and taken up hunting there f in 
contrast to the Caribou Eskimo. This move would 
appear to be of comparatively recent date. 

Though few in number, Netsilingmiut cover a 
territory of considerable extent, their hunting 
grounds amounting to some 125,000 square kilo- 
metres, which is three times the size of Denmark, aikl 
equivalent to the entire ice-free portion of Greenland. 

1 lived among these people for over six months, 
and had every opportunity of learning to koow tbem 
intimately, being forced myself to return to alto- 
gether primitive conditions and share their lot in 
every way; a fact which was naturally conducive 
to mutual confidence. 

There is hardly any country in the world more 
harsh and unfriendly than theirs, or more destitute 
of all that is generally regarded as necessary to me 
existence. Winter begins in September and lasts tiB 
the middle of July. During the actual winter iBoetfas 
they have to struggle for life against a tempera- 
tere somewhere between minus 30 and minus 5 d 
I visited them in April, and marvelled how they could 
beep tip their spirits find room, indeed, for fan and 
merriment in their odd and comfortless dwellings. 
In May, the weather was bo* little better; certainly, 
it was a trifle less cold, but in return, the constant 
blkzards wrapped the whole poor eocamfra&eat erf 
smw huts in a flurry of soow; and as soon as ifae stm 
came out for a spell, its chief effect w^s to melt Hie 



220 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

roof over their heads. But it did not seem to trouble 
them. And I thought to myself that when summer 
ea&ie, it must make amends, and give them compen- 
sation for all they had so bravely and patiently 
endured; surely they must at some season or other 
absorb the warmth that even animals cannot do 
without. The summer came, and I visited them up 
country at their salmon fishing, It was not positively 
cold now, but the weather was by no means pleasant, 
being dull and chilly, with a constant wind; the snow 
had given place to rain, and the little tents made but a 
sorry shelter. Nevertheless, the inmates were by no 
means depressed; on the contrary, they played games 
most of the day, going about in their wretched rags 
without a murmur at the stern tabu which forbade 
them ercn to make themselves new clothes or wanner 
sleeping rugs until they had shivered their way 
tlaroogh the first of the snow right on into November. 

And these stepchildren of Nature were by no 
means wretched in appearance; they were for the 
most part tall and strongly built; among the men, 
a height of 170 cm. was by no means uncommon. 
They were not only cheerful, but healthy, knowing 
nothing of any disease beyond the "colds" that come 
as a regular epidemic in spring and autumn. 

Jt people must naturally be viewed in the light 
roundings, and from what has already 



bee** said as to those of the Nets3ingmiut, It 
hardly be surprising to find the people themselves not 
c&dy hajdy and of great eodiiEaiice, but with many 
barsiiaiidfodb^^ thestoneage, 

Tine NetsiHngmiut are remarkably well aoqtiaiiited 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 221 

with their country, both as regards its natural 
conditions and its history from early times. Though 
altogether unaccustomed to the use of pencil and 
paper they were able in a surprisingly short time to 
draw outline maps, with a very cxmsiderable amount 
of detail. The actual distances might not be quite 
exact, but every lake and island, every headland and 
bay was noted so carefully that one could easily find 
one's way by these maps in altogether new country. 
Their own tradition holds that the 



immigrated at some distant date into the country 
they now occupy, driving out the original inhabitants, 
These, as in the Hudson Bay district, were called 
Tunit. It is so long since the Tunit hunted seal 
and whale in the land of the Netsilingmiut that 
everything has changed since then. Land and water 
were different; in that "the seas were deeper** 1 so 
that great sea beasts such as the whale could then 
come in to their shores, whereas now they are ooly 
found right up in Bellot Strait, Evidence of tteir 
former presence in Ahese waters is seea in the maay 
boties of whale found among the antiesat ruined dwell- 
ings. And in support of the assertion as to change 
in the level of the sea, old men cited tihe finding of a 
whale skeleton far up inland at Saitoq, east of Shep- 
herd Bay. Near the lake of Qomgoq also, in the 
same locality, many skeletons of white whales have 
been found, while farther mla&d again, sio&r Lake 
Qissulifc, there is a mass of driftwood, now so rottd 
by the weather that it crttmbfes at a tottch. But 
the waters now are so shallow thai m& em* 

1 This ^ the Eskimo view. 



222 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

ribbon seal from Queen Matid Gtdf pass in throogfr 
Simpson Strait, and hunting of marine animals is 
restricted to the little common fjord seal, 

The NetaKngmiut accounts of the Tunit supple- 
ment those we obtained in the Hudson Bay district 
about the aborigines there. And when, in the course 
of the summer, I was able to excavate and examine 
the remains of twelve winter houses at Malerualik, I 
found that this material also confirmed our theories 
as to the migrations of the Eskimo. 

The ruined dwellings at Malerualik, coinpridng 
in all 65 houses built of stones and peat, are the first 
that have ever been investigated in this area, and 
therefore of the greatest importance as a link between 
otir finds in Hudson Bay and Baffin Land on the one 
hand, and the collections afterwards made in the 
western regions of Alaska and East Cape. 

Though the whales, as already mentioned, no 
longer penetrate into these waters, we found a 
considerable number of bones of whale used for 
building material in the dwellings of these old houses, 
and a great majority of the implements found were 
made from the same material. We obtained some- 
thing over 200 items in this category, witnessingtoa 
type of Thule culture somewhat more adapted to 
caribou httnting than in other places where excava- 
tions were made. These finds here were also rather 
more primitive, showing an earlier stage of develop- 
ment than the Naajaa relies from Reptdse Bay. It 
is thus also more nearly allied to the Alaskan form of 
ctdtare than the other Tfattle finds, 

Hie main bulk of the ruins lay distributed along 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 223 

three separate lines, marking the site of former 
beaches, the highest being some 25 metres above sea 
level, at a distance of some 400 metres from the coast, 
suggesting that they mtist be at least as old as the 
ruins at Naujan. 

As has already been indicated, there is no super- 
abundance of food in these regions. There are, of 
course, times when more game is kilted than can be 
eaten at once, especially during the great caribou 
hunting season, in autumn, or when the salmon 
fishing in summer is particularly good. But on the 
other hand, we have to reckon with periods in winter 
when weeks may pass without any possibility of pro- 
curing food; it is therefore absolutely essential to 
have a store in reserve. Life is thus an almost 
tminterrupted struggle for bare existence, and periods 
of dearth and actual starvation are not infrequent, 
Three years before sry visit, eighteen peopk died of 
starvation at Simpson Strait. Hie year before, 
seven died of hunger north of Cape Britannia. 
Twenty-five is not a great number periiaps, but 
out of a total of 239 it makes a temble percentage 
for death by starvation alone. And yet this may 
happen any winter, when there are no caribou to be 
had. It is haidly surprising then to find canni- 
balism by no means tmccramon. In citing a typical 
instance hare, as showing the merciless nature 
of the struggle I or existence, I give both facts and 
comment in the wends of my informant, wbkfa 
express, I think, the typical native point erf view. 
The speaker is erne SaJEoik, a good banter and a 
respected aogakoq. 



224 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

14 Many peopk have eaten human flesh. But 
never from aay desire for it, only to save their lives, 
and that after so much suffering that in many cases 
they were not fully sensible of what they did . 

"You knew Tuneq f Itqilik f s brother. You have 
met him, and his present wife, you have lived with 
them and you know him to be a cheery soul, a man 
who loves to laugh, and one who is always kind to his 
wife. Well, now, one winter many years ago the 
the hunting failed. And some starved to death and 
others died of cold, and the living lived on the dead. 
And all at once Tuneq went out of his mind. He saM 
the spirits had told him to eat hiswife. Hebeganby 
cutting bits fatsoi her clothing and eating them, then 
more bits, till be had bared her body in several places. 
Then suddenly he stabbed her to death with his knife 
and ate of her as he needed and lived. But he placed 
the bones in their order as it is required to be done 
when anyone dies. . <, . 

"But we who have endured such things ourselves, 
we do not judge others who have acted in this way 
though we may find it haixl, when fed and content 
ourselves, to understand how they could do such 
things. But tibea again, how can one who is in good 
health and well fed, expect to understand the mad- 
ness of starvation? We only know that every one 

the same desire to live/* 
temfefe uacertaiBty of life in these regkaas 
accounts to seme extent for the prevalence of more 
or less superstitious rites and the >ttse of amulets. 
The l$&b$mg&& hold tfoe same views on the 
subject of aaemiiets as the IgdluliBgmiut, but ttsa 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 225 

them wholesale. One little lad of seven years old 
went about with no fewer than eighty sewn tip in 
various parts of his clothing, which sadly hampered 
him in his play. 

Perhaps the most striking evidence of the stern 
conditions tinder which these people live is afforded 
by their strictly economical attitude towards the 
business of childbirth. Girl children are invariably 
killed at birth -unless previously promised in marriage 
and ihus provided for already. And this is no* 
fjxjm'lack of feeling, nor from any lack o appre- 
ciation of Woman's part in life, which is recognized 
as indispensable; it is due solely to a recognition of 
the fact that no breadwinner can hope to provide 
for a family numbering much beyond the necessary 
minimum. A girl is merely an unproductive con- 
stuner in the family up to the time when she is able 
to make herself useful; and as soon as she arrives 
at that stage, she is given in marriage, and her 
utility falls to the share of another h0u#eiH>kL 

Every tnan knows that he can only reefccm c& a 
few years of active life as a htintear, tmless lie skmld 
happen to be endowed with a sttsdier constitutkHi 
even than his fellows. After a while he finds himself 
unable to compete. If he have SOTS, these will as a 
rale be able to help him when his own strength begins 
to fail; and it is thus an advantage to have as many 
som as possible, stavtag off the evil boor when 
one literafly feels tlie noose at>out oae's neck. Fcr 
It is a. general custom tfeat old f & do teg@r sfcfe 
to provide or t&smsetros <xsimiiit siitc^^^ 
Life is short, a***3 we must make the jBidsl cf ifr** 4ft$& 



226 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

is the crude moral of it all Moreover, it should be 
remembered that it takes three years at least before a 
child is weaned, during which period the mother does 
not as a rule give birth to others; parents can there- 
fore ill afford to spend three years on a girl when they 
might hope to have a boy. 

It has been generally believed that the Eskimos 
were a people with low birth rate as a whole. This 
is only true to a certain extent; the long period of 
nursing accounts to a great extent for the length of 
time between births. 

At Makrualik, in Kmg William's Land, I weat 
through the whok settlement, enquiring of the 
women individtsafiy how many children they had 
borne, and bow many giris had been killed, noting 
carefully the names and numbers in each case. 
The result, from the list before me as I write, 
gives, for eighteen marriages, a total of ninety-six 
children of which 38 were killed at once as girls 
not previously provided for. It is significant how- 
ever, that of the 259 sotds which make up the popu- 
lation of the Netsilingmint, 109 are women as against 
150 men. Despite considerable fertility therefore, 
ft is evident tliat the race is on the way to extermin- 
ation if the giife oontlntie to be thus summarily JdBed 
off at birth* 

As an instance of their fertility I may quote a case 
wfcicfc came to my knowledge. Imingarsuk, aged 
about 60, whom I met at Committee Bay, had had 
20 children; of these, to were girls Hlkd in infancy, 
4 died of disease, iies^ 
and oae datigjiter, whom I afterwards mefc, all fine 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 227 

healthy specimens of the race- I asked the mothear 
if she did act regret the killing of the girls, but 
she answered, no, for if she had had to nurse all those 
girls, who were born before the boys, she would have 
had BD sons at all. As it was, she loved her sons, 
who had secured relative comfort for herself and her 
husband in their old age, but had no sort of feeling 
for the infants killed, whom indeed she had barely 
seen. My list above quoted includes also two won*en 
with ten, two with eleven, and one with twelve births 
to their credit. 

In the face of these hard comKtioos, the Netsiling- 
miut have developed a wonderful degree of ingenuity 
and endttranoe in the pursuit of that game on which 
their lives depend. Highest in this respect is their 
method of harpooning seal at the breathing holes. 
They rank first among all the tribes in this form of 
hunting, and their methods and apparatus are worth 
a brief description. 

When the ice first forms, the seal nosed and scrapes 
a small hole through which to breathe; tie site is 
indicated by a slight rise, or bell-shaped pix>tuberane 
of the ice above the rest. It is a comparatively easy 
thing to harpoon a seal at this stage, but the matter 
becomes vastly more difficult when the ice has thick- 
ened to some two or three metres, with a farther 
layer of snow abwe. What exactly tafces place 
may be seen from an account of a day's hunting. 

Vary esdy, before it is quite light, Imigfctik and I 
are roused from steep, and a jug of boiEng seal's blood 
is brought us. Still barely awake, we swaQow the 
hot, thick soap with its abundance of bitibber, 



228 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

knowing that we cannot expect to get another meal 
for the next ten or twelve hours. Then hurrymg 
into our outdoor clothes, we join our companion 
and the party, fifteen strong, sets out across the ice 
at a smart pace* It is bitterly cold, with a biting 
wind. 

Each of us carries a bag slung from his shoulders, 
<xrataining various minor requisites; the harpoon is 
carried in the hand. Dogs are used to pick up the 
blow holes by scent. 

It took us three hours to find the first, which fell 
to the lot of Inugtuk. I remain with him, while the 
rest of the party scatter in various directions. Inttg- 
tuk mm sets about his first preparations, First of 
all he cuts away the upper layer of snow, leaviog 
the dome of ice exposed. Then, with an ice-pick at 
the butt end of his harpoon, he chips away at the 
fresh ice which has formed since the seal's last visit, 
scooping out the fragments with a spoon of musk 
ox horn. He then takes a "feeler/' a long curved 
implement made of horn, and thrusts it down into 
the hole to ascertain the exact position of the bore, or 
vertical tunnel relative to the opening itself . This 
is a most important point, as the position of the seal 
when it comes up to breathe depends on this, and the 
direction of the harpoon thrust has to be determined 
acxsordisgly. With the aperture immediately aJbove 
the oeaitre of the vertical shaft, a straight downward 
thrust will generally strike the animal, btrt where the 
aperture is a fittle to one side, there will be room for 
ifae bafpoon to pass without touching- As soo ag 
tibfe feas been ascertained, the s&ow is packed down 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 229 

again over the ice, and a hole pierced straight through 
it with the harpoon so as to give a dear thrust when 
the moment arrives. 

The next implement called into requisition is the 
"feather/* This consists of a stiff sinew from the 
foot of a caribou, into which is fixed a piece of swans- 
down at one end, the other being forked, so that the 
forks catch on either side of the opening, leaving the 
swansdown indicator just far enough down the shaft 
to be still visible from above. As soon as the seal 
comes up and begins to breathe, the "feather" 
begins to quiver f and the hunter strikes. 

Hie harpoon itself consists of a shaft with a loose 
head, a line being attached to the latter, so that on 
striking, the head becomes fixed in the body of the 
seal, and at the same time comes away from the shaft, 
when the animal is held on the line just as a fish on 
the hook. It is then drawn ttp to the hole again and 
killed. 

As soon as all was in i&adtuoessv Inugtuk spread out 
his bag on the snow io front of the hole and stood on 
it. This partly to prevent the snow fooaaa creaking 
underfoot, and partly as a protection from the cold. 
And there he stood, like a statue harpoon at the 
ready, and eyes fixed on the swaosdown just visible 
below. Hour after hour passed, and I began to 
realize what an nncaeose amount of patience and 
endurance are required for this form of hunting with 
the tfaernK*oeter at minus 5OX Pour hours of it 
seemed to me ail eternity ^ 
stood COT twelve hot^ 
back food for ibe hungry oiiesatliPi^e* 



230 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

We had just decided to give it up when we saw 
that one of the others a little way off had got a seal. 
As soon as he had hauled it up, we hurried over to 
httrt to take part in the "hunter's meal" a regular 
procedure almost in the nature of a sacrament. All 
kneel down, the successful hunter on the right, the 
others on the left of the seal. A small hole is cut 
in the carcase large enough to extract the liver and a 
portion of blubber, the opening being then carefully 
pinned "up to avoid loss pf blood. The liver and 
blubber are then cut up into dice and eaten kneeling. 
For myself, I always felt there was 



touching and solemn about this ceremonial eating 
o the first meat on which men's lives depend. 

Our total bag that day was one seal, and fifteen 
men were out for eleven hours to get it. But my 
comrades were only too thankful that they had any- 
thing to bring home at all, which is certainly not 
always the case. On the other hand, one may 
get three or four in a single day. But seal generally 
are scarce here. I reckoned out that the average 
haul per man would be about 10 to 15 seal from 
January to June. At a village with 10 families 
numbering 37 souls in all, the winter catch amounted 
to only about 1 50 seal, AskilMbtmterin Greenland 
would liave been able to get about 200 in the same 
time, which shows the enormous difference in the 
general options of life. 

The mind of the NetsiHk Eskimo is like the surface 
oiene of these lakes with which Ms country abounds: 
ms&y roused, but soon cahn again. But coolness is 
as a virtae, and whatever misf ortune 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 231 

occur, a man is rarely heard to complain. The fact is 
noted, and regarded as inevitable: so it is, and it 
could not have been otherwise. So that the visitor 
dwelling among them for a while finds them living 
to aH appearance in careless content, 

Man and wife are comrades. The woman may 
have been purchased for a sledge, or a kayak; perhaps 
for a bit of iron and a few rusty nails; but she is by 
no means regarded as a chattel without feelings, 
Theoretically, the husband has the right to deal with 
her as he pleases; her very life is in his hands, but in 
point of fact she is not ill-treated in the slightest 
degree. She has her own position ia the home, which 
is marked not merely by freedom and liveliness of 
manner, bat also by some authority, especially 
among the older wwnen. 

Children are regarded with a touching devotion, 
and in times of dearth, the parents regard it as a 
matter of course that the fittle ones must first be fad, 
even though there be i*ot enough lor alL Children 
adopted into a family bought for some trifle as a 
speculation receive the same treatment in ewrp 
way; the "orphan" type, the wnetefeed, neglected, 
hatf -starred father-aiid-moiherless chiH so common 
in Greenland, is here entirely unknown. 

There is a regular division of labor: it is the man's 
business to procure foody while his wife attends to all 
the work of the botise. Hat work, moreover, is 
highly esteemed, and a good oeedlewiCHaan is greatly 
respected by bar feflows. She boJds property m tor 
own right; articles socb as lamps mA coofeg $$*% 
sewing requis^ and other hoosekold goods mate 



232 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

up her marriage portion, and she retains them when 
the marriage is dissolved. Divorce is common 
where there are no children, and a woman may be 
married seven or eight times before she settles down 
for good. Children are regarded by the parents as a 
great blessing, and serve to knit the two more closely 
together, 

Polygamy exists, but is not common, owing to the 
scarcity of women. Where a man has more than one 
wife, it is always a sign of distinction and unusual 
skill in hunting. Jealousy is not unknown, but 
wives in one household generally get on amicably 
together. Polyandry also occurs; a woman may not 
infrequently have two husbands. A man, of course, 
is helpless if he has no one to make his clothes, and 
two friends will occasionally "go shares" in a wife. 
Stteh arrangements do not, however, turn out well as a 
rule, among young people at any rate, and not 
infrequently end with the killing of one of the men. 
A woman cannot on her own account invite a man 
friend to share her husband's rights in her; this is the 
husband's privilege alone. 

"Changing wives" for a short time is of common 
occurrence. The man's position is altogether one of 
considerable freedom, and it is regarded as perfectly 
natoral that he should have intercourse with other 
women as oftesi as any opportunity occurs, Go&- 
seqtijeatiy, a woman left alone while her husband is 
out hunting is exposed to some risk from the advance 
of other men; should she giire way to any such, 
?i*e will as a rule be punished by her husband 
Q& occasion, however, it is the co-respondent who is 




I 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 233 

called to account, the matter being settled by a bcmt 
at fisticuffs. All the men are practised boxers. 

The freedom thus claimed by the man in the 
marital relation is by no meads extended to the 
woman, who in this inspect is considered her hus- 
band's property. Changing wives is effected without 
the least regard to the feelings of the isspective 
wives, who are not consulted in the matter at all. 
Even where a woman definitely wishes to remain 
"faithful" to her own spouse, her constancy would 
not only be unappreciated, but would be regarded as 
disobedience, and punishable as sttefa. It is indeed 
regarded as a sin: "the spirits do not like it." 

Natural desire and economical necessity, combined 
with the fact that there are not enough women to go 
itmnd, give rise inevitably to keen competition arnong 
the men, as well as to quarrels, not infrequently with 
a fatal termination. 

In earlier times, there was also oontintial war with 
other tribes, and there are many stories of kaffifig 
arid even massacre. Since the coming of the white 
men to the Hudson Bay district, there had bam 
peace with the tribes to the eastward, but relations 
witib those o& the west, especially in Victoria Land, 
were still somewhat strained, And to this day it is 
ajstomary for sledge parties approaching a village 
to halt sane distance off and send forward a woman 
as a herald of peace. During my stay among the 
Ilivilermitit I happe&ed to bear ooe at the naims 
there giving an account of an eiKsottater will* Hie 
Kitdtmermmt whicb was the more vsloaWe as 
the man was not s|jeaklg to me at afl, but addressing 



234 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

himself to his own companions. The speaker was oae 
Nakasuk, from Adelaide Peninsula, and his account 
was as follows: 

"Many came out towards me. But without 
showing sign of fear I drove straight in among than 
and said: 

" Well, it is only me; and I am nobody much. If 
those here wish to kill me, it may be done without 
much risk, for there is none who would care to take 
vengeance."' 

"This was received with laughter, and one of the 
strangers stepped forward to my sledge and said- 

"'Are you afraid?'" 

"laaswered: 'I am past the age when one is afraid 
of others. I have come alone into the midst of your 
camp, as you see; if I had been a coward, I should 
certainly have stayed at home. ' " 

"These words were greeted with much approval, 
and an old white-haired man gave me their welcome. 
He said: 

"'You area man f and you speak with the words of a 
man. You may stay among us without fear. No 
erne will harm you.' " 

The said Nakasuk, it should be noted was a maa 
of middle age, with two wives and several sons, aad 
a maa of no little importance among his own people; 
actually, then, neither so old as to count Kfe worth- 
less hiinself , nor so insignificant that none would 
care to avenge his death. But the little dialogue is 
eloquent of tjie general f eding between one tribe 
and another; it does act do to regard strangers as 
frfesads. 



FROM STARVATION TO SAVAGERY 235 

I had, indeed, later cm, abundant evidence that 
caution in such respects was needed. At a Httk 
settlement called Kunajuk, on the EHice River, I 
questioned each of the men as to whether they had 
taken part in or been subject to acts of violence. 
The results are set out as follows: and it should be 
noted that in nearly every case the victims were 
of the same tribe; the motive was invariably some 
quarrel about a woman. 

Angulalik had taken part in a murderous affray 
but had not himself killed any one. 

Uakuaq had killed Kutdlaq in revenge for the 
latter's killing of Qaltsaq. 

Angnernaq had two wives. One had been stolen 
away from him, but he had not yet taken vengeance. 

Portoq had carried off the wife of a man who had 
not yet taken vengeance. 

Kivggaluk had lost his father and brcft^sirba^h 
murdered. 

Ingoreq hadattempted to mtiMe^ 

Erf ana had killed Kununassoaq, and taken part in 
the killing of Kutdlaq. 

Kingmerut had killed Maggararaq at*3 had also 
taken part in a murderous attack upon another man. 

Erqulik stated that two attempts had been made to 
carry off his wife, both without success. 

Pangnaq, a boy of twelve, had shot his father for 
31-treating his mother. 

Maneraitsiaq had shot a man, in a dtiel (with bow 
aod arrow) but had not killed him. 

Tumaujoq had killed Ailaaatek in revenge lor be 
mwder of Mahik. 



236 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

One may often hear people who know nothing of 
the life of " savage" tribes suggest that these should 
be left to live in their own way and not have civili- 
zation forced upon them. My own experiences in 
these particular regions have convinced me that the 
white man, though bringing certain perils in his 
train does nevertheless introduce a gentler code, and 
in many ways lightens the struggle for existence. 

On the other hand, one must not judge these 
children of nature too harshly. They are, in fact, 
still in but an early stage of evolution as human 
beiaogs. And we should bear in mind that life in 
these inhospitable regions, exposed to the crudest 
conditions and ever on the verge of extermination is 
not condiacive to excessive gentleness. 



CHAPTER XVII 

BELATED HONORS 

D Y the end of September we were ready to start 
*-* sledging again. A week sufficed to procure the 
caribou meat needed for our stay and for the jcmraey . 
We had built two light sledges of the Greenland type, 
with iron runners, for this autumn work, as the long 
Hudson Bay sledges with peat-and-ice shoeing would 
be useless on the soppy new ice of the autumn, when 
there is no snow. The work was soon done, and we 
were now only waiting for the ice to come. We were, 
to tell the truth, impatient to make a start on this 
new stage of our journey, winch should, in tifoe 
course of the spring, carry us into civilized regions 
onoe more. Meantime, we occupied oorsdtaes with. 
short excursions in the neighborhood, I bad by 
this time completed my work as far as the fofldore 
department was concerned, and WES able now to turn 
my attention to a project I had long had in mbad^ 
and which, I am happy to say, proved successful, 
It was, as many of my readers are doubtless aware, 
in the region of King WHBam* s Land that osie o tiba 
greatest tragedies in the whole history of Arctic 
exploration took place. In the year I&f5, Jofaa 
Franklin sailed from England witfe two fioe 
the Erebus and ti*e Terror, with caiews 
129 officers and meii. Tb obgbefc *rf the e 



238 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

was to find and traverse the North-west Passage, 
the great sea-route then supposed to connect the 
Atlantic with the Pacific. But instead of an open 
channel, they found only straits and sounds blocked 
with heavy ice. After one winter spent under 
these conditions, the ship was beset, and had to be 
abandoned; and an attempt to find a way back to 
civilization via the Great Fish River resulted in the 
death, after terrible sufferings, of all those who had 
not previously perished of disease. Numerous relief 
and search expeditions were sent out , but it was maisy 
yeais before definite information was obtained, 
through the NetsOingmiut themselves, as to the fate 
of the tmf ortunate explorers. 

I have already mentioned meeting, while at PeSy 
Bay, a native named Iggiararsuk, whose parents 
had come in contact with members of the Franklin 
Expedition. And now, here at Malerualik again* 
I found that several of the older men were able to 
communicate interesting details as to what had takeai 
place on that occasion. I made careful notes of all 
they had to say; the account given below is in the 
words of Qaqortingneq himself. One feature com- 
mem to all the accounts, which struck me as 
at the time, was the comparative indifference 
nasrafa&s to the tragic element in the story; the 
point tfaat seemed to interest them most was the 
ignorance that prevailed in those days among their 
own people as to white men generally, and tfagfe 
goods and gear in particular as viewed in the Bgbf 
d tibe narrators' oro superior knowledge. This wi$t 
drawn upon to the utmost as a source of comic relief 



BELATED HONORS 239 

I have here omitted the numerous Eskimo names, 
for the sake of brevity: Qaqortingneq always insisted 
on giving the names of all concerned, as evidence 
that his story was to be relied on. 
Qaqortingneq's account, then, is as follows: 

"Two brothers were out hunting seal to the north- 
west of Qeqertaq (King William's Land). It was in 
the spring, at the time when the saow melts about 
the breathing holes of the seal They caught sight 
of something far out on the ice; a great blade mass of 
something, that could not be aay animal they knew. 
They studied it and made out at last that it 
was a great ship. Running home at once, they told 
their fellows, and on the following day all went out to 
see. They saw no men about the ship; it was 
deserted; and they therefore decided to take horn it 
all they could find for themselves* But none of them 
had ever before met with white laea, and they had 
no knowledge as to the use erf afl the tlm^gstikey found. 

'Due man, seeing a boat that bung out aver the 
side of the ship, cried; 'Here is a fine big trottgh 
that wilt <fo for meat! I wifl have this!' He had 
never seen a boat before, and did not know what it 
was. And he cut the ropes that held it up, and the 
boat crashed down endways on to the ice and was 
si&asbed* 



away t&e barrels ami tised the metal for 
So ignorant *OT& they i^k^ in 



of gttus and bekwagmg to guits, that OG fiadffi^ 



240 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

percussion caps, such as were used in those days, they 
took them for tiny thimbles, and really believed 
that there were dwarfs among the white folk, little 
people who could use percussion caps for thimbles, 

"At first they were afraid to go down into the lower 
part of the ship, but after a while they grew bolder, 
and ventured also into the houses underneath. Here 
they found many dead men, lying in the sleeping 
places there; all dead. And at last they went down 
also into a great dark space in the middle of the ship. 
It was quite dark down there and they could not see. 
But they soon found tools and set to work and cut a 
window in the side. But here those foolish ones, 
Imowing nothing of the white men's things, cut a hok 
in the side of the ship below the water line , so that the 
water came pouring in, and the ship sank. It sank 
to the bottom with all the costly things; nearly all 
that they had found was lost again at once, 

"But in the same year, later on in the spring, three 
men were on their way from Qeqertaq to the south- 
ward, going to hunt caribou calves. And they found 
a boat with the dead bodies of six men* There were 
knives and guns in the boat, and much food also, so 
the men must have died of disease. 

**Tbere are many places in our country here where 
foc&ies of tibese white men may still be found. I 
myself have been to Qavdlunaxsiorfik [a spit of land 
c& Adelaide PfeEriasula, nearly opposite the site where 
AmtHKbea wintered]; we tised to go there to dig for 
lead and bits of iron, And then there is Kanger- 
arfigdfek, quite doe here, a little way along the^ooast 
to the west. 



BELATED HONORS 241 

"And that is all I know about your white men 
who once came to our land, aiid perished; whom our 
fathers met but could not help to live." 

One day just before the ice had formed, I sailed up 
with Peter Nortetg and Qaqortingneq to Qavdktaar~ 
siorfik, on the east coast of Adelaide Peninsula, AIM! 
here, exactly in the spot indicated by the Eskimos, we 
found a number of human boaes, 



the last mortal remains of Franklin's men* Some 
scraps of dothing and footwear scattered about the 
same spot showed that they were those of white m&ou 

We gathered the poor remains together and built a 
cairn above them, hoisting two flags at haif mast 
above; their own and ours, And without many 
words we paid the last honors to the dead. 

Here on this lonely spit of land, weary men had 
toiled along the last stage of their mortal journey. 
Their trades are not effaced, as long m others Irro 
to follow and cany them farther; their work lives 
as long as any region of the globe remains for men 
to find and eooqtter. 

Our first encounter with a fellow htmaan here was 
not exactly cordial to begin with, b&t characteristic 
of these people in their normal relations with oilier 
tribes. I was o&fc reconnoitring, whea I caught sigbt 
of a young man fisfamg for cod through a bole in 
the ice. The mooaeiit be sighted me, lie snatched 
up liis Hue and scuttled off to the shelter of a 
foefc f whea3oe he prseo% reappeai^ with a fcie sew 
magazine rifle of the lastest model, evidently ready 



242 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to make short work of me at the slightest sign of 
danger. It did not take long, however, to convince 
him of my complete friendliness as far as he was 
concerned, and we were soon laughing heartily at the 
misunderstanding. And he took me along to his 
village ajid introduced me almost as if we had known 
each other for years. From the appearance of the 
hut and its furnishings it was plain that we were not 
far from a trading station. Fine woollen blankets of 
the Hudson's Bay Company's best were spread about 
among caribou skins more suited to the climate; 
enamelled ironware had taken the place of the carved 
and blubber-polished vessels made from driftwood; 
there were aluminium cooking pots instead of the 
heavy stone utensils, and even the soapstone lamp, 
a handsome article in itself, was here replaced by a 
glittering tin contrivance out of a shop. 

On the sleeping place sat a young woman cross- 
legged, her magnificent caribou furs partly cavern! 
and utterly effaced by a horrible print apron. Hcsr 
hands were covered with cheap-jack rings, a cheap 
cigarette was held between two fingers, and she 
breathed out smoke from her nostrils as she leaned 
back with the languid insolence of a film star and 
greeted us with a careless "how do you do." 

I thanked my lucky stars at that moment that I 
bad visited King William's Land at least before &m 
trading stations had got hold of it; while there was 
still some native life and i oBdore left to explore. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

EXUBERANT POLK 



ON a firt** afternoon it was the I4th of NovTember 
just as the chffi autitmn sun was slipping 
below the horizon^ I dnove into the little trading 
station, which is built in a sheltered creek just at the 
mouth of Arctic Sound. And here a pleasant 
reception awaited me, in that I found two f eflow- 
countiymen. 

Hie station was in charge erf Mr. H. Clarke, who 
was, moreover, entrusted with the organization of all 
the ftew stations east of Bafllie Isiaod- And his 
assistant was a Danish tiappernaHied Rudoif Jeosen, 
who had been iroddng on his own account for some 
twenty years in the region of the Mackenzie River 
ddta, and was now engaged ia the C^w^paay^s servile 
Even more pleased was I to fiod Leo Hansea^ the 
filtn pbotograpber wbo had ocmie up to meet me 
and share our final sport thimigji the third and last 
winter of the expedition- I bad written home 
from R*eptils& Bay in Jaaraaiy, 1923* aslra ray 
Committee to send oat a film photographer, as I feft 
ocaviaoed that motion pictures m*dd be a valuable 
addition to tie other material we were ooOeeting- 
He had made an advecrfcaroas jooraey OQ his own 
aoooont, first from Copeaihagjeo to New YoA, then 



244 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

across Canada to Vancouver; from there on boaid 
the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer Lady Kinder*-* 
ley northward via Point Barrow and Herschel Island 
to the little trading station at Tree River, in Coro- 
nation Gulf, and thence finally to Kent Peninsula by 
the little schooner that plies, during the brief arctic 
sraraner, between the small outlying stations towards 
Victoria Land. He had brought his technical im- 
pedimenta through without mishap, and was eager 
to get to work. 

In any case, we could not afford to make any kg 
stay here; winter and darkaess were upon us, and we 
could not reckon on light enough for motion pictures 
ia December. By the time it was light again ia 
March, we should be well out of the North-west 
Passage country, among the semi-civilized Eskimos 
of the Mackenzie Delta; it was essential therefore to 
make the most of our time now. 

The natives here are generally known as Kitdliner- 
miut; that is, among the other tribes to the east- 
ward. And the use of the word, which means 
"frontier' 1 or "boundary," among the tribes, to the 
south may doubtless be taken as suggesting that the 
Etftiineamiut are "the people farthest to the nortk 1 * 
They constitute, as do the Netsilingmiut, one tribe, 
all the iBembers of which are acquainted, and ote& 
meet at the various hunting grounds, but certain 
subdivision are reckoned with, according to locafi^ 

There are the Eqalugtomnut, or People of the Rich 
Salmon Rivers, from the neaghbcchood of Camforidgp 
Bay in Victoria Land, numbering 98 souls, of which | 
are me& and 44 women; the Almnmut, c^ People 14^- 




LEO HANSEN, THE FILM PHOTOGRAPHER 



AN EXUBERANT FOLK 245 

ing Away to One Side, on the shores of Queen Maud 
Gtdf, numbering 1 16, of which 70 are meo and 46 worn- 
ecu (The NetmEngmiut call them Asiairaiut, but 
their own pronxiixiation of tlie name is as given above). 
Then there are the Ui33JiigmagtQnDiut between Kent 
Peninsula and Bathurst Inlet, total 50, of which 
27 are men and 23 women; and finally the Kiluhig- 
tormiut, or People at the Base of the Deep Fjord, 
from Bathurst Inlet, numbering 113, of which 68 are 
men and 45 women. It will be noticed that there 
is throughout a surplus of men, this again being due 
to the killing of girl children at birth. 

The natives of Victoria Land live mainly by 
caribou hunting and salmon fishing in summer and 
autumn. Seal hunting is carried on from the ice 
between Kent Peninsula and Victoria Land, some* 
times extending more to the westward, linking tip 
with the Kiliihigtormiut at Bathurst Inlet, some- 
times mom to the east, meeting the Netsfliogmiut 
in the neighborhood of Liod IslaadL Hie Ahiar- 
miut also move up to the Mrtii-astward la the 
spring. 

These Ahianmut are imdoubtedly the most 
nomadic of the Eskimo tribes, and thus the most 
skilful and hardy travellers. They will sometimes 
spend the summer right over in Victoria Land , at 
Albeit Edward Bay, at other times penetrating far 
into the interior of the mainland, taking part in the 
great trading assemblies widch, prk>r to 1^ f onnaiaon 
of the trading stations, were reguiarty held in the 
Akilineq hills, right up in the Barren Grounds, 
these occasions they wooM 



246 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

forest belt, to procure timber for kayaks and sledgea 
They are regarded as not only the most skilful, bat 
also the most warlike of the tribes. And their 
atanbers, 70 men against 46 women, also suggest 
that the reputation is not undeserved, since tfoete 
are as a matter of fact, more girl children born than 
boys. At any rate, the dearth of women would be a 
constant source of strife among themselves, and a 
constant incitement to the carrying off of wonim 
from other tribes. 

The Umingmagtonniut Eve in dose contact with 
the people from Bathurst Inlet, having at certain 
times o the year, the same hunting grounds for seal, 
and sepaiatiBg only in the spring, when they move up 
country for the caribou hunting, from Hay to 
October. They make for Hope Bay, where the 
country is hilly, and was once rich in musk ox 
hence the name* There are still plenty of caribou in 
these regions. Only last summer the herds passing 
ElHce River were so enormous that it took them 
three days to cross the delta, though the animals wero 
always on the move. The Ummgmagtonniut how- 
erar, profited little by this abundance, as owing to the 
ttse of firearms following on the establishment of the 
trading station at Kent Peninstala, hunting had 
beea carried on to such effect that the caribou no 
longer dai^d to cross into Victoria Land or scatter 
westward as ibey bad done f oisoaeriy* 

Hie failure of the caribou httntmg is a serious 
matter in a district where so much depends oa it* 
Kent Peninstda itself is well O& t$*e way to becoming 



AN EXUBERANT POLK 247 

I had now to choose a field of work for myself from 
among these various peoples. I was at first chiefly 
inclined to visit the Eqaltagtoraiiut, but as both 
Stefansson and Diamond Jenness had already been in 
Victoria Land, and had described some of the tribes 
farther to the north-west, I decided finally to patron- 
ize the Uniingmagtormiut, who were at that time 
to be found on a small island not far from Kent 
Peninsula, where they were making preparations for 
the winter sealing. Here, at any fate I should be 
among people whom no previous explorer had 
described. 

On the 22nd of November we reached Makri- 
siorfik, where they had built tlieir camp of sncw huts 
under shelter of a hilL There was a howling Mis- 
said on, but all the men at once turned out to 
btriM a hut for us, whik tike women looked after 
Anarulungnaq, who was naturally a source of 
interest. Meat and fish were brought us in abtm- 
dance far exceeding our present needs; indeed our 
reception from the first was typical of the unstinted 
hospitality with winch we were treated 



I had not been long among ttie ^wwi^fm^ms^ 
before I realized that there was a great difference 
between them and thoee I had jtisfc fcft farthor to t^ 
cast A notable feature was their Kvdy good 
humor and careless, high-spirited manner; we 
found it neeessaiy/ 

more exuberant soak. It is perfiaps this teait in 
their character wbidi has led the other, mflder- 
maanered tribes to fear the Krtdfiaeni^ Cer- 
tainly they had some reason to be proud of tbeo- 



248 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

selves, for they were greatly superior in many 
inspects to other natives I met with in Canada. 
Little details such as the careful ornamentation of 
their htmting implements, especially their bows and 
arrows, showed that they had a sense of something 
beyond mere haad-to-mouth necessities. Their 
cleanliness and orderliness were remarkable, and their 
dress, despite the shortage of material, neat almost to 
the point of elegance. The women were very derar 
with their needle, and paid far more attention to the 
decorative side of their dressmaking than did the 
NetsJlingmitit and Hudson Bay natives. I found 
here, moreover, an institution which I had not 
previously met with, to wit, that of something 
approaching "Sunday clothes "; they had special 
sets of garments only worn on special occasions, at 
festivals in the great dance hall. 

It was not altogether easy, among these kindly 
and cheerful souls, to secure the necessary quiet 
and relative privacy for my particular work Our 
hut was always full erf visitors, and as they all talked 
at oace, writing was done, to put it mildly, under 
difficulties. Both men and women seemed to be born 
traders, with a positive passion for bargaining; it 
was nac*re tfra:n a form of sport with them, it was 
ieHy aa ark This was useful to m of course, in 
a far as ifc enabled tts to add to o&r ethnographical 
OGSectk>ns r but cm the other haad, it was not fang 
before une liad Jbotight as mtidt as we iett we cottki 
afiord, Otir Meads fasere were not o^er-modesfc m 
tli^r goods, Tweaty-firo doHais they 



AN EXUBERANT FOLK 249 

wfaea this was rejected, they would ask for something 
odd as an alternative; as for instance "the one half" 
of my rather expensive prism binoculars. They 
would give away all sorts of things, such as food and 
even clothing, in the most generotis fashion; but as 
soon as it came to anything in the nature of a deal, 
their ideas of value were the more extravagant. 
Forttinately for me, the one thing on which they 
seemed to set no value at all was their time; and a 
few comparatively trifling presents were reckoned 
ample return for whole days of interviewing and 
interrogation as to implements, culture, ceremonies 
and belief, and folklore generally. 

A detailed account of the manners and customs 
of the Musk Ox People would necessarily involve 
mudi repetition of matter already noted in con- 
nection with the other tribes. I will here give 
briefly some of the more characteristic features 
which distinguish them from the rest* 

They are to begin with the most poetically gifted of 
aH the tribes I met with, and their songs are not 
restricted to epic and narrative forms, hunting 
achievements and the like, but include also more 
lyrical elements in which f eefing and atmosphere 
predoinmate. Their artistic temperaineat is re- 
sected, moreover, in their actions, which do not 
always agree with the white man's ideas of morality- 
Before passing on to a consideration of their qualities 
as singers, poets and htmting cooipank&is, I wffl 
endeavor to show how they are regained by f&e 
Canadian Mounted Police, who ooce had a patrol 
tip here. 



250 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

In 1913, two American scientists, Radford and 
Street, made a sledge trip through the Barim 
Grounds to the shores of the Arctic. At the base of 
Bathurst Inlet, wishing to engage assistance for the 
next stage of the journey, they came into conflict with 
the natives, with the result that both men were 
stabbed to death. Radford is described as an 
excitable person, who thrashed one of the natives 
for refusing to accompany them, and thus doubtless 
brought the disaster upon himself. It is not least 
interesting here to note the account given by the 
leader of the police patrol as to the Eskimos of 
Bathurst Inlet. He did not meet the actual mur- 
derers hmiseUf , but only some others of their tribe 
am! these he characterizes as born thieves, terrible 
liars and altogether unreliable; indeed he would not 
be surprised to hear of more murders before long, as 
any one of them would sell his soul for a rifle. 

Oddly enough, Leo Hansen and I had, while at 
Malerisiorfik, lived for nearly a month with two of the 
wanted murderers, Hagdlagdlaoq and Qaoijaq, the 
latter, indeed* being our host for part of the tima 
Ami we found them both kindly, helpful and 
affectionate; thoroughly good fellows, all round. It 
smst always be borne in mind that these people 
tafce an entirely different view of human life from 
tii&$ which obtains among ourselves. 

Mr. Clarke and I once made enquiry amougtte 
inhabitants of one encampment, and found that out 
of fifteen famjjjfes, there was not a single fufl-grewa 
mm who had not been in some way involved in tfee 
Hffiog of another. As I have already noted among 



AN EXUBERANT FOLK 251 

the NetsiBngmiut, the man who has killed another 
is by no means necessarily a bad man oa that account; 
on the contrary, such may often prove to be 
among the most skilful and useful members erf their 
own little community, whose help and guidance and 
example are invaluable to their fellows. 

At the beginning of December, Netsit, a young 
Eskimo, expert in folk tales, went off with me on a 
little journey to visit a camp in Bathuist Inlet, where 
men were getting ready for the seal hunting. Bath* 
urst Inlet is a great f jord f with mountains on either 
side, a welcome relief after the monotonous lowlands 
to the east. The country here reminded me of 
Greenland but was somehow colder and harsher* 

Netsit and I did not talk much oa the way; there 
was nothing to make us communicative in our sur- 
roundings, and we had hardly got to know each other 
as yet. At the end of the first day's ran, we found a 
comfortable snowdrift, and proceeded to build our- 
selves a hut for the night. 

I had with me a few cigarettes, winch I toept for 
special occasions, and this evening, after a meal and a 
cup of coffee, felt inclined to indulge. I therefore 
lit a* dgainefcte aad gave one to my cxmpanbiL To 
my surprise, he did not ligfct tip hkasdf, but packed 
the cigarette carefully away in a piece of rag. 

Our so0w hut would IK* perhaps h&ve been con- 
sidered specially warm and cosy by any saw those 
who had like ourselves been thraflMftg for ten hoars 



ns; we felt in the mood for a Httle 



252 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

We made an extra cup of coffee, and I suggested that 
Netsit should tell a story or so. To make ourselves 
thoroughly comfortable before starting, we gave the 
hut a good coating of loose snow to caulk any possible 
leaks, sealed up the entrance so that not a breath of 
air could get in, and then settled down in our sleeping 
bags, entertainer and audience ready to drop off as 
soon as either wished. 
Here is one of his stories. 

Two men met while out hunting. One of them had 
caught a wolf in a trap, and the other had shot a 
caribou with Ms bow and arrows; each had the skin 
of his beast slung over his shoulders. 

SaM one: "That is a very fine caribou skin you 
have there/* 

And the other answered: "That is a very fine 
wolf skin you have there." 

And then they fell to talking about the skins, and 
the look and the state of them; and at last one said: 

" There is more hair on the caribou skin." 

"No, no," answered the other, "the wolf has more 
hair than the caribou," 

And they grew so excited over this question that 
the two of them straightway sat down where they 
were, and the man with the caribou skin began count- 
ing the hairs in it, pulling than out one by one* And 
beside hitn sat the man with the wolfs pelt, counting 

i,ptdE^ 



Iialfs ia the coat of wolf aaid caribou, if we once start 
counting tbteoi oee by one. And it took them days, 
Day after day the two of them sat there, puffiag out 
hairs and cotinting, counting. , . . 
And each held that his own had more than the 



AN EXUBERANT FOLK 253 

41 The caribou has more thaja the wolf /'said the one. 

11 The wolf has more than the caribou/' said the 
others 

And neither would give in , and at last they both 
died of hunger. 

That is what happens when people busy them- 
selves with aimless things and insignificant trifles. 

I listened with interest to one story after another, 
and Netsit, encouragsd by my appreciation, went on 
ttatiringly. He told a host of storks that evening. 
Of the Boy who lived with a Bear, The Bear that 
turned into a Cloud, The Eagle that carried of a 
Woman; The Woman that would not Many and 
Turned into Stone; Navarana, the Eskimo Giri Who 
Betrayed her People to the Indians; The Man who 
made Salmon out of Splinters of Wood; and The In- 
land-dweiler with a Dog as Big as a Mountain aad 
so on and so on* Maay of them were but different 
versions of stones current in Greenland, and ooe little 
fable I remembered distinctly havtog heaixi almost 
word for word years ago at my own place in Tbnle, 
This tmif ormity is the more remarkable when we 
reflect that there has been no sort of intercourae 
between the two peoples for at least a thousand years. 

Another odd little fable is worth noting, not least 
for the narrator's commeat. It is one of the old 
stocks of the Fox and the Wolf. 

A for and a wolf met oae day cttt on a frozen lake. 

"I see ywt catdi satooo, Pox/' saM the nciH **I 
wish yott would tell o^ how you niaimgeit/^ 

"I wiUshowyou,"saidtbefoK, And leading the 
wolf towards a crack in the ice, it said: 



254 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

"Just put your tail right down under the water, 
and wait till you fed a fish biting; then pull it up with 
a jerk" 

AM the wolf put its tail down through the ice, 
while the fox ran off and hid among some bushes c& 
the shore, from where it could see what happened, 
The wolf stayed there, with its tail in the water, until 
it froze. Then too late it realized that the fox had 
been deceiving it; there was no getting the tail free, 
and at last it had to snap off the tail in order to free 
itself. Then following on the track of the fox, it 
came up, eager for revenge. But the fox had seen the 
wolf rnrning, and tore a leaf from the bushes and held 
it in frxmt of its eyes, blinking and winking all the 
time against the light, 

Said tfee wolf : "Have you seen the fox that made 
me lose my tail? 

Said the fox: "No, I have had a touch of saow- 
blindness lately, and can hardly see at all." And it 
held up the leaf and blinked and winked again- 

And the wolf believed it, and went off on the track 
of another fox. 

This seemed an odd sort of ending, and I said as 
m&tih. "What is it supposed to mean exactly?" I 



"H'm* well/* answered Netsit, "we don't really 
trouble ourselves so much about the meaning of a 
story, as toaag as it is amusing. It is onty the white 
men who must always have reasons and meaiiings 
m anything. And that is why oar elders always 
say we should fcneat white mea as chadrea who always 
want their own way . Htli^cba*tgetit, they mate 
110 end of a fuss." 

I teft it at that. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE PLAY OF SPIRIT 

\ Y/E started out again the following naming before 
" it was light. When we had been driving for a 
couple of hours, a little interrttptioii took place, which 
rather mystified me at the time. We were driving 
across a big fjord, more than 60 ion. wide at this 
part, and were just passing a steep rocky island, that 
stood out in the gloom like a huge black monument 
against the white snow. Suddenly Netsit begged me 
to halt for a moment. I held in the dogs as well as I 
could, and he proceeded to climb the mass of rock. 
He stopped some distance up, and knelt down; 
there was barely light enough to xnafce out what he 
was doing. I saw him digging a hole in the saow 
with his knife; then he took out the cigarette I had 
given fr**yi the night before, placed it, with a couple of 
matches, carefully in the hole aad covered all oror 
with snow once more. Througjh the howling of the 
gale I could hear **** reciting something, ending tip 
with a f ew words to call attention to the valuable gift 
he had just deposited in tihesaow, I wrote down the 
earEer part afterwards: it was as follows: 

Big Man, big Man, 
Make smooth yoor big haads 
Asad your big feet, 
255 



256 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Make them swift-running 
And look far ahead. 
Big Maa, big Man, 
Smooth out your thoughts 
And look far ahead. 
Big Man, big Man, 
Let fall your weapons now. 

Then he came running back to me and we ccm- 
tkmed our journey. 

What had happened, as I afterwards found, was 
this. He had been paying a visit to the grave of his 
father, Hatsiaq, who had been a great wizard in his 
time* Netsit thought that the gift of so unusual a 
luxury as a cigarette would surely have power to call 
up the soul of the dead man, and secure his pro- 
tection for us against the troublesome weather we 
were having. It is generally held that the souls of 
the dead remain, for the first few years after death, 
in the vicinity of the grave. "Grave," however, is 
hardly the proper word in this case, as no grave is 
dug, the bodies being simply laid out and left to the 
mercy of prowling beasts. The immortal soul, how- 
ever, caa look after itself, and needs no shelter. 

The verses noted above were a f ormtda designed to 
pr^itiate the spirit of the departed, They have 
bem haitded down from very ancient times for use on 
special occasions, aad are supposed to be highly 
effective* 

Ami certainly, in our case, it ^ppeared as if the 
laaaented Ilatsiajq fa^d appreciated Ms cigarette. 
For oa the following morabg, o& cutting a hole in the 



THE PLA Y OP SPIRIT 257 

side of our hut to see what the weather was like, we 
found to our delight that it was a fine, calm, frosty 
day. 

Two more of the same sort followed, with deli- 
cious rest at night in fresh saow huts, and we readied 
the base of the fjord, where the "band of murderers" 
were understood to be. On the third day, about 
noon, we came upon three sledges loaded up with 
firewood, in charge of a party of boys and giife. 
The young people answered our greetings cheerfully, 
and informed us where the village lay; it was a big 
one, by their account: "Inuit amigaitut" a whole 
world of people, they said* And soon, for the first 
time in many long weeks, we were driving down a 
regular track worn deep by the passing and repassLog 
of many sledges. 

The place was, certainly, a big one by Eskimo 
standards: over thirty huts stood grouped round the 
sides of a natural amphitheatre, and in the midst, one 
glittering white hall bigger than afi the rest. This 
was the Dance-house, Temple, and centre of festivi- 
ties and solemnities generally; btrift out of a saow 
drift in the waste, by these ruffians of sinister repute. 

Smoke rose foam the chimneys yes, there wsre 
chimneys, tigly black things sticking tip brutally 
through the white saow roofs from the patent stoves 
within; spoking the picture no doubt, but a wdbonae 
sight to the haif-frozen traveller for all that* 

The place seeoas qtdte a metwspolis after what ire 
have been aocostomed to for monlbs past; and wfaea 
the inmates cocoe tumbling out of their barrows 
we fed ourselves in ii^ midst o a 



258 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 



very noisy, boisterous crowd, though 
enough when one knows how to deal with 
The natives here are by no means the shy and 
able creatures that one finds in Greenland. They 
are accustomed to treat visitors without ceremony ^ 
and see no reason to alter their ways for a white inaa 
Indeed, the appearance of one all alone seems to be 
taken as an excellent opportunity for a little rcmgjb 
horseplay. 

One of them tries to take my pipe out of my motitii 
but very soon learns he had better not! Anotter 
pulls at my tonic, a bob-tailed arrangement of the 
Cape York type; but soon finds out his 



And when I begin unloading, preparatory to feeding 
my dogs, the women come pressing forward aad 
beggmg for blubber. Their own seal-hunting season 
has not yet begun, and the fresh, pink blubber in 
hard-frozen dabs makes their mouths water, I had 
to keep them back. 

"Do you think I have come all this way to feet 
you with blubber? This is for my dogs; and ymi 
have men enough to look after you, Why don't 
start getting seal for yourselves if you are so 
for blabber?" 

There was a geoieral latigh at this. B tit I was alose 
against the crowd of them, for Netsit was their kiss- 
man more than my oc^npanioii, and looked a higidy 
at it alL 



"Who are y&? Ane jnoa a trader come to 
foxes?'' 

alookat yoi* T aiidsee wbai 



TOE PLAY OP SPIRIT 

At which they laugh more uproariously than 
before. But one of the elders answers, a little 
hesitatingly, not knowing whether to take my 
words in jest or earnest: 

" H'm. Well, you will find all manner of folk here. 
Some of them are quite nice to look at, but most are 
ugly, and you will find little pleasure in looking at 
their faces." 

AH this was very amusing as far as it went. 

I realized, however, that it was essential to show 
them a bold front, if I wished to keep them in hand, 
and therefore came straight to the point. 

"I have come to you alone, though ill things are 
said of you in other parts. It is not many years 
since two white men were killed here; and the Police 
do not speak well of you to travellers. But I am not 
afraid of meeting you alone, as you can see." 

"It was not our fault! It was tibe white men who 
began the quarrel. We ate peaceable enoogh, only 
somewhat given to foa; tod singi^ and laughter, 
arKiwithnoe^thcnightaskwgaswearenota&aidL 
Yott are our friend and need fear no harm." 

Certainly,* they did their best now to set me at 
my ease. I was led to a snow hut ia which quar- 
ters had been assigned to us both. Our hostess, 
Qernartoq, received us with the greatest hospitality; 
though. I afterwards learned that her husband had 
beeakifled by Neteit's father! This however did not 
appear to affect our friendly rdatkws ia the least, 

I had put on my sternest manner in order to Joeep 
the more impertinent at a distance. Boll cooH 
not keep up the pose very loag. * A wettaan casae up 



260 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to me, and placing one hand on my shoulder, looked 
me ftdl ill the face and said: 

"Tefl me, straoger; are you the sort of man who 
has oever a smile for a woman? " 

I laughed alodd; I could not help it. And with 
that the ice was broken all round. 

I spent the first few hours going visiting from 
house to house. All were of the same type, fine laige 
snow huts, but altered out of all recognition as 
Esknno dwellings by the metal stoves and their 
long chimney pipes stackrng up through the roof . 
They used brushwood for fuel, which sent out a 
powerful heat, but the so&w roof was so cleverly oon- 
stmcfced that it hardly dripped at aJL Here and 
there one might find a hole melted through, but the 
draught was pleasant rather than the reverse. 

In the ercmng thwe was an entertainment in the 
dance house, which was big enottgh to hold sixty with 
ease. It was built of snow like the test, only on a 
larger scale. Niches were cut in the walls half way 
up, and small blubber tamps placed in these, thix3w- 
ing a weird light over the assembly. In the middle 
of tie hall stood the leader of the revels with a huge 
drain in Ids hand, and round him the n&en and women 
the efaortss. Hie drum is held in the 



left feaafl; and consists of a whole caribou hide 
stretched OG a thick wooden hoop; its weight alone is 
fift trifle, afid it uaeds coaisiderable physical strength 
to take the part of drummer, dancer, and leader of 
the thorns aB at oace, often for an bottr or mane 
at a time. The dancing, which consists o hops 
and leaps and writhings of ttte body, steadily ae- 



THE PLA Y OF SPIRIT 

by the drum, is likewise exhausting, 
and the performers are Hnxp with beat and exertion 
when their " turn " comes to an end. 

Everything is done to make these eatertammeats 
in the dance hall as festive as possible; both men and 
women wear special costumes, gaily decorated with 
patterns of fine white skin* The men fasten white 
ermine on back and shoulders, the tails fluttering as 
they move; both men's and women's boots are 
beautifully embroidered in white and red. The 
headdress is a kind of patchwork helmet, with the 
beak of a loon sticking up like a spike on top* 

I had never heard spirit songs delivered by a 
chorus before, and a few of those peculiar to this 
tribe were included in the programme "by request/' 
Later in the evening, songs of recent date were given, 
turn and turn about with "classics" by the ancient 
masters. I managed later to write down the text of 
all these songs, of which a few are bate given. It 
should be noted, however, thai when song, the same 
lines are constantly repeated, so that a text of but a 
few verses may last half an hour or more* 1 

SPIRIT SONGS 
I 

Spirit horn the Air, 
Come, oome swiftly hither, 
Thy wizard here 
Is calling thee, 



tiC tlwsaecfaaaifiEB was k*t early in the fTp*fttify>, aad oewld not lit 



262 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Come asid bite ill-luck to death, 
Spirit from the Air 
Come, come swiftly hither. 

I rise. 

Rise ttp amid the spirits, 

Wizards help me, 

Lift me tip amid the spirits, 

Child, O Child, great Child, 
Rise tip and come hither 
Child, Child, 
Great Chi&L Little 
Rise tip among us! 



The little seamew 
Hovers above us, 
Staring and scolding. 
Its bead is white. 
Its beak opens gaping, 
The fittle rottnd eyes 
See far, see fceeoly. 
Qutiuk, qutiukl 

The Httle tern 
Hovers above tts; 



Its be^3 is black, 
Its beak opesis gaping, 
TTlie fittle arocs^d eyes 
See Car, see 



THE PLAY OF SPIRIT 

Tfaebigmvea 

Hovers above us 

Staring and scolding. 

Its head is black. 

Its beak is sharp, as if it had teeth. 

Qara qara! 

III 

Whither is my sool gone? 

Let me fetch thee, let me fetch thee! 

It is gone to the southward of those 

Who Eve to the southward of m. 

Let me fetch thee, 

Let me fetch thee! 

Whither is my soul goae away? 
It is gone to the eastward of those 
Who five to the eastward o us. 
Let me fetch t*ee, 
Let me fetch thee. 

Whither is mj soul gone away? 

It is gooe to the northward of those 

Who Eve Borthward of us. 

Let me fetch thee, 

Let me fetch thee! 

Whither is my soml gooe away? 
It is gene to the westward of those 
WlK> liw westwaixi of us. 
Let irte fetch tfaee, 
Let me fetch ihee! 



264 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

IV 

I will visit 
Unknown woman, 
Search out hidden things 
Behind the man, 

Let the boot-thong hang loose 
Seek thou under man 
And tinder woman! 
Smooth out the wrinkled cheeks, 
Smooth wrinkles out, 

I walked on the ice of the sea, 

Seal were blowing at the blowholes 
Woaadering I heard 
Hae song of the sea 

And the great sighing of the new-formed ice. 
Go, then, go! 

Strength of soul brings health 
To the place of feasting. 

A DEAJ> MAN'S SOHG 
(Aijuk's song, dreamed by PauKnaoq.) 

I am filed with joy 

Wbegaerraa: the dawn rises over the earth 

And the great sun 

<3fi$gs tip in the 



I fie In horror and dread 



"Itefc eat tibeir way m through hollowed booe 
And bore eyes away, 



THE PLAY OF SPIRIT 365 



In fear I tie, remembering: 

Say, was it so beautiful on earth? 

Think of the winters 

When we were anxious 

For soles to our footwear 

Or skins for our boots: 

Was it 90 beautiful? 

In fear and in horror I lie, 

But was I not always troubled in mind, 

Even in the beautiful summer, 

When the hunting failed, 

And there was dearth of ekins 

For clothing arid sleeping? 

Was it so beautiful? 

In fear and in horror I Be 

But was I not always troubled in mind 

When I stood on the sea ice 

Wretched beyood measure 

Because no fish would bite? 

Or was it so beautiful 

When X flushed with shame and dismay 

10 the midst of the gathering, 

And the chorus laughed 

Because I forgot my song and its words? 

Was that so beautiful? 

Say, was it so beautiful on earth? 
Here, I am fifled witfa joy 
Whenever the dawn rises over the eartfa 
And the great sun 
Glides up in the heavens. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 



I HAD now enough material for a whole monograph 
1 on the Mtask Ox People. There were the four 
main sections: the Willow-folk or Caribou EskiiBo, 
the Hudson Bay tribes, the Netsilingmiut or Seal 
Eskimo, and now the Musk Ox People. It 



to procure supplementary material from the western 
tribes of the Mackenzie Delta, Alaska, Bering Straits 
and Siberia, The country between that is, the 
coast from Bathurst Inlet to Baillie Island -had 
been visited and described by Stefansson's Expedi- 
tion during his first visit to these regions, and later 
by Dr. Diamond Jenness, Ethnographer to Stefans- 
son's last Expedition, the so-called Canadian Arctic 
Expedition, 1913-18. Pew have tmderctood tfag 
Eskimo so well as StdEansson, or had the power of 
living their fife and entering into thek way erf 
tlioaght; and no modem writer has given a more 
and detailed descript^ 

I could therefore with an easy 



pass Barfly over t&is section 
*ny fasfc field of ^sric to t&e ns was a 
2200 



to fofc covered as rapidly as poesabfe, fiK^agb at tfae 
time I should fcaim to make &a3ts cm tlie way f 

268 




4 

ll 



It 



if 



THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 269 

and form some acquaintance with the natives for 
purposes of cx>mparison. 

We divided the dogs into two teams, small teams 
they were, considering cmr load. I and Anaruhing- 
uaq had to make do with six of the best 



taking, however, the smaller of the two sledges, and a 
comparatively light load, erf some 300 kilos. Miteq 
had ten dogs, and was to drive Leo Hanseo with his 
camera and other impedimenta, their load amount- 
ing I should say to something approaching 500 kike. 
Thanks to the invaluable method of ice-shoebg f 
however, ire were able from tbe first to travel at a 
fine smart pace, which hrottght us through well tip 
to time, 

We started in a smother of snow, that drove right 
in ottr faces, with the thermometer at minus 42. Our 
first objective WES Malerisiorfik, where we had to 
pick up some of our effects left there from oor pro- 
viocts visit. Here we were stormborai^ 
to get away on the i8th of January, thoGgti & was 
still snowing hanL On tbe 2ist we rotcaded Cape 
Barrow, and after fcSowiijg tbe corofeltm granite 
rock for tbe most partfor a few hoars, we shaped 
otir ccwrse for a high, steep proiiJOGtory some distai^ 
ahead. Before we reached it, borweror, a &5f came 
down and we ware beginning to f e^ tho^rcnjghly lost, 
wbesa. Hie dogs got scent of something, and about 
three o'dock we drove into a village out on the ioe, 
and were f$o@xrad with great friendfiaess. Tfae 
place, we were iBfomied, was caBed Agiaq, aad the 
people stykd Ihemselvies Ag^^ 
them in afl v 25 mea and 21 



270 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Our recent experiences had led us to adopt a certaia 
reserve as a protection against the exuberance of the 
native welcome; here, however, we were pleasa&fjy 
surprised to find our hosts quiet and modest almost t0 
the verge of shyness. We found a snowdrift 
handy, and managed, with their help, to get a 
built just in time, for it was growing dark, and there 
was a blizzard coming up. It came; and kept us 
hung up there from the afternoon of the 22nd until 
the 26th. All that time we were literally imprisooied 
in our snow hut, which threatened every now 
them to fall to pieces or be torn away by the 
as the snow from which it was made had been tooscsffc 
to start with, but we had not had time to pick and 
choose, We had to dash out every now and l&ea 
to patch up a threatened spot, and it was no easy 
iimtteriiisiK^astoniL TheblcKikswecutcrtiml^e^ 
between ottr fingers. 

During these four days, anyone who came to vfeil 
us had to come armed with a snow knife in case 6l 
getting lost; it was only a matter of five 



from their huts to ours, but all the same, a maanaigjbt 
go to his death. Despite the risk, we had a am- 
slant stream of visitors, $&, women and children*, 
indoding infants in arms, or in the amaut that 
aoswejstoit. And I found myself once more adnjir- 
iag fbe 8GSQij&r in wfaidi these people adapt 
selves t*> their swi^itodings* Ji^faecf^m 
to irisifc a M&&& who Irfes fiw mettles' n*alk 
ctoor. If you lose yodf way it is deatb; 
lwB ycfflf saow knife, wMdb of oouise y<w 
aot foolish etiou^i to leave behi^i. Armed with 



THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 271 

this, you have only to build yourself another little 
house by the roadside, and here you can settle down 
in safety, if not in comfort, until the weather dears. 
People at home might think it a troublesome way of 
going visiting ; but here it is considered aJl in the day's 
work, or the day's play, and all adds to the excite- 
ment of the visit. 

On the third evening we were f oraaaDy invited 
to a spirit seance in one of the huts. The invitatkm 
was issued by one Kingitina, a typical blood 'Rgfcm**, 
with a bald head, reddish beard, and a touch of blue 
about the eyes* We were given to understood that 
the starrodbild, Narsuk, was angry, and it was 
proposed to ascertain if possible what had been done 
to offend I***, with a view to propitiation, that the 
storm might be called off. 

It took us something like half an hour, Z really 
believe, to cover the half kilometre we had to go, 



found otirsdhres in a snow hut some 4 metres by 6, 
bat so bigfr that the roof had to be supported by two 
loog pieces of driftwood, that looked most imposing 
as black pillars in this white hall. There was ample 
room for all; and the diildnea^ who had been brougiit 
aioog fay tibeir respective parents, played hide and 
seek rotmd the pillars while the preparations were 



These preparations consisted mainly of a baoqttefc, 
the meott comprising dried salmon, Uubber, aad 
fraaea seal meat, the last served op, 00* in joists, 
bttt in whote carcases, from wfakfa slate wm etrf; 
with axes. This frozen n^at has to be breathed 



274 A CROSS ARCTIC A MERICA 

and at last, in the despairing voice of one who can do 
no more, he cries, "I cannot, I cannot!" 

Than comes a gurgling sound, interpreted as 
meaning that a helping spirit has taken possession of 
his body. He is now no longer master of himself, but 
dances about among the rest, calling on his dead 
father who is become an evil spirit. It is only a year 
since his father died, and the widow, who is present, 
groans aloud and endea vors to comfort her son in his 
frenzy, but the rest will not have it; he is to go on, gp 
<HI and let the spirit speak. 

He then mentions several spirits of the dead, that 
be sees before him among the living audience. He 
describes their appearance, this old man and that oid 
woman whom he himself has never seen, and calls 00 
those present to say who they are. 

Hie audience are at a loss; there is a moment of 
silence, then a Whispering among the women; ooe 
mentions hesitatingly this name or that. 

"No, no, that is not right." 

The men look on in silence, tbe women growing 
more excited, all save the widow, who sits weeping 
and rocking from, side to aide. Then suddesply an 
old woman who had been silent tip to now, jumps 
tjp aad utters the names that none as yet have dared 
to mention; a man and a woman from Nagjugtoq, 
lifer* died quite recently. 



"They aie the ones," cries Herqaraaq in a strange 
gasping -roiefc, aad a feeling of dread takes possession 
of afl at the thought of those BOW spirits who but a 



THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 375 

few days before were living and moving among them 
in the flesh. And to think it was they who woe 
causing the storm* The tenor spread through 
the house; the mystery of life hung heavy upon all; 
here were happenings beyond their xuKlerstaiKiii>g. 

Outside the storm was raging in blade darkness, and 
even the dogs, who are not allowed inside the booses 
as a rule, are suffered now to seek shelter aad warmth. 
A man aiid a woman, who five nesrt dow, btrt had lost 
their way T come in with mouths and eyes choked with 
snow. Itisthethiiddaycrftliestori^ They haw 
no meat for tomorrow, no fuel; and the threatening 
disaster seems all at once nearer and more real. The 
storm child is wailing, the women are moaning, the 
men murmur inccniipi^eheDsible words. 

After about an hour of shouting and invocation of 
raknown I arses, the seance tafces a new turn- To 
us, who have not previoitsly assisted at a tanmg of 
the storm-god, the next devefopmeot i Jborribfe 
tosee. Horqaniaq leaps ort 
poor tfttffenshre old Kiagiuna, who was singing a 
little hymn cm his own account, grabs him by the 
throat with a swift snatching moveoaeat, and ffiags 
him backward and forward amc^g the rest. This 
goes on for some time; with hoarae gaqps from both 
mes at first; but after a white Eingiuna chc^oes, 
and can utter BO sound save a faint wheezing; tibm 
all in a motnent be too seems to fall into a trance. 
He makes oo resi^ 

swtmg this way and tt^afc ; Hoixjara^ drags him abefc 
the place, heedless of any rfek to ttofflsehte or the 
Some of the B* pfeee themeeivw in fremt of 



276 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the lamps, to guard gainst accidents, the women 
drag their children up out of the way and so the 
ghastly play goes on, until Horqarnaq, Mtnsdl 
exhausted, or satisfied that he has done eaottgjfa, 
drops his victim in a heap on the floor. 

Thus the wizard battles with the spirit of the 
storm a fellow-man being made to represent it 
Finally, he stoops down over the still unconsckms 
Eingiuna, and fixing his teeth in his neck, shakes httn 
viciously, as a dog shakes another beaten in figfal 
Then he continues his wild capers, the rest looking 
on in silence, until at last the frenzy seems to die out, 
and he kneels down beside his victim stroking the 
body to bring it back to life* Slowly the other 
awakens, and rises unsteadily to his feet, but he is 
haidty up before the wizard is upon him once more, 
and the whole dreadful business is repeated nsH 
KiBgiuna again lies helpless and insensible as befom 
Yet a third time he is "killed" in this horrible 
mummery; that man's mastery of the dements may 
be established beyond question. But when lie comes 
to fife for the third time, it is Horqarnaq who col- 
lapses, and Kingitma now takes the active part* 
Tfee old feBow, with his tmwkldly bulk, seems 
tmfitted for anything but a comic part, yet the wild 
loefe in his eyes, and the horrid bluish tiiige 
j* &*led from his face, ase i 



be looks like one dragged back from the 
dtitcfees of death. Ail step back involtmtarily as 
with his foot on Horqaxnaq's chest ha tells what be 
sees. With fluent speech and a voice qmvericgwith 



THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 277 

"The heavens are foil of naked beings rushing 
through the air. Naked mm and women, rushing 
along and raising the storm, raising the blixzanL 

" You hear it? A rushing as of the wings erf 
binls, up in the air* It is the fear of naked beings, 
the flight of naked mea, 

"The spirit of the air drives forth the storm, the 
spirit sends the whirling snow out over the earth, and 
the helpless storm-child, Narsuk, shakes the tangs of 
the air with its weeping. 

"Hear the crying of the child in the shridring of 
the storm! 

"And see now there among the hosts oi naked 
ones in Sight is (Hie, a single figure, a man pierced all 
into holes by the wind- His body is but a mass of 
holes, and the wind howls through them Tdbee-u~u- 
u; tchee-u-u-tL Hear! He is the mightiest of them 
all, 

"But my helping spirit dbatt briagbimto a staad; 
bring all to a stand. Here be comes, striding down 
sure of victory towards me* He w31 conquer, he 
will conquer Tchee-ti-tHi, Tdbefna! Hark to tbfc 
wind! Hist! fast, hst! See tie spirits, the storm, 
the wiM weaker, radii^ 
as the wings of rnighty birds!" 

At these wotds Horcjarnaq gets up from the 
Soor and the two wissa^b, their faaes now trans- 
figttred after what has passaed, Join in a 
to tbe Mother of the Sea: 

Woffian, Gi^at Wooaan dciwn there! 

Tom it aside, turn it aside from m, that cvfll 



278 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Come, come spirit of the deep, 

One of thine earth-dwellers 

Calls upon thee; 

Prays thee to bite our enemies to death, 

Come, Spirit of the Deep! 

As soon as the two had sung it once, all preset 
joined in a waiting, imploring chorus; they had av 
idea of what they were praying to, but they feifc 
the power of the ancient words their fathers had susg. 
They had no food to give their children on tfte 
morrow ; aaad they prayed the powers to make a trace 
few: their hunting, to send them food for their rfitl^t^ 

And so great was the suggestive power of what had 
passed, in tbfe wiM place too near to the 
forces, that we could almost see it all; the air 
witli hurrying spirit forms, the race of the storm 
across the sky, hosts of the dead whirled past in t|& 
whtrKng snow; wild visions attended by that same 
rushing of mighty wings of which the wizaixJs 



So eskted this battle with the storaa; a coatee* 
between the spirit of man and the forces of natere. 
A^d those present could go home and sleep in peace, 
confident that the morrow wotdd be fine. 

Jbi4 in j?oint of fact, m it proyeeL Thro^ 
daraltfrg stadigfat over firmly packed saow we drove 

t^ 



Bay Com&mj and a poKa^ |i^| cl ibe Cl 1L B, 

kindly received by tfee Company's 
Mr. S4aoGregor f witli wiiom we 



THE BATTLE WITH EVIL 279 

^ 

hills. No natives lived here except an old couple 
who were to be taken down to Herschel Island as 
witnesses in a murder case* Harder unfortunately 
is not rare ia these regions, and Tree River, peaceful 
as it seemed, had a year or so before been the scene 
of dramatic events. 

Five people had been murdered near Kent Pto~ 
insula, the original cause of the troabte being that ooc 
of the attacking party wanted to steal another's wife, 
who, however, was killed in the struggle, together 
with her husband, the defenders making so stout a 
resistance, that the assailants found themselves at 
the finish fighting for their lives. Among them were 
two young men one Alekamiaq, only 16 or 17 years 
old, the other, Tataxnerana, but little older. They 
were captured by the poKce, but Alekamiaq maa- 
aged to shoot the corporal who arrested him, together 
with a trader living near* Before he ooold escape 
however, two sledges from a ne^boriog settfexraat 
came up; and he was taken cfi at oooe to Herscfad 
Island, the chief poHoe post of the district. Here 
bft fll^ TaJ^mProira Vh?i*A far A rvwpte nf yrara, ngtiflg 
as a kind of servants to the poBoe, wbfle they 
waiting to be tried. They were allowed to 
about taJy mmmg Hie other native and the wtate 
mm; no oae felt any fear of them; tliey were indeed 
rather Kked in the place. 

It was a teogthy aad diffictilt bosbiess to get the 
twommxierersfaaaged. Jodges, adrocates, aod wifc- 
to be brought from a kxig dfetaace. The 



mttnler of the two wfaite mm took place HI 1939 MM! 



280 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

it was not until last winter in February if I remem- 
ber rightly that the murderers were hanged, 

The trial with its ceremonial made no great im- 
pression on them; they seemed to have aa easy 
conscience in the matter. Both men were con- 
demned to death; but the sentence had first to be 
confirmed by the supreme authority in Canada. At 
last one evening, when they were busy making 
salmon nets, they were informed that they were to be 
hanged at three the next morning. Young Aleka- 
miaq received the information with a smile; Tata- 
merana asked huskily for a glass of water, but as 
soon as he had drunk it he was himself again, and 
ready to meet his fate. Just before going to execu- 
tion, they gave the Police Inspector's wife some little 
carvings of walrtis tusk, as souvenirs, to show they 
bore no ill will against the police. Both met their 
death calmly and without sign of fear, 

I was informed that this execution had cost Canada 
something like $100,000; among other expensive 
items being the cost of the executioner, who had 
to be brought up and kept there all the winter, as 
none of the Police themselves would have any hand 
in this part of the work, 

Qae erf the two criminals had an old father living at 
Keat P^iiBtila, who, learning that his son was to be 
sestt to the etersal hunting grotmds, decided tliat he 
could mot let form go alone. And after three at- 
ternpte, fee managed to loll hhnself , fulfilling what 
he ceBceived to be biadpty to his 



O 



CHAPTER XXI 

AMONG TSE BLOND ESKIMOS 

N the 28th of January we left our kindly hosts at 
Tree River and crossed over Coronation GuJf 
to Cape Krusenstern. The wind was Eke cold steel, 
and the snow drove right in our faces. It is costly 
travelling cm a day Eke this, as one cannot avoid 
getting frost sores in the face, and these are a eon- 
stant source of trouble and annoyance throughout the 
rest of the winter. We reached Cape Krusenstera 
on the 30th after a struggle with pressure ridges 
and fantastic barriers of joe, through all of which to 
our sorptrise, the Joe ehoeing hdd. The natives here 
came literally tmnhfeag ovw a, ia the meet un- 
ceremonious fashion; some of them scrambled op on 
to our sledges, and I was amused to see them sitting 
there wtth their harpoons, looking Hk halberdiers 
on guard. They somehow got the idea that Leo 
Hansaa was a very great personage whom we were 
escorting into the white men's country, and as wt> 
approached their village, the ones who had met vA 
fo& shotted out witboat the least iwserws the aaorti 

a^iiigiiii,^^ 

to ^*^'ilA^to*|*.li* OPT nett dhftwidbttlNr 
hadfouod. Tb^raastbeKraisibi^Ta^add.!*- 
they did not ppr to be U*9f twdw r poee! 



282 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

It never seemed to occur to them that we could 
understand what they said, and they commented 
frankly on my big nose and Anaruluuguaq's fat 
cheeks. Our dresses, appearance and equipment 
were criticized in like fashion, exactly as if we were a 
traveJling circus making entry into some village 
miles from anywhere. 

I stood it for a while, and then gave them, briefly 
but pithily, my own opinion of their manners, appear- 
ance and order of intelligence, more particularly 
their simplicity in taking it for granted that we 
could not understand them. There was a moment of 
dead siience when I had finished; all stared at us 
with eyes and mouths agape, then gave vent to a 
how! of laughter* They were not accustomed to 
meeting wMte men who understood their language* 
But the mistake kft no ill-feeling; on the contrary, 
we were friends at once. We stayed here a day, 
and I went through my regular list of questions, 
which, from long practice, enabled me to get quite a 
lot of information, while Leo Hansen was busy with 
his pictures. 

On the ist of February we arrived at Bernhard 
Harbour, where the Hudson's Bay Company has a 
station. Their representative here proved to be a 
fdlow-ootmtryman of mine, Peder Pedersea, of 
Loegstoer, irfao had left Dfmnark 42 years before 
and spent about a generation in the Arctic* Hie 
received us with the greatest cordiality, and though 
he spofoe Daiaisli with some hesitafckm at fest, it was 
not long before it all came back to fo**n. 

We were now anxious to get ttirottgli to the 




OUR HOST, QANIGAG, A TYPICAL SPECIMEN OF THE " BLOND " ESKIMO OF THESE 

REGIONS 



AMONG THE BLOND ESKIMOS 283 

Mackenzie Delta without delay, and therefore put 
in a couple of days here getting a teat made; a double 
tent which we could easily warm. Single teats are 
useless in extreme cold* as a layer of nine forms on the 
inside aiad lets loose a shower of froet as soon as the 
canvas is touched. 

Berc^ Harbor was at one time the headquarters 
of the Canadian Arctic Expedition under the capable 
leadership of Dr. Martin Anderson. I could there- 
fore with an easy cooscieaice deal summarily with 
this district, as etlmogmphical studies had already 
been systematically carried out by my predecessors, 
I contented myself therefore with going through the 
af ore-meatianed list of questions, which gave me all I 
Beaded for comparison with my notes from elsewhere . 
We then hurried out to a big hunting camp near 
Stitton and Ustaa Island, which the Eskimos call 
Ukafcdfifc, in Dobbin and Union Strait, I stayed 
here a week aaad broogfrt my jemraafa op to date, 

The Eskimos <rf timm rcgioas, Etoe tin** farther 
east, have BO regular cfaiefe, but each ^MteiBffsBt has 
one man who acts as a sort of general adviser aad 
leader in oommoii m^eriatdiigs. The leading man 
here was TVp^V^fa^! who, with his jovial wife 
IBkilaq, is described at length in Diamond Jeoaess' 
excefleat wodk Tkt Lift of tht Copper Estem&s. 

The ^^^^^^it ooeoasted of twenty large sad 
roooiy sacw httfcs, and was brah near a smaD idand 

f wbeQO^ 



popolatioo for ore viDage in tibese regioaa M<i of 



284 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

tibem were from Victoria Land where they had lived 
until recently under the name of Pmvdlermiut, but 
owing to the gradual thinning out of the game IB 
those parts, they had moved across to the mainland, 
hunting the territory between Great Bear Lake and 
the coast north of Stapylton Bay. My actual hosts 
belonged to this contingent; but there were also 
representatives of the original mainland tribes, and 
others again from Prince Albert Sound and Minto 
Inlet, so that I had here an excellent opportunity of 
collecting information from a considerable area at 
one spot, and was saved the necessity of visiting 
Prince Albert Sound* 

The camp here, at Dolphin and Union Strait, 
matte the boundary of the so-called eastern IMamoe, 
the wiiole range of country between Inman River 
and Baillie Island being inhabited only by trappers 
or immigrant Eskimos from Alaska. At Baillie 
Island we have the beginning of an entirely new 
Eskimo culture, closely associated with hunting try- 
sea, and consequently superior in material respects, 
while the natives to the eastward are still only in the 
initial stages of development to the coastal form, and 
are in fact very neaiiy allied to the Caribou Eskinios. 

Nearly all movement among the Eskimos of the 
Norffariresfc Piassage seems as far as tradition serves, 
to have run in aa easterly directiiHi, aaad occasionally 
by certain de^te routes to the sotithward, where the 
dlffiermt tribes exchanged needful commodities. 



,aB^a^ 
try OQ the west was that it were said to be inhabited. 



AMONG THE BWND ESKIMOS 285 

The whole of the area here described had a special 
source of wealth in the deposits of pure copper, which 
are found at Bathurst Inlet and in parts of Victoria 
Land, especially Prince Albert Sound. This copper 
was used for making knives, ice-picks and harpoon* 
heads, which were of great value when trading with 
other tribes. Diamond Jenness has therefore rightly 
grouped aH these tribes raider the name of Copper 
Eskimos. 

These are the same people who suddenly sprang 
into fame some years back as the "blood Edcm/ f 
They were discovered in 1905 by a Dairish adventurer 
named Kliakenberg, who, setting out from Herschel 
Island in a small schooner, was driven out of his 
course and landed at a spot which later proved to be 
Minto Inlet On his return, he told of a strange 
people he had met, who spoke the Eskimo tongue 
and lm*i ill Ike B&a00 fes&iaa* but in 



looked exactly Hire Scaodimviaos. IHinfowheqfs 
report ted Vilhjalmur Stefansscm, with the zoologist 
Dr. Martin AndemHi, to Q&m&m&w*m$i0$s$^ 
lasting from 1908-12, and described w Im took 
My Life wiA tke Eskimos. 
In the year 1910 Stefansson had 



at Langton Bay, and fcnavdBed esisfcwaid, aooorn- 



nathres near Cape Bodcy. And here a corioos thing 
"Hue peqpie bwe took him for an Eddmo 



himself, because he spoke the Eskimo toogoc, alto- 
gether heedle^ c feas appaanoce, wfakfe of ooorac 



284 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 



were from Victoria Land where they Imd lived 
until recently tinder the name of Piaivdlermiut, but 
owing to the gradual thinning out of the game in 
those parts, they had moved across to the mainland, 
hunting the territory between Great Bear Lake and 
the coast north of Stapylton Bay* My actual hosts 
bekmged to this contingent; but there were also 
representatives of the original mainland tribes^ and 
others again from Prince Albert Sound and Minto 
Inlet, so that I had here an excellent opportunity of 
collecting inf ormation from a considerable area at 
one spot, and was saved the necessity of visiting 
Prince Albert Sound. 

The camp here, at Dolphin and Union Strait, 
marks the boundary of the so-called eastern Eskimos, 
the whole range of country between Inman River 
and Baillie Island being inhabited only by trappers 
or immigrant Eskimos from Alaska. At Baillie 
Island we have the beginning of an entirely new 
Eskimo culture, closely associated with hunting by 
sea, and consequently superior in material respects, 
while the natives to the eastward are still only in tibe 
initial stages of development to the coastal form, and 
are in fact very nearly allied to the Caribou Eskimos, 

Nearly all movement among the Eskimos of the 
Passage seems as far as tradition serves, 
an easterly direction, and occadbnally 
de&ri^ where the 

dififeoeot tribes exchanged needful commodities. 
fhe is no teoocd ofiany jottnie^ to iisew^fc, toward 



try on tiie west was that it were said to be inhabited. 



AMONG THE BLOND ESKIMOS 285 

The whole of the area here described had a special 
source of wealth in the deposits of pure copper, which 
are found at Bathttrst Inlet and m parts of Victoria 
Land, especially Prioee Albert Sound* This copper 
was used for making knms, ice-picks and harpoon- 
heads, which were of great value when trading with 
other tribes, Diamood Jenness has therefore rightly 
grouped all these tribes tmdar the name o Copper 
Eskimos. 

These are the same people who suddenly sprang 
into fame some years back as the "blond Eskimos/' 
They were discovered in 1905 by a Danish adventurer 
named Klinkenberg, who, setting out from Herschel 
Maud in a small schooner, was driven out of his 
course and laaded at a spot which later proved to be 
Minto Met. On his retttra, he told of a strange 
people he had met, who spoke the Eskimo tongue 
and lived in the Eskiino fashion, but in appearance 
looked exactly like Scandinavians. 



report ted Yilhjalmur Stefansstm, with the zoologist 
Dr. Martin Anderses, to set out on a new eoqpeditksi, 
lasting ftom 1908-12, and described in his book 
My Ufe wiA ike Eskimos. 

la the year 1910 Stefansson had his headquarters 
at Langton Bay, and travefted easfeward, 



natives Bear Cape Bexley . And here a curknas thing 
The pec^e here todk him OT ail 



because he spoke the Eskimo fomgfftfi, alto- 
heedless of has aj^aaraBce, wbkh of oomrae 
wsstbatof awiuteraaa, Whea be asioed them bow 

^ 



286 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Eskimo they answered that he did not look 
smeh different from some of the Eskimosof Victoria 
Land where it was very common to find people with 
grey eyes and fair hair and beard. Stefansson then 
at once determined to visit a particular spot indi- 
cated, and his observations led him, to fonntdate a 
theory that some of those Norsemen who had been 
last heaixl of in Greenland might possibly have made 
their way to these regions, and intermarried with the 
Eskimos there. 

I admit that we do find, among the Copper 
Eskimos as well as among those farther east towards 
King William's Land, a surprisingly large ntmiber of 
types differing in appearance from the ordinary 
Eskimo; this however, is hardly sufficient to support 
a hypothesis which claims them as descendants of 
Norsemen from Greenland. Stefansson suggests 
that the distance from Greenland to Victoria Land 
is no hindrance. To this I cannot agree* The 
ancient Norsemen were great sailors, and did get far 
to the north with their vessels, but they were iiaardly 
well enough up in sledge travelling for SIK& a jotimey* 
The last certain record of tibeir movements to the 
southward is the runic inscription at Upernivik* 
And without a thorough knowledge of the methods 
of teaveOing in the Arctic, the distance between 
Graeofai^ 

obstacle, DisteiK^isafto 

facilities; and the fate of tlie Franklin Expedition 
and the many which followed it afford the best 
proof of how impossible It would have been lor the 
Norsemen to navigate in these regions. And finally, 




1 






-2 

" fc 

t 

!s c 

>. ^ 



c - 

ii 



= E 



if 



ii 



+ u 

18* 

g-8 



AMONG THE BWND ESKIMOS 

if any did come, it must have been more than ft 
single vessel or so driven out of its course; it would 
require an extensive systematic immigration to set 
and leave its mark upon the native population so as 
to endure through all these years. 

Moreover, we have to consider the evidence of 
tradition. It is hardly imaginable that such an event 
should have been utterly forgotten among the 
natives themselves, even after the lapse of a thou- 
sand years. There are many stories stul current 
among the Eskimos in Greenland as to the Norse- 
men and their conflicts with the natives. The blond 
type is not peculiar to Victoria Land, but is found 
also in King William's Land and on the Great Fish 
River; even among the Musk Ox Eskimo I found 
some with the same reddish or brownish hair and 
grey or almost bfoe eyes, and a remarkably strong 
beard, which bet m wrasoal among the Eskimos 
generally. And these was no tradition nnoog any 
of these peopfe ^ to any foreign Wood, laxnoctfi- 
vinced that these peculiar types are the result erf 
purely biological conditions, winch are altogether 
accidental, and for which no role can be cstahfahrd. 

On the isth of February we bade farewell to our 
friends here. There had been exeefleot sealing for 
the past month, the finest indeed we had seen, a 
single day sufficing for the capture of as many seals 
as wonld have been taken in a whole month among 
theNete*fefattotfaeeastwanl It was at* that 
the natrrea bare wenst mow Own ctwaoaanry 
bat the wab^ hew fe Do^^ 



288 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

a general meeting place tor the seals both from 
east and west. 

With heavy-laden sledges we set out on the 900 km. 
run to Baillie Maud. 

We had met at Bernhard Harbor a young trapper 
named Lyrrmn de Steffany, and afterwards his 
brother Gtas, who lived some distance further west, 
Both were excellent hunters and drivers, and we were 
glad of their assistance. Leo Hansen had hurt his 
shoulder in struggling with the heavy Hudson Bay 
sledge, and one arm was useless for some time; indeed 
it was only by a stubborn effort that he was able to go 
on. The aid afforded us by the two brothers on tie 
journey was thus doubly welcome, and the fortnight 
we spent travelling in their company was one of 
pleasant companionship tibucoughout. 

The coast we had now to follow to the tKHl&wazd 
was for the most part dull and monotonous; it was 
low-lying country, in many places merging impeseept- 
ibly into the tumbled ice and pressure ridges off tbe 
shore, and only broken here and there by steep sand- 
stone rocks often hollowed iato fantastic caves tliat 
afforded a welcome shelter. The ice off shore was 
good, and when we wanted fresh ptovisians we had 
as a nrfe only to drive out some ten Mlorsetiies where 
seal could be had without difficulty in the patches erf 
open -water. We were loth to waste time on such 
3@cttrs3Ois however, and only turned aside when 



forced to it, At die place we eocjomite^ed a soitery 
Swede, Kalle Lewm, of Kafonar, who qttoted 
Prithiof s Saga with true patriotic enthtjaasm, in the 
intervals of gloomy prophesyiags as to the prospects 



AMONG THE BLOND ESKIMOS 289 

of fox in the corning season* A day's journey farther 
north, at Pierce Point, in the most beautiful part of 
the country, ainid arches and monuments of ice- 
embroidered sandstone, we met another trapper 
named Bezona, said to be an Italian nobleman who 
had come to the Arctic in search of an Eldorado tip 
to date without success. 

At Cape Lyon we enocnintered the first Eskimo 
imxmgraaits from Alaska, who, Eke the white trap- 
pers, were now seeking their fortune in the ootmtry 
of their "wild" tribal kinsmen. They were e*~ 
tremely hospitable, spoke fluent English, and soon 
proved to be thoroughly businesslike. We did not 
take long to discover that we were in the land of the 
Almighty Dollar, A joint of caribou meat such as 
would have been given us freely as a token of wdoorae 
aioo^thefaibesf 

we wanted a mm *rf * sfedge to hdp as one day's 
journey oa ahead, a* "to Eaoaen was sfcffl laid ttp, 
the price askad for this was $25. 

We thought ped&ps, for a moment. with regret of 
the kiodly folk we had k& t who would haw helped 
us on our way for a week and been oaly too pleased, 
witlKmtany qiiestkniof paym^ But the principle 
here was tnKjuestioiiably ri^ 

to ocHUpete with the white men, aiid if they were to 
mate cawfe apeft, it was neoessary to ask a fair pay* 
loeat for Borvicee reixieml We were sfcraogiers, 
BKrety psssiog tfaro^i tte oouutry, wl had to 






put OQ the pace, doing 90 or 60 kflooieb^s per 



290 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

day. This meant that the dogs had to trot, and we 
ourselves to run beside the sledges, which was per- 
spiring work, but gave one splendid rest at night. 

On the 9th of March we halted for a spell at Cape 
Parry where lived the trapper, skipper and adven- 
turer Jim Crowford. We got in to his place in the 
evening, just as the setting sun lit tip his little 
schooner, as she lay icebound, and the corrugated iron 
hut he had built at the foot of a cliff . It looked 
chilly enough in itself, but there was smoke rising 
from the chimney, and it was not long before we 
were seated at a ineal like old friends, listening to our 
host's account of his adventures in the gold rush of 
1900, 

On ttie xsth of March we reached Horton River, 
where there is an old Eskimo settlement named 
Idgltdualuit; the widow of a well-known German 
whaler, Captain Fritz Wolki, Eves here. We entered 
a house where everything was so neat and dean and 
orderly that we instinctively walked on tiptoe, and 
found three taciturn women who regaled us with roast 
ptarmigan dainty and appetizing as could be* 

Next day we axxmntegred a natural phenomenon, 
aad camped for a spell to take some pictures, though 
Hf oodd <jply stay a few hcmrs. We had reached 
i&e Stacking Mooatains, Long ago, perhaps a hun- 
dred years or more, some subt^raoean deposit of 
coal feeane caoght fire, and the smoke is still pottring 
from tea ^Se^mfc MHs* In the strong su 



they seem wrapped in kales of greyish blue sraoloe, 
that oozes out from every crack and device In the 
sides. Here and there among the hollows, white 



AMONG THE BLOND ESKIMOS 291 

vapors pour forth like the smoke from sacrificial 
fires, carried by the wind over to the mighty barrier 
of snowKxrrered pressure ridges that runs along the 
shore. It is a fight between fire and cold, and the 
cold is the stronger* Even the smoking mountains 
themselves are covered with snow; only the black 
sand on the front of the slopes, wrapped in smoke, 
is warm and moist. Ahead of us as far as the eye 
can reach, lay the frozen sea, glittering in the sun- 
light, symttng in its majesty as if in scorn of the fire 
demons and their vain pyrotechnics in the bawds of 
the earth. 



CHAPTER XXII 

TRADE AND PROSPER 

the 1 7th of March we reached Baillie Islaad, 
where the Hudson's Bay Company has a sta- 
tion, in charge of our fellow-countryman Henrik 
Henriksen. I need hardly say that he at once 
invited us to share his comfortable quarters. 

The first part of our journey was thus at an end. 
I was now among new tribes, the Mackenzie Eskimos. 

It was like coming into new country altogether. 
We had been accustomed to living among people 
who lived chiefly on land game, and only hunted 
seal from the ice. Here we found ourselves among 
folk who won their food from the open sea, and spoke 
a language which was almost exactly like that of the 
Eskimos in Greenland; they talked of whale and 
white whale, seal and ribbon seal, which were hunted 
in kayaks or umiaks. And these umiaks were ex- 
actly like those used in Greenland; it was a pleas- 
ure to us to see the well-known lines, coming as we 
cfid from among people to whom the very name of 
Greenland was unknown. 

The Httle white snow villages that we had grown so 
familiar with were here replaced by log huts, or 
houses built of wood or peat, the arrangement en- 
tirely corresponding to that common in Greenland, 
so that my two Greenlartders opened their eyes and 

292 




AXGUISINAOQ, MY STOIY-TELLER FROM BAILLIE ISLAND 

One of the old school, as shown by the labrets, or lip ornaments, which he still wears. The&e 
are made of mammoth tusk, white quartz, nephrite, granite or slate, and thrmt through a hole 
in the lip. In farmer time*, they were worn by all the men between the Mackenzie River and 
the Yukon. 



TRADE AND PROSPER 293 

thought they were nearly home again, though they 
had now for three years been moving farther aixi 
farther from their own country. 

This was our first impression, but on closer ac- 
quaintance we found things very different from what 
we knew. The Mackenzie River had been the great 
source of culture, and just as its mighty currents 
had torn up whole forests by the root and spread 
the timber far along its shores, so also it had ton tip 
the Eskimo culture from its old surrxnmdings and 
created a transition form* in the midst of which we 
found ourselves now. Hunting by sea was no longer 
the one thing needful. The pursuit of gold and 
money values had revolutionized everything* The 
Hudson's Bay Company was no looger the only 
source and ceatre of teade; independent traders came 
down the livers baying up skim for cash, and the 
between tibem eat prices tip to such a 



degree that the Eskimos in this riftircotm try found 
themselves wealthy mea all of a sodden, Aad ac- 
customed as they were to reckon from hand to 
mouth, or at most in terms erf a single year's supply 
of food, their ideas of foresight went no farther than 
the laying by of a store of meat lor the winter; they 
were all skilful hunters, and it was easy for them 
to procure, and dispose of, the coveted skim; wbich 
they did without any consideration for the fttttane or 
their old age- 

Conseqtieatly, we found ourselves now among a 
people highly paid and independent in pec&w&XL 
The price of a white fox was $30, m& n*my owid 
be caught between Norembea: aad Aprfl, ia addition 



294 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to the other sorts of fox, and other fur-bearibg ani- 
mals, The Eskimo hunters were no poor savages in 
kayaks; they owned schooners and called one an- 
other "Captain." A schooner of the fiat-bottomed 
type such as is -used in the deltas of great rivers could 
be bought for $3000, but there was not much 
occasion to use it after all. One could go visiting 
up and down the coast in summer, or take a sort 
of fashionable holiday " yachting " after the fur 
season was over; for hunting proper they used the 
cheaper and handier timiak, or whaleboats. Most 
of the schooners of course had motor power, and 
machinery in general was used as far as possible, 
The women, whose deft fingers had been wont to 
compass unaided the making and decorating of 
clothes, now used sewing machines. Men and 
women alike had learned to write; and the men, to 
be in the fashion, bought typewriters, though their 
correspondence was hardly enough to give them 
any great practice in the use of them. Safety razors 
were in general use, and cameras not uncommon. 
The old blubber lamps, excellent for their purpose, 
were now sold to tourists as curiosities (price $30), 
and gasoKne or kerosene lamps were used instead. 

I felt, indeed, something of aa old fossil myself at 
first, among all these smart business folk; legend and 
niytii and ancient traditions were things they had 
feffc far behind* Maay a time during those Sfsfe 
few weeks did I think wistfully of the eastern tribes, 
and womea stiE had scaiie respect for tite 



wisdom of t&ear forebears. Hae, if I wanted folk 
taks, I found myself confronted with salesmanship; 



TRADE AND PROSPER 295 

demand created the supply, and a self-styled special- 
ist in folklore, mythology aad local information 
offered his services confidently at $25 per day. He 
could make that by manual labor; why should he 
use his brains for less? And as soon as it was noised 
abroad that we were interested in ethnographical 
specimens, unblushiiag "dealers" grewup in a twink- 
ling on every side, asking tip to $50 for any trifling 
ornament. 

I felt hopelessly out of my dement in all this* 
But fortunately, all this outwaid "dvilizatkm'' was 
but skin-deep, and it was not long before I managed 
to arouse the people to some interest in their own 
past. I talked to them for hoctra few of charge 
of all that we had seen and learned cm our journey 
hitherto, of their kinsfolk to the eastward who knew 
their battery; and after a while, awoke some response 
m theansdves. Indeed, before leaving western Can- 
ada, I b^ acqtart^ 

able inf ormatkm niywIL Bat tibk wffl be set oat 
in another place. For the preaeoi, we must oe*i- 
tintie our jottraey. 

We held straight cm our cotrrae towa*db Horsdbei 
Island, halting, however, at any settlements by the 
way that offered anything of interest. In Lnnerpoci 
Bay, tor instance, I visited m first rate story-tefler 
named Apagkaq, He began by scornful criticism of 
my interest in such an tmremttaeratrre oocopation; 
bet wfaeo r l prosiQsed him $50 lor five days' wraic, he 
feacfeurested bio^ftf. The work 'unit but 

'jKuiau llfebttijiyfittA *^^t&$$lbA ' MUriMA* i na J^ fiMh<^Ml^^uSLi^LMt^ta iJMi'ji*i - ^ J *- Ji~.-i 

IP pqpn wiwif II** uaa DtM^u%iiiig <io HOB pt 



296 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

of it was foigotten, and we worked as brothers. He 
was unquestionably a magnificent artist, the finest 
I have met outside East Greenland. He came orig- 
inally from the region of Noatak River and Kotze- 
bue Sound, and several of his stories bear traces of 
India*? influence. One of them, "The Wise Raven" 
is a whole creation myth in itself, and bears notable 
points of difference as compared with other Eskimo 
versions. I filled many pages with Apagkaq's stor- 
ies, and when we parted I could hardly see out of 
my eyes. I slept on my sledge most of the first 
two days after. Looking back, I have a faint misty 
remembrance of meeting a jolly old fellow named 
Ularpat, the first in these regions to catch white 
whale in nets. Dried whale meat and blubber was 
served, the meat was a trifle mildewed, and when this 
was commented on apologetically, I answered with 
a Greenland catchword to the effect that mildew 
was good for the system. Ularpat's retort stuck IB 
my mind. "Yes," he said with a laugh, "we say 
the same thing in our country; probably to save the 
trouble of washing the meat dean. Laziness often 
makes things 'good for you' in that way." 

On again to the west. We decide to cut across 
Liverpool Bay and make for Nuvoraq (Atkinson 
Point). In the evening we reached the house of a 
hospitable American, Mr. Williams, where we also 
S3t the is&aplain, Mr. Hester, with wbom we affcer- 
*a#d& travelled f or some weeks ; aa ^earnest and tmtir- 
i&g worker, with the welfare of the Eskimos error 
al heart. He had formerly been working over m Sie 
region of Q)iraiatid& Gulf t but had beesa oWgdA to 




YOUNG WOMAN AND CHILD FXOM BAILL1E ISLAND 

In the great days of the whaling industry, Herschel Island WAI A favorite winter harbor, and 
mixed types are not infrequent among the Eskimo of the Mackenzie Delta, 



TRADE AND PROSPER 397 

move in nearer to civilization, as the missionary soci- 
ety which sent him out could not afford to keep him 
so far afield. Having in mind the sums spent on 
punishing criminals here in the wilds, it seems a pity 
that it should be necessary to economize in a field 
of work which more than aH else helps to prercnt 
the growth of criminal tendencies. 

On the 5th of April we visited the chief Mangi- 
laluk, whose residence might weD be the envy of 
many a town-dwella: dreaming of a country house, 
It was a log htit built of very heavy timber, the prin- 
cipal apartment measuring 7 metres by 5>4, and 
something over 3 metres high. This, however, was 
eclipsed by another house of the same type where we 
spent the night on the eastern bank of the Macken- 
zie Rhrer, where the living room was 7 x 10 naetres, 
aad 3> metres high. The waHs here were lined 
with beaver boand, the floor covered with linoleum, 
aad in place of the oJd-faahtorad Eskimo deeping 
bench I found a bedroom with two iron bedsteads, 
spring mattresses and afl! 

During the past few days, the country has changed 
altogether; the soil is grassy, and all the ralteys 
thick with water willows, 

At Kitikarjtdt, formerly inhabited by some 800 
Eskimos, and famous for white whale, we found no 
Eskimos at aB T but only the manager of the Hud* 
:^*s Bay Q>mpany 's ste^ The 

manager, Jclm Graben, was remarkably w&D 



On te'MMl 4P%i again passed the hooge of 
feDow ootmfcrytoan, Niek Hofen, < the castera 



298 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

bank of the Mackenzie Delta. Here also we fotind 
the site of a former Eskimo village, with many ruined 
houses and graves, especially graves of chiefs, in 
which the property of the deceased had been in- 
terred with the corpse; umiaks, kayaks and sledges* 

We were now anxious to get on to a place where 
we could finish off our work in Canada before enter- 
ing Alaska. Herschel Island would be the best for 
this purpose. The delta, however, is difficult coun- 
try to travel through without a guide, owing to the 
many tributary streams all looking alike. To avoid 
losing our way and precious time, we persuaded 
Niek Holm to accompany us to Herschel Island, 
where we arrival on the I7th of April. 

Herscfael Island has an excellent natural harbor, 
the only real harbor on the whole range between 
Teller and the Arctic coast; it was first discovered 
in 1848, and at once became the centre of the whal- 
ing industry from Mackenzie River to Baillie Island 
and even farthest east. The whaling has now alto- 
gether ceased, but the harbor remains as a ^mn 
centre of supply for the east arctic districts, which 
may at times be completely blocked by ice. 

The Hudson's Bay Company has for many years 
past carried on trade in the Mackenzie Delta. In 
farmer times, supplies were only brought down by 
lim. , The f cimation of the many new statiog&s to 
tbe eastward T Ii0wever, necessitated direct 



ealioa by sea from Vancouver, aad these voyages 
were a^ccmpMied with great skill, often with 
om risk. The considerable quantities of goods 
m upon a coast wfeere the inliaMtaate 



TRADE AND PKOSPER 299 

still in a primitive state has of course its dangers, 
and it must be admitted that the great trading cod* 
cera has, despite its mercantile interests, realized its 
responsibility as the most powerful organises* in 
the district. Throughout the North-west Passage I 
invariably found the tradans on the best of terms with 
the Eskimos near* 

There are wide regions where the Hudson's Bay 
Company is the only link between the native popu- 
lation and the outer worfet The Hudson's Bay 
Company stands for dvflizatkm, aad its otttpoets 
in these desolate lasds represent the life and work of 
mea who bear the white man's burden, the white 
man's great responsibility, 

At the headquarters of the Mounted Police on 
Herschel Island I had the pleasure of meeting In- 
spector Wood, who was in charge of the police admin- 
along the wboie of the Arctic coast; a keen 



aad capable mao, fttBy alive toj&e riifirattim of 
mamtamnig law and Older thraqghooi * ootmtay 






Pole. To him had &Hm tibe task of haagiog the 
two poor devils from Erat Peninsula the Ftefa 
before, and there were servetal 
from the east sfclfl at the statkm,, either as 



OT aoesrsed of ccmpt^ Wit- 

nesses wad accused alike lived on tie best of terms 
with ite pc& and the local Eskimos* and sate lor 

haw beeaa eojoying a 




. ..'<... _ . ___ *_Jl_J. JP*^ . Jf *., jL^Jl^iyjf'liLAjL <....!. IV ------- l-.<toL 

woo rmgnt ttnaiv unr HBP jtw i*6y 



300 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

The Mackenzie Eskimos were once a great people 
by native standards; it is estimated that about the 
middle of the I9th century they numbered about 
2000, of which about half lived at Kitigarssuit 
various epidemics, however, have seriously reduced 
the population since then, and it now amounts to 
only some 400 souls. Of these again some two 
hundred are recent immigrants from Alaska, more 
especially from the region of Noatak and Colville 
River, In the old days before the Hudson's Bay 
Company had set up stations in the delta itself, the 
regular yearly trading trips extended up the Mac- 
kenzie River as far as Fort McPherson, or at times 
even beyond, and though one can now purchase 
everything needed on the coast, there are still some 
families that go up to the Arctic Red River, attracted 
by the rich prospects of trapping in that region, and 
the fine salmon fishery. 

These inland journeys brought them from very 
early times into contact with the Indians; and here 
for the first time throughout the expedition I learned 
that cases of intermarriage between Indians and 
Eskimos had formerly been common; true, it was 
naaniage by capture, but both Indians and Eskimos 
agree as to its having tak;en place, I have often 
in Hie fc&egolijg referred to the Indians in the terms 
mpAjt$ $*& Eskimos in describing them; the oM 
stories In partkular represent them as cruel, blood- 
atad ta^eadaCToas, At Single Point, I met a 
Indian woman, the wife of the Hudson's 
Bay Company's Manager; she had been bom m& 
broiigjit i*p among the Takudh Indians. She ex- 




INSPECTOR WOOD OF HERSCHEL ISLAND, CHIEF OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED 
POLICE IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY 



TRADE AND PROSPER 301 

plained that there had always been a great deal of 
intercourse between the Eskimos and the Indians, 
especially before the trading stations were estab- 
lished* Every summer, the Eskimos used to come 
up to Fort MePhersoti aad camp on a great plain 
near the hill where the Indians had their teats. 
They played football on the plain, but on one occa- 
sion, trouble arose owing to the rough and unsports- 
manlike behavior of the Eskimos; the Ty^i^in^ re- 
tired from the game and the Eskimos struck cainp 
and went off in anger. Next year they came again 
in great numbers, ready for battle, but the Indians, 
not wishing to give any occasion for bloodshed, 
moved into the bush with their tents and loosed 
their dogs. These dogs were very fierce, and the 
Eskimos wane greatly afraid of them* My inform- 
ant was then only six or seven years old, bat she 
remembers being driven in with her little oampftoioos 
farther into the bash, in case there should be fight- 
ing. She had taken an axe with her, hoprag to loll 
an Eskimo herself. No one was afraid, for soeh 
scenes were of frequent occurrence. But the dogs, 
which also appeared to bate the Kdrirnos, toept 
guard so well that nothing came of the attack. The 
Eskimos made peace, and that was doubtless the 
last feud between the two peoples. Now they are 
good rie0ds> but in former times, "the bodoas" 
wore BOted for their treacheanous attack^ and the 
feazsd t|*eB, matt- 



breed types, erf Edtb aoi ladban Wo^ 
This account, given by ac Indian nomaa, is inter- 



302 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

esting as showing how the Indians regard the Eski- 
mos; and one cannot say that any great affection 
exists between them. 

Our first meeting with the Western Eskimos thus 
took place at the dose of our three years' explora- 
tion in Canada, jttst before we left the country. We 
found a people that had changed their ways in most 
essential respects. Skin boats had given place to 
schooners, sealing to trapping and fur trading on 
modern lines; earth-and-stone huts lined with drift- 
wood were now replaced by something approaching 
modern bungalows or villas; and in addition to all 
these external changes, their ancient faith had given 
place to Christianity. One would hardly think that 
all these changes would be favorable to any con- 
tinuance of the fellow-feeling between them aod 
their kinsfolk to the eastward; we found, however, 
that racial traditions lived on unimpaired in their 
stories and legends. I wrote down over a hundred 
such, and found a surprising number of old acquaint- 
ances among them, both from eastern Canada and 
from Greenland. 

The journey ifaough these sparsely populated 
wastes was now at an end, and our route benoefor- 
wsynd lay Hnwigii richer and more dvifized regions. 
I fe^wsr, to have had tbe opportunity of 

sluayiig these pe^le before they had quite 
$ tfeeir ancient ways of life. As it was, I Jiad 
afotmdajice of material, aad was &ow moire tfaaa 
ercr filled with adinirafeidai f or the Eskimos them- 



TRADE AND PROSPER 303 

1 cannot leave this part of the country without 
saying that I got a strong impression of the way in 
which the Canadian Government evidences its fading 
of responsibiKty toward the Eskimos. Admittedly 
the supervision is difficult, because the people are 
scattered far along inaccessible shores. Nothing 
can be done without great expense* 

The plan of allotting reserrattons to the Eekitaoe 
is undoubtedly the only right one, for it skidds them 
somewhat in those first meetings with dvflizatioQ 
which are always the most dangerous for a primitive 
people. 

Yet in one thing I believe progress is still in order. 
Now the Gcnrermnent has all of its contacts with the 
Eskimos thixmgh the Mounted Police. With all the 
admiration I hold for the Mounted, for the way 
they carry out aB usttal poHee duties, and many 
otherc,Idoocfedtiirt 
to substitute for afl f ftie agaotte ^ 
Some educational department most tie t^MMi^ 
to ded with tte Eskimo Then* 

can be no step back to the Staoe Age for any people 
that has once had contact with the white mam. 
Canada camiKrt 

this odttcattonal poiemafisni that fo**** dtooe so ^nt**^ in 
Greeabad and in Alaska to fit Hie Eskimo to meet 
the cwter contacts with the wfaite man, in the 



CHAPTER XXIII 

NEW WAYS FOR THE ESKIMO 

the 5th of May, early in the morning, we 
entered Alaska. Near Demarcation Point we 
passed the line of stakes that marks the frontier; 
we were in the land of which so many adventurers 
had dreamed. 

We had now a run of 800 kilometres along this 
barren coast before we could halt for any length of 
time; the land is now flat tundra, stretching away 
as far as Point Barrow almost in a straight line, 
broken only here and there by small indentations of 
the coastline. Just offshore are narrow sandy reefs, 
forming the so-called lagoons, where we find fine 
smooth ice just inside the barrier, very different from 
the tumbled pressure ridges beyond. The dogs 
moved at a steady trot, and we ourselves were grow- 
ipg accustomed to trotting alongside. 

The Eskimos are scattered about in little encamp- 
raents all along this coast; we find, too, a few white 

for the most part, some with 



small sctoooers,, others with nothing but their bare 
liands asd tiiek tipps. The distance between dwell- 
ings depends on the chances of a good haul. 

At last, on the 23rd of May, we fottnd ourselves o& 
ttie high road, as it might well be called, to Point 
Barrow, the most northerly settlement in America. 

304 




WOMAN FROM POINT BARROW 



NEW WAYS POR THE ESKIMO 305 

This was our first real town since leaving Godthaab 
in Greenland, in 1921* Our arrival aroused quite a 
sensation among the inhabitants, when it was 
known that we had come from so far east; all had 
sufficient book learning to form some idea of the 
distance involved. Consequently, I was invited to 
give a lecture on Greenland and the other countries 
we had passed through, which I did, in the local 
school house, on the following day. My Greenland 
accent and idiom occasioned no difficulty aiooag the 
natives here; a fact which promised well for future 
woric 

The population consists of some 250 natives and 
a few white men. There are big shops with stores 
and warehouses, but what mostly struck us is the 
presence of a school, a hospital and a church* We 
had not seen a school for throe years, and it looked 
quite imposing. *Ffae sKfaoofanaster in charge was & 
young DtEtekiBan, Pteter $a &if Sfeene, who 
hospitably received us as 

I had not expected to find 



this part <rf my jooroey, and really considered my 
collections at aa eod on feavbg Canada; I soon 
fottnd^ho'wevOT.thattte Men and 

women here w^ less Q^^ 

Mackenzie Delta, and there was a store of folklore 
aaad niytbofogy ready to hand. I decided there- 
t advantage of the opportunity f aad 



tM^$^4MVi the advioe ol perte who 

JL ^ A -^ -."' -. -' ^M v Wfffiii&Aayl^" T f i t''tf iffr.-ttf- 1 -'-^^^*'" I'laitgafiitM w j^^Mk r ifri(ffit>v ' HM^^ f *a^btt ^ ^ lyWrW, 

nave TO tnas iBHw i^gll8l- fSnli- go oy a we 
msre jtist at the tnoet eifici^e {Mit of the 



306 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

whaling season. Only a few kilometres out 
land was the open sea, rocking the loose icefloes; 
the sea birds had gathered in dense fiocks* and 
their cries could be heard right up over the land- 
Nearly all the men lived out at the edge of the ice 
in rough hunting camps; only the women and chil- 
dren were at home. All were excited, and no one 
ever seemed to go to sleep. When we ourselves 
went to rest, at four in the morning, and opened the 
windows, we heard on all sides the chatter of women, 
the cries of children and the howling of dogs. But 
on all the highest points of the clay cliffs were watch- 
ful outposts, waiting for the moment when they cot&l 
with a deafening shout, announce to these cashless 
night-birds that a whale had been harpooned. 

Alaska was discovered in 1741 by the Danish ex- 
plorer Vitus Bering, then in the service of Russia 
and voyaging up through the Strait which beass 
his name. Little more was known of it 
for many years after* In 1826, an English 
tkm tinder Beediy visited Point Barrow aad opened 
the way for others- The Eskimos who lived between 
Norton Sound and the Arctic Ocean appear to Jiarc 
been a warlike people, their young men being negiir 
laiiy trained for war, hardening themselves by all 
manner of athletic exercises, dieting themselves, 
and often obliged to fast in order to habituate them- 
selves to great hardships, or tnalring journeys cm 
foot for many days in succession as a test of endtir- 
anee. iNofc only were the different tribes con- 
stantly at feud among themselves; they did not hes- 
itate to aater upon combats with Indians or while 




a __. 



2 



Si 



a 






M 

i : 

3 



i 



NEW WAYS FOR THE ESKIMO 307 

men when these ventured into their territory. Fight- 
ing was carried on as a rale with bow and arrow, but 
they had also special inventions of their own; among 
the most notable were breastplates of walrus tusk, 
proof against arrows, or great saw-toothed dubs 
designed to crash the skull of an enemy. 

This period, moreover, was not so far distant tat 
that I was able to obtain my information from the 
elders, men and women, whose fathers had them- 
selves taken part in such fights. Russian trading 
methods proved of little advantage to the natives; 
indeed, they were well on the way to extermination 
when the United States, in 1867, bought the whole 
territory for a sum of $7,200,000; probably the 
best deal of its kind on record. In 1890, the Bureau 
of Education set to work to improve the conditions 
of the native population, and now, after 35 years, 
we find them indtEtrioos, ambifeioas and indepead- 
ent, a wonderful testimony to the vah>e of eystematic 
educational methods. A point f great importance 
in material respects was the introduction of tame 
reindeer from Siberia. Dr. Jackson, the Alaskan 
Eskimos' greatest benefactor, gnppBBdbdl in getting 
some 1280 animals brought ewer, and there are 
now dose on half a xoHfioci, with every prospect of 
' mto ; 



AH the young people of the present day speak 
Bngfish as *reft as my American, and have thus the 
first qnatifinrtintt for entering into competaaca 

' ' " ' . 



te aie fact tiat ibeednot wm fxom tfae &* 

made the centre erf errorytfring. <^," ^> " '-'' 



308 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

But there was also another form of education 
which was of importance, and that was the estab- 
lishment of the so-called co-operative stores. The 
population contributed themselves towards the funds 
for starting these, but state assistance was also 
needed, and the government vessels which inspect 
the schools and medical service bring up goods for 
a freight which just covers expenses; the Eskimos 
thus obtain cheap wares, and can themselves take 
jgart in determining the prices of all necessaries, 
They manage these businesses themselves, under 
supervision of the two local school-teachers, aad it 
is generally considered that they thus gain experi- 
ence greatly conducive to the development of their 
own indepemleace. 

During my stay at Point Barrow, I gained a lively 
impression of the contact between the native popu- 
lation and the white men, who had come into tbe 
country to deal with cultural tasks. At Hie hospital, 
there was a medical missionary in charge, a Dr. 
Greist, with his wife, both keenly occupied in social 
work* Mrs. Greist devoted almost the whole of her 
to* to "The Mothers* and Babies 1 Club/' the prin- 
cipal objects erf which were hygiene and care of chil- 
dren. The three nurses at the hospital had also their 
special tasks, carrying on schools in their Hssre 
^a$e for practical sad reJigiOds ii*stracticai especi&Jly 
far *TOinra ajid cfeSdren, And through the comfort- 
able school rooms passed a constant stream of men 
mid iiraiBaa, W!K> were invariably tecedved by Peter 
van <ter Sterre infe-tfeei^ss and 



I teamed, of cottrse later on, that coalitions a#e not 



NEW WAYS FOR THE ESKIMO 309 

equally ideal everywhere; the great difficulty is to 
get the right kind of worioem But Point Barrow 
at least was a place where ail, nom the youngest to 
the oldest, woriced sensibly acconiiiig to the prin- 
ciples of the Board of Education, and I was glad to 
obtain the best iafetdtictira here at once. 

Of great importance to me and my wodk at Pbint 
Barrow was my meeting with a man named Charks 
Brewer, who had lived axmmg the Eekinws for forty 
years. Mr* Brower was a personality who had wi% 
lively interest followed the fate of the Eskimos 
through all these years, and very thorou^bly made 
himself acquainted with their past history. He had 
married a native woman from the locality, and spoke 
the Bdcmao tongue excellently. He was rightly 
called the King of Point Barrow; for there is haitlly 
a maa all along the coast who enjoys such respect 
and veneration both among white mea aod Eski- 
mos Mr. Brower and I aoon made frieads, and 
thanks to his advice, I was able at ooce to hit on the 
spots where there was woik to be done, and get into 
touch with the people who fcaew what I wanted to 
learn. My numeax>os cooversatioGS with Mr. Broww 
are among tbe mo^t pleasant and most instructive 
I have ever bad. 

In Alask^ Bdtttral ODddik>Q 



necessitated a devdopme&t of mdtistry on two defin- 
ite lines: the caribou htmters on tbe one haa4 the 
whalers oa the other. Htmtmg by saa had itedkfoa- 
ite seasons, predbading any very BOcoadk; fotm of tt&t, 
widb the immeaase areas tiax>^i which the oaribod 
had to be foOowed on tt^ other haad toade it iropoe- 



3io ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

sible to keep to the coast in the whaling season 
Consequently, some of the natives sailed up the rivei$ 
and settled more or less inland, though coming down 
once a year to the coast for sealskin and blubber, 
bringing caribou skin and furs in exchange. 

Point Barrow has always been one of the mak 
centres for the Eskimo whaling industry. The 
whales begin to arrive in numbers about the begin- 
ning of April, and continue to come in until the first 
week in June; the whaling was carried on from sfcki 
boats out at the edge of the firm winter ice. Dur- 
ing the months the whaling lasted, all the men lived 
uninterruptedly out at the edge of the ice, despite 
much inconvenience arising from the tabu system. 
Tents were forbidden, and they had therefore to be 
content with stann-sfaeiters made of skins, or seek 
some protection from the elements under the boat, 
It was also forbidden to dry clothes, and raw food was 
tabu; all meat had to be boiled. Meantime, tfee 
women and children spent an anxious time up ill the 
winter houses. As soon as a whale was captured, 
they drove out and fetched the meat, which was 
stored in great subterranean larders, dug so deep 
down that the meat remained frozen timnigjKmt the 
summer. 

The edge of the ice was not so far from land but 
that it was easy to follow the progress of the hiint- 
iag from or* shore. Tbe *3ri* boats and their crews 
were posted at spots where the dean straight Kn$ of 
the ice-edge was indented by smaE creeks cut fay 
the storms. The whales, following the maigm of 
the ke, invariably moved tip into these cseeks* wfaws 



NEW WA YS FOR TOE ESKIMO 311 

they were easily harpooned. The harpoons were 
pointed with slate or flint, which it was not difficult 
to thrust through the thick layer of blubber; the 
harpoon lines were as a rule 20-25 fathoms long, with 
three bladder floats, ooeattheeadofthelineand 
two others tied together about 5 fathoms from the 
head of the harpoon. 

Hie tradition of many generations, and yean of 
practice, had given steersmen and harpoaners peat 
skill in calculating the mmnwwnte f th fontf Afl 
the boats lay on the ice ready to be tipped off at a 
moment's notice, and the whale, as a role, passed 
so dose that it could be harpooned from the ice 
itself. At the same moment, all the boats pot out, 
scattering over several kilometres round, and wait- 
ing for the whale to come up again, when it would 
be given a few more harpoons, with lines and blad- 
der floats, to ding along; these checked its pace, 
and enabled the htmtesE toTcome to done quarters 
with their great lances, winch wwe thro* in at a 
spot where the flint head could be som of penetrat- 
ing. The next thrust would be directed towmda 
one of the great arteries in the neck; or an attempt 
would be made to sever the tail fin; the whale could 
then no longer dhw, and was easily lolled. 

Only occasionally was a whale attacked in open 
sea; this being a far more difficult matter. When it 
Was done, the hunters could, however, reckon with 
the fact that a whak approached from the front 
sees badly bothaus faiify weft, wide if approacted 



312 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

both see and hear a considerable distance off* The 
first time a whale was harpooned it would come up* 
some 3-4 kilometres from the spot where it went 
down; but as the boats always lay spread out along 
the edge of the ice, it would not be long before the 
lances got to work and the whale was despatched. 

With these primitive implements of the stone age 
type, the hunters could, in a single spring season, 
account for up to 22 whales at Point Barrow alone. 
Considering what this means in meat and blubber and 
hide, it is not hard to understand that in this dis- 
trict in particular there was the possibility of a 
flourishing period of culture* 

An Eskimo who is a practised whaler is called 
"TTtraflKk," a word which, originally meaning merely 
the owner of a boat, has come to have the signifi- 
cance of "dhieftain," as the great boat-owners, the 
more daring whalers, had unrestricted authority 
over their crews, and held the position of chieftains 
in their own communities. 

Whaling implements were only allowed to be used 
for one season; this applies to the skins of the boats, 
and all gear and equipment. In earlier times, all 
the harpooi3S were burned with the other imple- 
ments in a great boofire during the festivals held at 
the eQEdtefsiQuxrf the season; later, it became the cus- 
teqi^flifeffy *& >3baiig t^p tie fearpocm heads on a 
Mgiwty isrlie 1faty<mteWb~mti tiie chieftain died, 
wfam ibey were placed witfa hjira in his gtave. 

Wfaea a man fa&c! got his first whale, it was his 
duty, at the gi^eafc wfaaiug estiva!, to tibrow away 
all that he owned of furs and other tilings ; his fellow- 



NEW WAYS FOR THE ESKIMO 313 

villagers had then to fight for a share, the catty 
furs being cut into fragments that as many as pos- 
sible might have a part. Altogether, there were 
many remarkable and amming customs associated 
with the whaling. As a rule the greatest weight WBS 
attached to meaningless magic songs that had to be 
declaimed immediately before harpooning was to 
take place; there were, however, aba other impor- 
tant points to be observed before setting out, customs 
originating in the beEef that the whale, in the earii- 
est days of the world, had been a human being, just 
as had other animals. 

The whale is dangerous to hunt, but is also amen- 
able to advances from human beings, especially 
women. Thus, for instance, a chief s wife, on learn- 
ing that her husband's crew has harpooned a whak 
must at once taie off one boot aiid remain quietly 
in her house. This preliminary step towards un- 
dressing was supposed to affect the soul of the whate 
and draw it towards the bouae, Wlieaa then the 
boat neared the land, she must fin her water-TOasd 
with fresh water and go down to the dead wbate 
in order to refresh its tJbirstiog soul with cool water. 

The chieftain himself mostly took the part oC 
steersman; it is reckoned a great art to calculate the 
movements of the whale. He would choose for IBS 
harpooner a young and powerful man, whose duty 
was to drive the harpoon into the whale as soon as be 
gave the signal On the day before gobg down to 
the ice edge to begin the wiiaHiig, the yoeng bar- 
pooner had to sleep in the forepart of tlie boat* #&A 
would be visited there in the ooune d t3b@ night by 



314 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the chiefs wife. A chief had as a rule several wives, 
and it was the harpooner's right to be visited by the 
youngest and prettiest. This meeting with a woman 
put the young man into high spirits, and the soul of 
the whale also was supposed to be attracted by the 
idea of being killed by a man earning straight from a 
woman. 

That is the way whaling was carried on in the 
olden days. Now, the old harpoons with their 
ingeniously worked flint and slate heads are long 
since relegated to the category of antiques, and in- 
stead, a modern "darting gun/' with explosive 
bombs, is used. Only the skin boat still remains; 
it is considered the most practical form of craft, 
as it has often to be carried long distances over the 
ice. 

I had learned tihat there was a considerable encamp- 
ment of inland folk on the Utorqaq river, and de- 
cided to go up, with Miteq and Anarulunguaq, and 
visit them, Leo Hansen remaining behind to get 
some pictures of the festival which the natives cele- 
brate on the conclusion of the whaling season. He 
would then come on by sea when navigation opened, 
and bring our collections through to Nome. 

On the 8th of June we reached the mouth of the 
IPterqaq at Icy Cape, or as the Eskimos call it 
^^s^fik, "the place where kayaks are lost" 
is probably due to the fact that the settle- 
fc is built on a sandbank so low tliat it is some- 
flooded when the wind blows hard on shore. 
^ bat the bHzzards were by no means 
station at Wainwright was so com- 




THE NALUKATAQ 

At the close of the spring whaling season, the Alaskan Eskimos hold a great festival, with 
singing, dancing and games. The principal item on this part of the programme is the Nalukataq, 
in which men and women are tossed in a blanket of walrus hide. 



NEW WA YS FOR TOE ESKIMO 315 

pletely buried in show that it was hard to get into 
the houses at all. The inhabitants here, with a wfc- 
eran whaler named Jim Allan, had been working 
hard since April without getting so much as a walrus. 
At Icy Cape, however, they had been more for- 
tunate, and had got a whale, in honor of which 
event, the place was fufl of visitors from a reindeer 
camp near by--the very one I was on my way to 
visit. The festival must come firet of count. It 
was on the loth, and fortunately the weather was 
magnificent. Men, women and children were dressed 
in new garments specially made for the occasion, and 
gathered in the course of the forenoon at the qagsse, 
or dance hall. 

Certain parts of the whale meat *he tail, dorsal 
fin and the skin from the jaws are set aside as 
delicacies for the feast. There are games, including a 
glorified form of tossing in a blanket, two walrus 
hides sewn together being held out by as many 
hands as can find a hold, and the victim then shot 
up into the air, endeavoring to come down upright 
and feet foremost. Roars of laughter greet those who 
fail; and not infrequently broken bones may result, 
When this has gone on for some boors, the feasting 
begins, and lasts for the rest of that day and the 
night, with intervals of singing and dancing. Ten 
performers with drums sit in a row, with a chorus of 
male and female voices gathered round; the danoexs, 
generally two women and one man, came in by turns. 
I was rather disappointed in the songs, whicfc were 
little more than refrains as an accompaniment to the 
dance, with no text to speak of; certainly nothing to 



316 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

compare with the lyrics I had found among the 
North-west Passage Eskimos. 

On the following morning we set off for the main- 
land, to the village where I proposed to stay for the 
present* Besides the old men and women I had spe- 
cially wished to see, there were some yoting reindeer 
herdsmen, rounding up a herd of some 800 head. 
The season's calves had to be branded, .which is 
done by marking the ears with the owner's particu- 
lar sign. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE GIFT OF SQ8G AND DA NCR 

T^HE north arid north-west comer t Alaska, ccwa- 
prising all that vast pfeia to the north c the 
Endicott Motmtains* is watered by great rivers, 
which have played a giiaat part as ***i*t*^fe ^ o^. 
municatkHi dtmag tfee period before the arrival erf 
the white men. Three riv^era rising dose together 
gave rise to the many villages in the intericH; and 
served as waterways thnau^i the country, in which 
all the Eskimos formed ooe community, with winter 



Noatafc, ^wiag mto Ettoefe^ Sorod, tite UtofTjaq, 
debouching into great lagoon between 
Point Lay, and finally r Colville i?iver, witfi its great 
deita luting tfae ArcUe Ocean aear C^e HaDkett, 

The Bsicfauos call the Colvilte Rivw Ktigpik, or the 
Great Rhner, bnt the dwdBers on its bonks are called 
after one erf it tributary 



. 

It is quite isear tibe source of the Utcm}aq, only 
|mtad by a x^oge of Mils, the Qimeq , the distance 
betweeta them being so slight that f&i*i boats CMI eas- 
ily be carried from o&e rhner fco the othear. 

The Kangiaaernahit sailed down the Coivifle 
River in the spring, when the chartnd WES dear of 
ice; often fifty boats at a time, or something HVe 500 

317 



3i 8 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

souls. Little wonder that the Indians feared them! 
The journey up river took longer, and the boats had 
to be towed by men and dogs together over the 
many readies where the current was too strong for 
paddling. A great camp was formed in the delta, 
and in the course of the summer, salmon were caught 
in great numbers for winter use, the implements 
used being nets made of caribou sinew. Caribou 
hunting was also carried on at the same time for 
present needs. The object of the visit, however, 
was to procure blubber from the natives round Point 
Barrow, who came out here to trade. Encounters 
with the Indians were not infrequent, and every 
man who had slain an Indian was tattooed at tie 
comers of the month as a mark of distinction. 

AH tliese people loved their inland life and the 
merry journeys up and down the river in parties, 
In summer they lived in tents of caribou skin, built 
to a special pattern, on a wooden framework of some 
twenty branches interwoven so as to form a kind of 
beehive dwelling, easy to heat. A tent of this 
kind is called Qalorvik. Winter houses were built on 
the same principle, but with a stranger framework, 
and covered, first with peat or inoss, and then with 
earth stamped dawn to form a hard crust. The 
inside was thea lined with a thick layer of branches 
to pfswertfc the earth feom crambliog down. The 
w-bofe was then fomit error with snow blocks, resem- 
blk*g an ofxfiaarjr snow trat; indeed, it was probably 
modelled on this. Large stones set in the middle of 
the floor formed a fireplace, and a hole was kit 
in, ibe rod above to let out the sisoke. 




SAGPLUAQ, FROM COLVILLE RIVER 

He was young in the days when caribou were still hunted with bow and arrow. 



THE GIFT OF SONG AND DANCE 319 

The natives of the Noetak River mewed down in 
the spring to Cape Seppings and Kotaebue Strand, 
while those of the Utorqaq, the Utorqarnriut t as they 
are calkd f made for the whalers' quarters at Icy 
Cape. The Utorqanmtit are also called the wolf 
people, on account of their following the caribou 
like wolves, instead of staying at one place through- 
out the winter. These migrations took place be- 
tween October aod March, aloog the frooea riven, 
which with their many tributaries form a ttetwwit of 
paths through the hills aad wooded valleys. Owing 
to the scarcity of food for the dogs, teams were gen- 
erally reduced to two, and raen and women hauled 
at the sledges themselves. 

Thtas, fotighly, was the itmnd of Kfe among the 
dwellers on the great rivers, Geoerally speaking, 
they lived at peace among themselves, and also with 
the coast folk with whom they traded. But with 
those fiviog farther o^ Aey W^OT oonsiauxtty at 
and constant watchfulaess <wm aacessary, as 
enemies might at any time swoop down upoa *0y 
party that could be takea ttoawares. The maa 
always lay down witib tibear weapoas ready to haodL 

Affcer the primitive methods in rae amoog Hie 
Caribou Bskimoe of tfaa Baxtm Grooa(3s, % m 
interesting to see the droB of skill and ingeomty 
which these peopfe had devdkjped in thehr 
apa^ 



fewer tb^ twmty soch meth^ 

varkms kinds af ^me, M4 to* down, fowi 
the lips of my irfcwi^^ Sagdhqu dalrite irf 

most important* 



320 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

As regards their religious ideas, I found here, 
despite the difference in conditions of life as com- 
pared with the eastern tribes, the same fundamental 
principles as I have already noted. Their spiritual 
culture, like their material, was on a higher level, 
but based on the same ideas of tabu, of spells and 
charms and propitiation of evil spirits, with the 
angakoq as mediators between them and the super- 
natural powers. It has hitherto been generally 
believed that incipient totemism existed in these 
regions, and the marks found on implements have 
been adduced as evidence of this. Were this the 
case, it would mean a breach of continuity between 
the eastern and the western tribes. I therefore 
devoted particular attention to the study of this 
question, and came to the conclusion that the marks 
fotmd on harpoons, knives, and implements gener- 
ally, which had formerly been regarded as totem 
marks, were purely personal, a means whereby the 
owner could readily identify his property, as we 
might use initiate or a crest. 

Here also we find the dominant principle of rites 
aiad prohibitions in connection with the different 
animals httnted; sfems of caribou must not be worked 
on sear the sea, nor those of the seal within sight 
of tte river; certain work must only be done at 
^Sgous, and the like. Particular rules ob- 
tained m *^tod to caribou caught in traps; such 
anftnafes must never be cut up with iron knives, but 
only with flint or ^ate; a&d tie meat had to be cooked 
iti special pots. 

Wolf aasd wolverine are more or less of a luxury, 



THE GIFT OF SONG AND DANCE 3*1 

inasmuch as their flesh is not eateo, and they am 
only sought for as providing a finer sort of fur for 
triimniags. The hunter who aspires to the pursuit 
of these must not cut his hair, or drink hot scmp t for 
a whole winter, and no hammer erf nay sort must be 
used in his house. On returning home with the 
skin of a wolf, intricate ceremonies haTO to be ob- 
served, in which the neighbors abo take part. 

The hunter must Srst walk round his own home, 
following the sun. For a male wdf t be strips tm 
heel four times against the mil of the house, five 
times for a female, indicating the four and five days* 
tabu for male and female respectively . At the same 
time, the women inside the house must bow their 
heads aad turn their faces away from the entrance, 
while a tnan runs out and informs all the men in the 
other houses of the kilL Then all go out with their 
knives, in the lK>petfo^ 

to fee st2i present in l&e skio, nrigfet .^flfe" tiw 
knives aad let itself be eaugfrt tjy them neat tm. 
The hunter then carries the skin to the drying Imw 
and hangs it up; a young man ruas up with a piece ol 
caribou skin wfaicfa he hands to the himfaer. The 
latter then strips, and staacfog naked in the pr 9 
rube hinsdf all over with a piece of caribou dtia, 
after which a fire is fit, and he further deaoses his 
body % sfcaadipg in tibe smofce. His knives, bows 
and ans>ws are hung up beside the wolf's skia and &fi 
present cry atotd: "Now it sleeps with us" "it" 
being the soul of lite mciL 

The htmter thea extern bis om hot 



beside his wife, all the wcwaai stift sitttog with beads 



322 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

bowed and faces averted. The hut is then deco- 
rated with all the most valuable possessions: knives 
and axes, often of flint or jade, are hung up, bead 
ornaments, tools, anything a wolf might be sup- 
posed to like, or that the family specially value. 
Then all the men of the village come in, and the 
hunter tells stories, not to amuse his guests, but to 
entertain the soul of the wolf. It is strictly forbidden 
to laugh or even smile; the wolf might then become 
suspicious and lake it for gritting of teeth. Two 
stories must always be told, as one "cannot stand 
alone." Then the visitors leave, and all can retire 
to rest. 

But the ceremonial is not yet done with. On the 
following morning, the soul of the wolf has to be sent 
on its way. The hunter falls on one knee by the 
fire place, with a white stone hammer in his hand, 
and sings a magic song, and then howls: "Uhu!" 
four times for a male, five times for a female wolf, 
and raps four or five times on the floor of the hut! 
He then runs out and clambers up on to the roof, 
Hstening at the window, while another mm takes his 
post by the fireplace and cries out, "How many?" 
The ouster outside answers "Four" or "Five" ac- 
to tfce sex of the wolf, and the man within 
This ceremony has to be re- 



ete -houses. Then all the men 
where the skin is hung up, and 

gone through once more, all 
crying at last: 

snow as a good sotfl, as a strong soul!" 
a0w, but not before, a great banquet is held 




WOMEN FROM POINT BARROW 

A half-breed and a pure Eskimo, both wearing the picturesque dresses made from the hitt- 
spotted skin of tame animals trimmed with fur of wolf and wolverine. 



THE GIFT OP SONG AND DANCE 3*3 

in the hunter's house, the feast Bymbotiing the dead 
wolfs provision for the jouraey. AH the meat has 
to be cut tip beforehand into mcwtibfuls, for though 
each guest brings his knife, no fcaives are allowed to 
be used, nor may the meat be served o& an ordinary 
dish, but must be set out on a caribou skin. All 
available delicacies are served up with the greatest 
care. Nothing must be left, and anything not eaten 
must at once be given to the dogs, 

No hunter may kffl more than five wohres and five 
foxes in one season ; as soon as this number is reached , 
all his traps have to be taken in. Neglect of this 
precaution involves either IOGS erf the a^i^% already 
caught, or the risk of bring bitten to death. 

This cult of the beast-soul, or the continuation of 
life after death, reappears in numerous myths de- 
signed to instruct the merperimced. A point re- 
peatediy emphasi,zed is the digfat digeraace between 
human and ammal fife, and w& find oongtaut refer- 
enee to the times wfiaa beasts could turn into mm 
and men often lived as beasts. I give oae of tita& 
myths as told me by Sagdhiaq, of CohoBe River. 

How SONG AND DANCB AND THS HOLT GIFT o* 
PESTTVAI, FIRST CAME to 



"Theane were once a man mid a woman who Irwed 
fee sea. Hie man was a great hunter, soo- 
tkaes hii4^tiiig ga^ie far lnteiKt y and 
In 



"Tbea a 9oe itasf fadro to *beee twd 
aM when the boy grew op, his fether oa^o 

a little bow for shooting birds, gad in time be grew 



326 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to sing a song, nor how to beat a drum and dance 
for joy. O Mother, human beings have no festi- 
vals, and here is this young man come to learn! ' 

"At these words the eagle's old mother was glad 
and wakened more to life. And she thanked him 
aaadsaid: * But first youmust build a big house where 
all the people can gather together/ 

"So the two young men built a Qagsse bigger and 
finer than any ordinary house. And then the old 
eagle mother taught them to make drums, and to 
set words together making songs, and then to beat 
time and sing together, and last of all to dance. 
And when the young hunter had learned all that was 
needful, the eagle took him back to the place where 
they had first met, and from there he went bade 
alone to his own place. And coming home, he told 
his father and mother all that had passed, and how 
he had promised the eagles that festivals should be 
held among men* 

"Thai father and son together built a great 
qagsse for the festival, and gathered great stores of 
meat, and made drums and made songs ready for the 
feast; and when all was ready, the young man went 
put over great far ways seeking for others to join 
in the feast, for they lived alone and knew of no 
others near. And the young man met others com- 
ing two and two, some in dresses made of wolfskin, 
others ia fox skins, or skins of wolverine; all in dif- 
ferent dresses. And he asked them a31 to the fes- 
tivaL 



of meat, and whea aH had eaten, gifts were given 
them, of other tfemgp. Thea came the singing and 
dancing, and the guests learned all the soiigs and 
could sooe tafce part in the stegbag tiiemsetvea So 
they sang and danced all night, aod the old mat? beat 
* drum, that sounded Eke great iaanamecrs; Bfce 



THE GIFT OF SONG AND DANCE 3*7 

the heart of the old eagle mother beating. But 
when it was over, and the guests went away* it was 
seen that those guests in the skins of different beasts 
were beasts themselves, in human form. For the 
old eagle had sent them; and so great is the power of 
festival that even f^Vnafa can turn into human 
beiigs* 

"And some time after this, the young man was 
out hunting, and again met the young eagle, who 
took frttn as before to the boose where bis mother 
lived. And lo f the old and wealdy mother eagle 
was grown young again; for when men bold festival, 
all the old eagles regain, their youth; and therefore 
the eagle is the sacred bird of song and dance and 
festival'* 



CHAPTER XXV 

UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 

I HAD BOW to bid farewell to some of my faithful 
* dogs. It was impossible to take them all the 
way back with me, and I was anxious to leave 
them sonaewhere where they would be well cared 
for. I therefore handed over the majority to Ugper- 
satin, the trader at ley Cape, keeping only fottr in 
case we might h^ve need of them later on. 

I had been warned that it would be impossible to 
travel along the coast of Alaska at this season, and 
was prepared for the worst. Sledging was danger- 
ous, as the ice was already adrift in many places; 
we therefore decided to sail through the lagoons. 
Bart of the way we were towed by the dogs, where 
the coastline admitted of this; the arritr^tls trotted 
along on shore, with the boat at the end of a long 
towHne out in. the water; often at such a pace as to 
sewl tip a i ottntain of spray from the bows. At 
times we ran aground in the shallows, and had to 
turn out and wade about looking for some passable 
Bffcer tfctree days of this we reached Point 



!ttiee t2be ^ras an Eskimo village, 
The natives he were too well off foe wwds. My 
host, Toripa, had a store of coffee, tea, sugar, flow, 
tobacco, petroleum almost enough for a ysear, witli a 




I 



X 

M 
C 



ii 



I! 
I s 



I 



330 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

and carrying off more houses, it is impossible to say 
what may have been the original number. Prob- 
ably, the village here and its immediate neighbor- 
hood had at one time something like 2000 souls, or 
as many as are now to be found throughout the 
whole of the North-west Passage between the Mag- 
netic Pole and Herschel Island. Human bones are 
scattered about everywhere, and Mr. Thomas in- 
formed me that he had himself during his short term 
of residence seen to the interment of 4000 skulls! 

The whaling here is still excellent, and there was 
abundance of everything, with no fear for the com- 
ing winter. I arranged with a couple of story- 
tellers to work with me, and thanks to the kindness 
of my host, Mr. Thomas, was able to spend my time 
to the best advantage. Qalajaoq, a notable author- 
ity on local affairs, gave me the following account of 
the origin of the place: 

"In long forgotten times, there were no lowlands 
here at the foot of the mountains, and men lived 
on the summit of the great mount Irrisugssuk, 
south east of Kotzebue Sound; that was the only 
land which rose from the sea; and on its top may 
still be found the skeletons of whales, from those 
first men's hunting. And that was in the time when 
men stai waJleed on their hands, head downwards; 
^o towage i* was. 

. "Ik&ifcttL one day the Ravenr-iie who created 
heaven aixd-eartWrowed out to sea in his kayak 
far out to sea, and there he saw something dark mov- 
ing aad squelching on the surface of the water. He 
rowed out and harpooned it; blood flowed from the 
wound he had made. The raven t330t$ht it nmst 



UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 331 

be a whale, but then saw that it was a huge dead 
mass without beginning or end. Slowly the life 
ebbed from it, and he fastened his towline to it and 
towed it in to the foot of the hills south of Uivfaq. 
Here he made it fast, and on the following day, 
when he went down to look at it, he saw it was stiff; 
it had turned into land. And there among the old 
ruins of houses may still be seen a strange hole in 
the ground; that is the spot where the raven har- 
pooned TiMtaq. And that is how this land came," 

The Tikerarmiut were once a mighty people, and 
there is a legend of a great battle fought by them on 
land and sea against the Nunatarmiut, somewhere 
near Cape Seppings; the Tikerarmiut were badly 
defeated, and never regained their former power* 
Then in i8&7 came the establishment of the whaling 
station at Point Hope, The chief of that period, 
Arangaussaq, endeavored to oppose the progress of 
the white men, but without avail, and m Ms death 
the natives made peace with the whites, who thence 
forward assumed the mastery. 

Point Hope is most interesting as a centre and 
repository of the ancient Eskimo culture, with much 
that is not found elsewhere. I gained some. consid- 
erable knowledge of their more particular mysteries 
from Qalajaoq. A notable feature is the use of 
maAs at figttres in their festivals, which is carried 
to an extoooilsary degree. 

The angakoq, &ter a visit to the spirit world, 
endeavors to give a record of what he has seen by 
carving masks to represe&t the different faces he 



332 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

has seen, the spirits also being present. He further 
calls in the aid of others, who carve according to his 
instructions, producing a great number of remark- 
ably fantastic masks. Special songs and dances are 
composed, and used in conjunction with the masks 
at the great feasts, which are held at different sea- 
sons in honor of the different animals forming the 
staple of food. 

Greatest of all is the Great Thanksgiving Festival 
to the souls of dead whales* This is held in the 
qagsse, which serves ordinarily as a place of assem- 
bly for all the men of the place, but on special occa- 
sions as a temple or banqueting hall. The upper 
part of the interior at the back is painted to repre- 
sent a starlit sky, much trouble being taken to pro- 
cure colored stones to serve for pigments* A 
carved wooden image of a bird hangs from the roof, 
its wings being made to move and beat four drums 
placed round it. On the floor is a spinning top stuck 
about with feathers; close by is a doll, or rather the 
upper half of one, and on a frame some distance from 
the floor is a model skin boat, complete with crew 
and requisites for whaling. 

The proceedings open with the singing of a hymn; 
then a man springs forward and commences to dance; 
this, however, is merely the signal for mechanical 
mar^db to begin. The bird flaps its wings and 
foeafe its drams with a steady rhythmic beat. The 
top is set spjnrtfng, throwing out the feathers in 
all directions as it goes; the crew of the boat get to 
work with thdr paddles; the doll without legs iKxJs 
beyws in all directions; and most wonderful of 



UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 333 

all, a little ermine sticks out its head from its hole 
in the wall, pops back again and then looks out, and 
finally runs across to the other side to vanish into 
another hole, snapping up a rattle with a bladder 
attached as it goes* All hold their breath, for should 
the creature fail to enter the hole with rattle and 
bladder behind it, one of those present must die 
within the year. But all goes well, and the company 
gasp in relief. Then follows a general distribution 
of gifts, edible delicacies mostly, to all present, and 
the guests depart. 

On the 3ist of July, having collected a great store 
of folklore, and finding the weather more favorable, 
I decided to push on. We travelled now in a little 
dinghy with motor attached, keeping dose in to 
shore and visiting natives here and there. We met 
Elektuna, the first of the Eskimos to own tanie rein- 
deer; he has IK>W a herd of SOD bead, tended fey him- 
self and two sons. On the 3rd of August we came 
to a camp of young people from Noataq River, with 
a herd of 3000 reindeer, of which 1000 were the 
property of a single man. These people were deanly, 
intelligent, well to do, and contented, retaining many 
of their sound Eskimo qualities, but speaking Eng- 
lish fluently, and living as traders, in direct comtnu-. 
meatabu with Seattle. 

At 1Sfcj on the 7th of August, we crossed Kotzebue 
Sotmd; i^^afegr i^ts sMJow, and perfectly fresh, as 
three riv&s, tbtf Noatak, Kuvak a&d Sffivik, flow 
out into the sea just fa&ne* We had to mate a wide 
sweep round, following <3iffetfeat dbannels, and landed 



334 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

late in the evening among gold-diggers, traders and 
Eskimo salmon fishers. 

Kotzebue was an outstanding point on our long 
journey; for here it was that I could get into touch 
once more with the outer world, after three 
years of exile; here at last I should find a tele- 
graph station the most northerly in America. 
Naturally then, my first errand on landing was to 
send a message home announcing the successful com- 
pletion of our long sledge trip. We had pitched our 
camp among the Eskimo tents, and the telegraph 
station lay in the opposite end of the town. And 
my mind was very busy as I strode down to the office, 
mentally writing out my message on the way. 

I was not a little disappointed then to learn that 
the telegraph, newly installed, was not in working 
order at the moment; the operator, whom I had 
looked to electrify with my news, listened stolidly, 
and suggested at last that I might try to get through 
from The Boxer, a vessel lying some ten miles to 
the south. This meant waiting till next day with 
a sleepless night between, and this too failed. I 
had perforce to return to the office in Kotzebue again, 
and it was two days the longest on the whole expe- 
% ditio& before the operator succeeded in getting 
through to Nome. The same evening I had the 
fefty from Copenhagen. . AH was well at home, and 
my ooosrades had got through successfully. 

The gofod news affected me to such an extent that 
for the fiSBfc time in months I put aside^aH thought 
of rwork, and treated myself to an unlimited rest. 



UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 335 

I slept for twenty-four hours, to the great astonish- 
ment of those about me. Thus refreshed, I could 
look about for the best means of utilizing our stay 
here until the mailboat from Nome could take us on. 

Kotzebue (Qeqertarsuk) was the biggest town we 
had visited as yet, with a school, postoffice, the afore- 
mentioned telegraph station, and five or six big shops. 
Then there ware gold diggers of various nationali- 
ties; and a camp of about a thousand Eskimos. 

In the white traders' quarter, I came tipon an 
enterprising young native, Peter Sheldon, who 
owned a small motor boat, a neat and swift little 
craft with cabin and skylights; the very thing for a 
trip up the river and a glance at the country round. 
I arranged with him to go up the Kuvak as far as 
Noorvik, of which I had heard a great deal already. 

Noorvik is a remarkable place, a township bttilt 
to order, for the Bureau of Education. It had been 
found difficult to work with the atimezoos scattered 
little Eskimo villages with a few children in each, 
and arrangements were therefore made to shift 
them up inland where they could be tatight together, 
and at the same time removed from the danger of 
demoralizing influences on the coast. The result 
was a model town of 300 inhabitants. 

At six in the morning we sailed across Hotham 
Inlet and entered the Kuvak. It was wonderful 
Hie sun had come out after a long spell of 
aa&I Hrisfc; aM we, who had been blockaded by 
ice ^rm^KMt tibe srcmmer, revelled in the slgfct <k 
this new cotixitry, unljlra any Eskimo territory we 
had ever seen. Heare were wooded hills, fringing 



336 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the fertile delta, rich grass land and soft warm 
breezes laden with the scent of trees and flowers. 

Hotham Inlet (Imarsuk) is a big sheet of water, 
looking bigger than It is from the fact that the low 
shores are invisible until one is close upon them. 
Here, as throughout the whole bay, the water is so 
shallow that navigation is only possible by follow- 
ing the channels of the rivers. In rough weather, 
the crossing is impossible, as the water simply boils 
over the shallows, and parts axe left high and dry. 

In the course of the morning, we reached the 
Kuvak Delta, a big plain cut through by numerous 
channels, forming a maze which it would be impos- 
sible to negotiate with safety were it not for the marks 
set up at intervals along the fairway. The land- 
scape seems altogether tropical to us, after the deso- 
lation. o the Arctic coast* Bushes, low trees and 
tall grass run right out into the water, and ducks, 
geese and other waterfowl rise noisily as we near 
them. At noon we land at a Kttle "road house " 
or travellers' shelter, open to any who happen to 
pass. It is designed more especially for winter use, 
and comprises, in addition to the house itself, a 
kennel with room for 15 dogs, a store of hay and a 
stack of firewood. We got a fire going in the stove, 
and had a meal ready in a twinkling. This disposed 
of, we went off up river once more* The vegeta- 
tion grows richer and taller as we advance, and a 
cottpfe of hours after leaving the road house we have 
fir trees osa either side. Only a few at first, looking 
Kfae fojgotten Christmas trees, solitary strangers 
the native birch a&d willow, but they soon 




NASUK, FROM KOTZEBUE SOUND 

An old wiseacre, well up in the ancient traditions of his people and an excellent teller of 

folk tales. 



UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 337 

grow bigger and more numerous as we go on, until 
there are whole woods, running down to the water's 
edge. Farther on again, the banks are tangled for- 
est where axes would be needed to cut a way through. 
Here and there we come upon a deserted village; 
the natives have forsaken their fathers* hunting 
grounds and gathered about the modem wonders of 
Noorvik. 

We reached there late that evening, a&d found the 
place well worth a visit. Three schoolmasters, an 
inspector, a doctor and two nurses attend to the 
various departments, and all are earnestly interested 
in the work. Everything is arranged on the most 
modern lines. There is a fine hospital with an oper- 
ating theatre excellently equipped, and 40 beds, 
the whole in a two-storied building. Medical attend- 
ance and medicines are free, but patients admitted 
to hospital pay 75 cents per day if they can afiord it. 
I found natives of all ages hem; omvale^ceafe were 
admitted to the doctors' rooms aaad were given 
books, magazines and ifltisfcrated papers, besides 
being entertaiBed with gramophone concerts. They 
seemed to be having a t3borou^ily good time alto- 
gether. 

The Eskimos live IB neat wooden houses, with. 
electric light installed; for this, a charge of a dollar 
per &K*ath per house is made, the proceeds serving 
t^B stages of the engineer in charge of the 
Eskimos have themselves 
tfa eaaeratar, tibe 



being provided by the state. The place bemg in 
good timber country, a SOTrariH has been set tip and 



338 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the natives can have any quantity cut on 
in kind, a sixth of the load being the usual cost. 
The doctor's wife, who is herself a nurse, acts as a 
kind of sanitary inspector and looks after hygienic 
conditions in the homes. Last winter, a flag with the 
Stars and Stripes was offered as a prize to the house- 
wife who kept her home in finest order. Visits of 
inspection were made at all hours throughout the 
winter in the different homes, but the lady inspector 
found them invariably so thoroughly washed and 
scoured and clean and neat that no white woman 
could have done better. At the end of the term, 
the question as to who should have the flag became 
a problem indeed, for all seemed equally to have 
deserved it. And the ingenious solution ultimately 
arrived at was, that it should go to the one who 
had most children and yet had kept her house as 
dean as the test. 

The white men seem to be thoroughly well in con- 
tact with the natives all round. The Inspector often 
goes out felling timber with them, and lives in camp 
among them. His wife helps the girls with their 
needlework, in addition to her missionary work. 
The doctor takes an active part in the affairs of the 
community apart from his own special task. 

could be said for and against such an 
Theoretically, it looks excellent, as an 
fe systematic popular education. But it 



k always -ri^ky to interfere overmuch in the private 
lie of gitwn men and women. The Eskimos appear 
t wiiii their fife hare so far, though they do 



gieaily ifce .iJife ^^omatic u %fats otrt" at 9 



UNCLE SAM'S NEPHEWS 339 

P.M. or the prohibition of smoking. These of course 
are trifles, thotigh ttndoubtedly constituting inter- 
ference with the liberty of the subject. More seri- 
ous is the increase in competition owing to num- 
bers. In consequence of this, the hunters, in the 
trapping season, have to leave the settlement and 
scatter in distant camps throughout the forest, while 
women and children are left behind out of regard 
to the schooling. The same applies to the fishing 
season in spring and autumn. It is perhaps doubt- 
ful whether this splitting up of families can go on for 
long; at present, owing to the confidence inspired 
by the Bureau of Education among the natives, it 
seems to work well enough. 

We spent a day at Noorvik, and were most hos- 
pitably entertained in all the houses we visited. On 
the following evening we were back in Kotzebue, 
once more. 

On the 2ist of August the mailboat from Nome, a 
little schooner named the Silver Wave, arrived. We 
went on board, and found the Captain was a Nor- 
wegian, John Hegness. After a stormy voyage, we 
reached Nome on the 3ist of August. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 

XJOME lies on a moist grassy plain with a fine 
*^ range of fertile hills in the badkground, mak- 
ing an Imposing picture to those coming from the 
wastes of ice and snow. My two Greenlanders 
gazed wide-eyed at the spectacle, impressed by the 
white men's power of forming great settlements far 
from their own country. 

Thirty years ago, the population consisted of a 
few Eskimo families^ winning a bare existence from 
the sea. Then, in 1900, gold was found, and as if 
by magic a town sprang up, with room for ten 
thousand souls. The haste with which it was con- 
structed shows even now in the lack of regard for 
beauty or comfort. Gold was the one idea. It is said 
that in Nome, there is gold underfoot wherever you 
tread; and during the last twenty years, the district 
has produced over eighty million dollars. Methods 
at first were of the most primitive sort; men dug 
with spades in the sand wherever they could get at 
it, or stood in lines along the shore trying to wash out 
gold dust from the sand. Mighty machines have 
superseded all this, and men now prefer the certainty 
of a high wage regularly paid to the chance of a 
fortune that may never come, 

340 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 341 

The season at Nome is but short; in the first half 
of June the ice disappears and navigation begins; 
by the end of October, or early in November, the 
last vessel has left for the south. The summer 
population now is about 2000; in winter barely 900, 
chiefly whites; of the permanent residents hardly 
more than a hundred are Eskimos. The town is a 
sort of capital for North-west Alaska, a centre for 
equipment of trading expeditions, and the constant 
stream of people passing through in summer pro- 
vides a means of existence for stores, agencies and 
trades of various kinds. 

My companions were naturally interested in the 
sights of the place ; the streets with their curious wood 
paving, and the shops with all manner of wares 
they had never seen before. Anarulunguaq in par- 
ticular cotfld hardly believe it was all real. After a 
first look round, we went into a restaurant to get 
something to eat. To my astordsfarae&t, *we ware 
turned out! I had forgotten that we were now in 
regions where people are judged by their outward 
appearance, and had not given a thought to oar old, 
worn clothes. We took the hint, however, aad at 
once set about to procure the garments of respect- 
ability; took rooms at an hotel, and arranged our 
mode of life on modern lines. 

I had reached Nome at a fortunate time for my 
work. Here were assembled Eskimos from all parts 
of Alaska; the entire population of King Island, the 
so-called UHtivangmiirf, the inland IMdmos from 
Seward Pfeoinsttla, tbe Qavjasamitft, the longing- 
from Cape Prince of Wales, tiie Ungaterdler- 



342 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

mint from Norton Sound and the mouth of the 
Yukon, the Siorarmiut from St. Lawrence Island, and 
finally, natives from Nunivak Island. They had 
come in for the tourist season. Some lived in gold- 
diggers' cabins, but most of them in tents, and great 
camps had sprung up at either end of the town, 
where the Eskimos worked away making " curios," 
quaint carvings in walrus tusk, a form of industry 
which might bring in three to four hundred dollars 
in the course of one summer, enough to purchase 
necessaries for the winter with which to return home. 
The streets were full of Eskimos trotting about on 
business; they rarely, if ever, offered their wares 
direct for sale in the streets, but sold them to shop- 
keepers who retailed them, All were cleanly and 
decently dressed, kindly and respectful when spoken 
to, without the least sign of having become demoral- 
ized by life in town. 

It was a festive time from first to last at Nome; an 
ugly little town, but a town that quickly won one's 
heart. It is the threshold of Alaska out towards 
the great adventure of the north, and the people one 
meets are inspired with the same love as we ourselves 
for that Nature which calls and enthralls. No won- 
der that one finds friends here. I shall always 
remember with especial gratitude the members of the 
" Loiaaaa dynasty/ 1 who, with the splendid old Judge 
aisd Ms wife afctibfcif '.bead, threw open their charm- 
ing home to aH the members of the Expedition, white 
irtagt and Eskimo alike. 

I calculated that I could afford to spend a month 
here, even allowing for a visit to East Cape, as the 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 343 

vessel which was to take us down to Seattle would 
not leave until the end of October. I had thus an 
excellent opportunity of studying the various Alas- 
kan types without having to travel in search of them, 
since they were all assembled here, I have here 
selected two of the most distinctive, namely, the 
King Islanders of Bering Strait, and the natives of 
Nunivak Island, south of the Yukon delta. 

The native myth regarding the origin of King 
Island is as follows: 

A man from the neighborhood of Igdlo came 
rowing down the river in his kayak. Near Teller 
he sighted a giant fish, which he harpooned with a 
bird dart. The great fish splashed about so violently 
that the river overflowed its banks, forming the sheet 
of water now known as Imarsuk. It then swam on 
again, and the man pursuing harpooned it once 
again, when the creature in its further struggles 
gave rise to a new mmklatiQa, forming the bay at 
Port Clarence. It tliea smm far out to sea, the 
hunter followed, and at last killed it. He then 
cut a hole through the snout, in ordear to fasten a 
towline, but a great storm came on, and he was 
obliged to leave it. And there it stayed, and turned 
to stone, and became the island of UMtxvak (King 
Island). There is a hole at one eaad of the island, 
cut right through the rock; and that is the hole which 
the tr>fl.n cut in the fish's snout* 

The Qavjasamiut lived in the interior, some 
way inland from Teller. In one of their villages 
there was a girl who, being scolded by her mother, 
ran a^siy* and leaping on to an ice floe, was carried 
out to sea, a^Iai^edoaEiag Island. Siiewastiie 
first human being to kad there, and kept herself 
alive by magic; afterwards, others came over from 



344 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

the mainland, and a great village was formed. But 
the island was steep, and there were no valleys 
where houses could be built in the ordinary way; 
they had theref ore to be set up on wooden supports 
on the steep rocky slopes. It was very cold here, 
with a constant wind, and the houses were built with 
three walls all round; first of driftwood, then a cover- 
ing of hay, and over all a thick outer layer of walrus 
hides. 

Thus the native account of King Island, its origin 
and colonization. 

It is beyond question, the most inhospitable island 
I have ever seen; some 3-4 km. long by 2-3 across, 
with steep rocky sides all round. In calm weather 
it is generally wrapped in fog; and when clear, har- 
ried by fierce winds, with a heavy swell that makes 
landing difficult among the broken rocks and churn- 
ing waters at the foot of the cliffs* For a great part 
of the winter the place is cut off from the mainland 
altogether. When I visited the island, it was deserted 
for the time being, the entire population having gone 
in to Nome, We -managed to land, in a small boat; 
and certainly it was worth a visit. It was like climb- 
ing up a bird cliff . The houses stood on piles lean- 
ing over the precipice; here and there, in the more 
exposed parts, the buildings were "moored" to the 
roc^itsetf with topes of plaited walrus hide. Ropes 
^^ ^t^^;^solr^ points on the shore up to 
the jbouses, as aa aid to the ascent. Here and 
there one saw flat spaces under the houses them- 
selves, where the rock had been levelled to make a 
playground for the children. 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 345 

There was a notice board on the island, stuck tip 
between a couple of boulders, with the following 
announcement in a flourishing hand: 

NOTICE 

All property on this Island belongs to the Eskimo. 
Do not take or disturb anything. Failure to com- 
ply will result in arrest and prosecution. 

AVLAQANA, 

Chief , King Island. 

The King Islanders are zealous Catholics, and 
generally visit the Catholic Mission station at Nome 
during the summer. They are not only regular 
church-goers, but send their children to school as 
far as they are able, while the little ernes themselves 
are keenly, interested in their lessons. Unfortu- 
nately, there is not a sbgle spot on the island where 
a school could be built. The Board of Education 
therefore proposed, some years back, to shift tibe 
entire population to St. Lawrence Island, where 
there is level ground and fertile soil; and as an 
inducement, each family was offered a two-years 1 
supply of provisions, with special facilities f or acquir- 
ing tame reindeer. They were Hrited to hold a 
Tweeting, presided over by their dhief , and were given 
time to consider the matter. It took them very 
little time, however, to decide; not a single family 
WOT$4 feave the naked rock they called their home; 
to gfata,; ft^ias tbe^feiest spot in the world* 

These Kftig j^de^ are f or the most past tall 
and well fosift according to Eskimo staadaads; they 
are, moreover, particularly neat and orderly with 



346 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

their gear. Their skin boats, kayaks, harpoons, and 
implements generally are the most handsomely 
worked in Alaska, and they have nearly always a 
full store of meat in reserve for the winter. Close 
to the village is a cave thirty metres deep, where 
meat will keep frozen all through the summer; it is 
entered through a narrow passage, and great torches 
have to be carried, as it is perfectly dark inside. 
Joints and carcases are marked with their owner's 
mark, the one store-chamber serving for all. 

Their names for the different months of the year 
give an idea as to their manner of life. 

October is the month of thin ice. Winter is 
approaching, and those who have been over to the 
mainland hurry back to set their house in order. 
The weather is unreliable, and it is dangerous to 
venture far out to sea. There is little hunting of 
seal or walrus, but fishing is carried on, mostly for 
small cod. 

November is the hill-climbing month. The houses 
are built on the south side of the island, where there 
is now open water and very rough seas. The prev- 
alent north wind, however, drives the ice in on the 
north shore; seal and walrus assemble there, and the 
villagers "climb the hill" to descend and go hunt- 
ing on the opposite side. The yield, however, is 
bat poor at this season. 

December is tfae-d&nce month. Weather stormy, 
and days too short for much, to be done in the way 
of hunting; there is, however, generally a plentiful 
supply of meat in reserve, and the dark stormy days 
are passed in feasting. 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 347 

January is the turning month, when the sun turns 
on its journey and begins to rise again. Light re- 
turns, the Strait is filled with ice and hunting com- 
mences on the north side of the island. 

February is young-seal month. The seal are now 
heavy with young and are caught at the breathing 
holes and patches of open water. Sometimes the 
ice is firm enough for the islanders to cross to the 
mainland. 

March is preparation month. Larger spaces of 
open water appear, the ice breaks adrift and kayaks 
and implements are made ready for use. 

April is the month of getting out kayaks again. 
Winter hunting has now ceased altogether, the ice 
scatters, and the walrus begin to make their appear- 
ance. Seal and ribbon seal are harpooned from the 
kayak. This is the commencement of the spring 
season. 

May is the month of flowing stoeams. Usegtouacl 
is now clear of snow and the earth "comes alive." 
Hunting in kayaks is continued ainong the drifting ice. 

June is the month of light nights; game is abun- 
dant, and hunting is carried on by night and day* 

July is the month of sleeping walrus, when the 
anjmA.k gather in great numbers on the ice and sleep 
in the sun, being thai easily harpooned. During 
this and the following month most of the winter's 
store of eat is procured. 

August m the moirtii of fledglings. Seabirds are 
now caugbt in gfa& iirafeeis; many of tlie islasklei < s t 
however, prefer to go faartib&r afield, catching mar- 
mots for fur or gathering belies. 



348 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

September is sldn-forming month, i.e., when the 
velvet begins to form on the antlers of the reindeer. 
In earlier times, the islanders went over at this sea- 
son to the mainland, hunting caribou; now, however, 
they buy skins of tame reindeer from the owners of 
herds, and sell carvings and curios made during 
winter to the tourists at Nome. 

The King Islanders are remarkably adapted to the 
harsh conditions under which they live, on a barren 
rock in the middle of the Bering Strait. They are 
hardy and always in training, frugal and industri- 
ous, obstinate and independent in character, and 
holding fast, despite their conversion to the Roman 
Catholic faith, to many of their ancient festivals, 
stories and songs. In their isolated position, with 
the monotony of winter on their little island, they 
naturally seek such diversion as can be found. Occa- 
sionally, in summer, several villages will hold great 
song festivals just as in the old days; and the King 
Islanders are famous for their dancing. There are 
a couple of dance houses in their village which appear 
to be of very ancient date. They are altogether 
overgrown with grass, which is so astonishingly lux- 
uriant that it has almost filled up the chasm in which 
these two buildings are stuck like fantastic birds' 
sesta I clambered up into one of them and wormed 
my TOJ tifaoiigh the six metres of entrance tunnel 
fomlt of stones and earth; the place was hung abottt 
with tambowin^ and weird, staring masks more 
Eke a temple erf the spirits than adance house. Un- 
fortttnately, there was no one on the island at the 
time of my visit, and I had to be content with mak- 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 349 

ing the acquaintance of the islanders in the picture- 
drome at Nome, where I found them wondering at 
the coldly impersonal manner in which white men 
go to their "festivals/' 

The Eskimos from the south and west of the Yukon 
spoke a dialect differing so considerably from the 
others that I found it, contrary to all previous exper- 
ience, impossible to discuss difficult questions such 
as matters of faith and ceremonial, without the aid 
of an interpreter. I was fortunate in finding an 
excellent helper in the person of one Paul Ivanoff, 
a half-bred Eskimo, from St. Michael, who had 
also lived several years on Nunivak Island. I 
understood his speech without the slightest difficulty, 
while he also spoke the southern dialect, which is 
more or less the same throughout the whole range 
of country down to Ktiskokwim and Bristol Bay. 

One might expect to find the E^doaos soiQ&e civil- 
ized farther to the sotith; this however is not the 
case. The Nunivak Islanders occupy a poor ami 
barren country with day soil, round the deltas of 
the great rivers; there is nothing here to attract 
the white man. No gold, no furs to speak of; the 
natives live mainly on seal and fish. Navigation is 
difficult along the coast here, owing to frequent 
storms, shallow water and lack of harbors, so that 
the pfeopfe lie^e have remained practically cut off 
from, tfee development of the rest of Alaska. CMy 
recently lias Italtaieatttcf Iducatkm began to set 
up schools in this region, but in most places the 
natives are still heathen, cannot *ead, or even speak 



350 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

English. They were thus peculiarly interesting from 
my point of view, and I was able to procure a great 
deal of information as to their customs and cere- 
monies, in which a marked Indian influence is appar- 
ent. A notable feature in this respect is their use 
of masks, in which the spirit element is developed to a 
degree far exceeding that noted under Point Hope. 
There is still a belief in the very slight distinction 
between the animals and man, and the power of 
animals to take human form; hence many of the 
masks represent seal, or birds, or beasts of prey f 
with human faces. Each type is credited with some 
particular power, and serves to assist the augakoq 
in his invocation of helping spirits which here as 
elsewhere are the mediators between life and the 
supernatural. 

Despite the miserable country and climate in 
which they live, the natives here have by no means 
lost their capacity for festival entertainments; on 
the contrary, we find here some of the prettiest cere- 
monies in use. When a child is born, the parents 
give a great feast to all those from some distance 
round, and old men and women are given gifts by 
the mother, according to her wealth and position. 
Every husband is expected to lay in a store of costly 
ttrs, garments and finely worked weapons and imple- 
to fegiveii away at tfae birth feast; the birth 
diicl:s ooi^iefed so great a blessing that a 
may well give away aH he possesses. 

Similar f easts are held for the dead, with a view 
to preparing the way for them and Tpfrfrmg them 
bappy in the world beyond The ceremonies here 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 351 

last a week, with various rites each day, and costly 
gifts to all present. As a rule several families com- 
bine in a festival for their respective dead, but even 
then the proceedings may be so expensive that sev- 
eral years of saving may be required to defray the 
cost of a feast worthy of the standing of the deceased. 

The frail kayak to which the hunter trusts him- 
self on the sea is built with great ceremony, special 
rites being designed to ensure safety and good httnt- 
ing. The kayak is generally renewed each year, as 
it is considered unpropitious to enter on a new hunt- 
ing season with old gear of any sort. During the 
time when a maa is engaged on the building of a 
kayak he does not enter the women's house, but 
remains isolated in the dance house, which is also 
the men's workshop- Work must be done fasting, 
no food bemg taken until the evening, when the 
day's work is done. AM lias to be doo slowly and 
carefully, with the obsecvaaee of rv$mm fomis of 
tabu. When it is finished, the kayak Is consecrated 
on the first fine day when the sea is calm* Tbe 
whole family will appear in new dothes, maa, wife 
and boys girls are considered tmdean. The kayak 
is set on the ground with all the new implements 
decoratrvely arranged in place. Hie ceremony takes 
place at dawn; the man walks in front holding a 
lighted lamp, aad aH step round the kayak, the idea 
bdjiig t&at the flame scares away all evil spirits. 
Tbe m& than ^ttets tibeee words: 

" May we 



procuring food." 
Then he goes out Irirfttb^ aod t&i day he brings 



352 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

home his first seal, with the new kayak, his wife 
loads up a little sledge with good food, fish, game and 
seal meat, and drives from house to house, giving 
gifts to all widows and fatherless children. 

Thus gratitude should be shown for the blessing 
of daily food. 

Every autumn a great festival is held in honor 
of the ribbon seal, which is an important factor in 
their life. The strange ceremonies here in use 
reveal the fundamental elements of that religious 
belief which we find among the Eskimos far to the 
east, in connection with preparation for winter work 
and the making of new clothes for the coming year, 
where strict rules of tabu must be observed. 

The preparations for the festival begin in Novem- 
ber and last a whole month. During this time the 
men must live apart from the women, remaining in 
the dance house, which their wives are only allowed 
to enter when bringing their food. The women, 
who are regarded as unclean in connection with all 
animals hunted, must take a batH every morning 
before carrying food to their husbands, and when so 
visiting them, must wear the waterproof garments 
used in stormy weather. 

Every festival begins with new songs competed 
by tfefe men, a kind of hymas invoking the spirits, 
me& $1 xirqmea sbgbg aad daadng together. 
WMMiiiia^^i^ sposjBg these hymns, all lamps 
most be put out, aacl ail mtist be silent in the dance 
houses with nothiog to disturb them* All males 
saust be present, even the smallest boys, so long as 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 353 

siluni, or time of waiting for something to break; for 
it is held that in the silence and darkness, when all 
are striving to think only noble thoughts, the songs 
are born in the minds of men as bubbles rising from 
the depths of the sea to break on the surface. The 
song is a sacred thing, and silence is needed for its 
birth. 
Here is one of the songs: 

The autumn comes blowing; 

Ah, I tremble, I tremble at the harsh northern wind 

That strikes me pitilessly in its might 

While the waves threaten to upset my kayak. 

The autumn comes blowing; 

Ah, I tremble, I tremble lest the storm and the seas 

Sand me down to the clammy ooze in the depths of the 

waters. 

Rarely I see the water calm, 
The waves cast me about; 
And I tremble, I tremble at thought of the hour 
When the gulls shall hack at my dead body. 

As soon as a song has been made it must be sung, 
and the women are called in to learn it with the 
rest. The making of songs, and dancing, must ady 
be done in the evening; in the daytime, all are tmsy 
with other things; the women sewing, the men carv- 
ing selected pieces of driftwood into various imple- 
ments and utensils for the winter; large handsome 
vessels for water, drinking bowls and ladles, meat 
dishes and the like, so that each fairly has its own 
new set of requis&es. Whm the mm and women 
have finished their respective tasks, the angakoq 



354 -4 CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

is invited to call upon his helping spirits. He appears 
in new winter boots and creaking waterproof skins, 
and sits down in the middle of the floor. A line is 
brought out and a noose laid round his neck, four 
Boen hauling at each end of the rope, yet he utters 
his warnings and prophecies in a clear voice, despite 
the fact that he is apparently being strangled. 
Thus, almost hanging by the neck from the rope, he 
invokes the various animals, and informs the com- 
pany when the winter hunting can begin. 

As soon as this is over, the floor boards are moved 
away from the dance house, and a fire is lit in the 
space beneath. All vessels, marked with the owners' 
respective marks, must now be exposed to the heat 
of the fire, the men at the same time purifying them- 
selves by a perspiration cure. The window in the 
roof is removed, the smoke escaping from the open- 
ing, yet so fierce is the heat that the men are dripping 
with sweat. Finally, they wash in cold water, This 
concludes the preparations for the great feast. 

The feast itself lasts eight days. During the past 
year, the bladders of all ribbon seals caught have 
been carefully preserved, and these are now brought 
in to the dance house, hung up with bundles of herbs 
under the roof, where a harpoon and line are also 
fixed, with a small lamp lighted beneath them. 
IJieaai witfe great solemnity the new clothes are put 
^aM4jie$^ haaded round to their respec- 

tive 0we$s. Hie women are called in, and feasts 
are held every day t ending with "song and dance. 
At last, the seals' bladders are dropped into the sea 
&iaugfa a hole in the ice, while the angakoqs implore 



CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE ARCTIC 355 

the animals to be generous to men- On the eighth 
evening, men and women exchange gifts, and prom- 
ise to try their best in the coming winter to be better 
in conduct and in their respective tasks. 

The festival ends, as it began, in deep silence, the 
silence of good wishes and good resolutions. 

And then the winter hunting can begin. 

Here I conclude this description of the Alaskan 
Eskimos. . * . They number a little more than 
the Greenlanders, or about 14,000. The total num- 
ber of the Eskimos is thus distributed approximately 
as follows: Greenland about 13,000, Canada about 
5,000, Siberia about 1200 total thus about 34,000. 

In material respects, the culture of the Alaskan 
Eskimos resembles more or less that of the natives of 
Point Barrow, Point Hope and on the great rivers 
up inland, as already described. There were of course 
adaptations to local conditions, but in the main, the 
old principles were followed throughout. Hunting 
on the ice is in these regions, as in the greater part 
of Greenland, relegated to a secondary pla^e, and 
we naturally find it most highly developed in the 
neighborhood of the North-west Passage, where it 
remains the only form of seal hunting. The netting 
of seal, however, unknown farther to the east, is an 
important feature; even to this day nets are made 
from thin strips of sealskin and placed in narrow 
openings of the level ice near open water. But 
hunting at sea is the staple form, and is carried to a 
high degree of perfection. The Eskimo methods 
were doubtless developed on the shores of the Ber- 



356 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

ing Sea, but whether this was due to the natives 
alone or aided by alien influence, cannot be deter- 
mined with certainty. 

The southern territorial limit of the Eskimos at 
present is on the east coast of Bristol Bay and at 
Kodiak in the Pacific, formerly, however, they ex- 
tended as far as Prince of Wales' Sound and the coasts 
immediately to the southeast. Here lived also the 
northernmost tribes of the North-west Indians, the 
Tlingit, and the Eskimos here encountered a highly 
developed culture based on the same forms of hunt- 
ing as their own. It is always possible that they 
may have learned something from their neighbors. 
This is certainly the case as regards some of their 
legends, especially the raven myths; also the cult of 
masks and the complicated ceremonial at their fes- 
tivals. It is at any rate characteristic that these 
particular customs should have attained their high- 
est development in these southern regions. 

It is a consolation to every explorer that even the 
most comprehensive expedition never comes to an 
end, but by its researches opens the way for further 
work. It lies then with the future to investigate 
more closely the problems thus raised. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 

TV7HILE flying before the gale on board the Sifaer 
" Wave, just off Cape Prince of Wales, we sighted 
a little flotilla of quaint looking skirt boats that came 
dancing over the choppy waters of the Bering Strait, 
Hie sails were so close-reefed that the wind had but 
the merest rags to catch hold of, but the boats were 
heavy laden, and tore through the waves like so 
many flapping seabirds. 

It was a party of Siberian Eskimos from East 
Cape, on their way home feom Teller, where they 
had been to trade. It was a hurried meeting, but 
thrilling in its way, and left me more than ever 
keen to visit these people on their own ground. In 
the extreme eastern corner of Siberia Eve the most 
westerly of all the Eskimos, and here surely was the 
most fitting point at which to end the Expedition, 

Before landing anywhere in Siberia, it was neces- 
sary, I knew, to have a passport issued by the Cen- 
teal Office of the Soviet Government in Moscow. I 
bad no such pass, for reasons which will appear 
Iaf$r %*su ^1 ipas therefore prepared to meet with 
some difficult^, but my *>wn keen interest in the task 
led me to imagine that my reasons must appear 
sound enotigh to anyoee, Tb& obstacles to be reek- 

357 



358 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

oned with arose from causes which had nothing what- 
ever to do with my own work and aims. In the first 
place, relations between the Soviet Republic and 
America were generally strained, and secondly there 
was a particular cause of dispute . just now in the 
matter of certain small schooners which had for 
generations past traded with Siberia under the 
United States flag, and now wished to continue 
without paying for the license which the new govern- 
ment not unreasonably demanded. 

There were two ways of crossing Bering Strait. 
I could go in an Eskimo boat. This would be, to me, 
the easiest and simplest way of accomplishing my 
errand; but there was this disadvantage attached to 
it, that the native skin boats can only cross with a 
certain wind, and I might have to wait some time 
for it. And I had no time to spare. Also, in the 
event of any collision with the authorities on the 
other side, I should be alone, and at the mercy of 
any arbitrary official. 

The other way was to charter a schooner. I should 
then have the advantage of being in company with 
other white men; on the other hand, it might preju- 
dice my case if I were to arrive in one of those very- 
vessels which were the subject of dispute. 

Anyhow, the crossing must be made somehow, 
mtfeiaiely, I chartered a small schooner, the Teddy 
Bmfi captain and ow&er Joe Bernard, a well known 
and respected personalty in these waters. I had 
at once, on getting into touch with the wireless at 
Kotzebue, sent off a message asking for permission 
to land from the Soviet Government, but after 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 359 

waiting three weeks I was forced to start without 
it, as otherwise the season would have been too far 
advanced to cross at all. 

Bering Strait is one of the most treacherous waters 
in the world, gale follows gale almost incessantly, and 
in this part of Alaska there are practically no har- 
bors in which one can seek refuge. We started on 
the 8th of September, and had a stormy week to 
start with, which forced us to seek the shelter of small 
islands and headlands here and thane, shifting our 
refuges from time to time as the wind changed about, 
and in daily peril of being carried out into the still 
more dreaded Bering Sea. At last, on the i6th, 
about noon, the weather began to dear, and that 
evening, in the dark, we passed Cape Prince of 
Wales. From here, our course lay past Diomede 
Island over to East Cape itself. We came from 
Teller, aad rounded the steep black cliffs in fine 
weather; the summits stood right up among the 
clouds, and there was a mighty wash of breakers at 
the foot . At the extreme limit of the land, on a piece 
of level ground, was an Eskimo encampment. We 
heard women laughing, dogs barking, and children 
at play, but saw only a duster of lighted gutskin 
windows, the only visible slga of human habitation. 

I was tired out after the restless threshing about of 
those stormy days, and turned in early that night, 
at dawu, Captain Bernard came 
; we were nearing Diomede Island, 
I tamed oofc at P0; ifc was still barely Kgfet asd I 
could just make out a great dark mass rising sbeer 
and inhospitable from the sea, with thousands of 



3 6o ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

seabirds wheeling and screaming over the cliffs, while 
the water broke in a scurry of foam on the rocks 
below. And this was fair weather what would it 
look like in a storm? Yet the place was inhabited, 
though it looked like a bird cliff and nothing more. 
We made in towards the headland, intending to 
anchor, but just then a mass of fog came up, and the 
island vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. 
We gave up the idea of a visit for the time being, and 
made straight for East Cape, 

Towards noon the fog lifted, and we sighted a for- 
bidding rocky coast with snowclad hills rising from 
the sea. There was a desperate loneliness in the 
bare look of that land; a fitting aspect for the utmost 
verge of a continent. Masses of drift ice lay spread 
along the shore; the place looked desolate and far 
from any recognized route to anywhere. It was 
almost a shock to perceive a big steamer maMng 
straight towards us. The vessel was a patrol boat, 
and we were soon aware that the Soviet was keeping 
guard over its farthest frontiers. We hoisted the 
Danish flag, and the big boat seemed to peer inquis- 
itively, only to turn its back on us next moment as 
if disdaining to approach anything so insignificant. 

The ice almost hides the Eskimo village from view, 
and we can barely make it out. Anyhow, there is 
no shelter here,, so we sha|>e our course for Emma- 
town, seme miles Jarther south. Captain Bernard, 
aa experienced navigator, knows that the coast there 
will be dear of ice with this wind, and give us anchor- 
age under shelter of a spit of laa<L There is a small 
township there consisting of a few TchtikcM families, 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 361 

some traders, and the Soviet representative. We are 
not particularly anxious to run right into the arms 
of the frontier poEce, but we shall have to meet them 
sooner or later. 

We came sailing in with the Danish flag flying, and 
at once the red flags of the Republic were hoisted 
on shore. I am not sure that they had seen the white 
cross in ours. Captain Bernard and I were both 
pretty certain we were in for a trying day , andaccoid- 
ingly, had a good meal before going on shore. At 
last we got the dinghy out, and rowed to land, where 
we were met by a well known trader named Charley 
Carpe&dale, who has lived here for a generation, 
He at once introduced us to a giant of a man, whose 
height was further accentuated by a tall fur cap; this 
is the frontier guard, AUayefL We shook hands, 
and I found myself looking into a pair of very 
friendly eyes; btrfc there was a hint of obstinacy 
about the mouth that I feared might meaa trouble. 
We found here also a Russian-English interpreter 
named Leo, and some traders from the recently 
established Soviet store. 

We had hardly got our boat hauled up on shore 
before AHayeff requested us to accompany httn to 
the police station. Here, with the energetic assist- 
ance of Bernard, I endeavored to explain my 
errand, and the reason for my having no passport, 
a ffefe same time requesting permission to stay for a 
m&s^m&&ji tibe 'Eskimos of East Cape. I prom- 
ised, of eottrs^M^i^tmdingshotild take place with 
the natives. 

AHayeff declared that he had no authority to give 



362 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

me any such permission, and that if we did not put 
to sea again at once he would be obliged to send me 
under escort to the Governor at Wahlen. I recog- 
nized that this would at least prolong my stay in the 
country, and add to my chance of obtaining what I 
wanted; accordingly, I declared my willingness to 
make the journey. 

I was then led over to the Tchukchi village, where 
a team of twelve dogs was in readiness. I had barely 
time to glance at the place. It was at once evident 
that these were people of a different type from the 
cheery, noisy Eskimos, These men looked seri- 
ous, and from their expression, appeared to regard 
me as some dangerous criminal. Curious types 
there were among them, but all looked poor and ill 
cared for. Women came out from the big dome- 
shaped walrus hide tents and stared curiously at 
our party; they were not unaccustomed to seeing 
people carried off never to return. A few dirty 
children clustered round the sledge. 

All my papers had been taken from me and handed 
to the Tdhukchi who is to take me to the Governor, 
The dogs are started a miserable team and we 
move slowly over the sodden, melancholy tundra. 
Not a trace of snow here, only swamp and water- 
course aad marsh. The only enlivening feature of 
the landscape is the neck of East Cape rising strongly 
ie t&e asfc; tibe^y the first snow has already fallen 
on the heights, aad L gleams encouragingly; but for 
tile rest there is nothing but flat marshland, mud and 
mire and wet; and as if this were not enough, the 
sky sends down a steady soaking drizzle. 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 363 

My driver had his own way of urging on his team. 
He carried a special kind of harpoon, with a sharp- 
pointed nail at one end, which he threw from time to 
timeout among the dogs. At first they stopped dead; 
then, with howls of pain, they put on the pace for 
a few minutes. It was a pitiful proceeding for an ex- 
perienced driver to watch; but the man was my jailer 
at present, and all my papers were in his charge, so 
it would hardly be wise to interfere. Moreover, 
there was no means of making oneself understood. 

The dog-harpoon, or flying whip, is furnished at 
the kindlier end with a bunch of sted rings that 
rattle when shaken, and the sound also serves to 
urge on the team to fresh effort; evidently, the poor 
beasts have learned by experience what to expect if 
they fail to answer this hint. The dogs were har- 
nessed in pairs, and I will in justice admit that de- 
spite their slowness, doubtless due to a summer on 
short commons, they were most obedient, After a 
couple of hours' energetic persuasion, they seemed 
to think it as well to make an end of the business, 
and went on at such a pace that we had to take it 
in turns to sit on the sledge. 

I had always wanted to visit Russia, but the 
atmosphere of this monotonous tundra, the endless 
. unchanging expanse of cheerless waste, was hardly 
what I had looked forward to. Moreover, I was 
i30fc a&ogefcfaer free from anxiety as to the outcome of 
tfae iotertiew awaiting me. Nevertheless, I was 
convinced tlia* I iiad^Doe the right thing so far. 

Some distance out wfe encountered another sledge 
coming from the opposite direction; it proved to be a 



364 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

Tchukchi, who spoke a few words of English, and we 
halted for a few minutes' talk. It was an awkward 
sort of conversation, standing there in the drizzling 
rain, shifting our feet continually to keep from sink- 
ing into the mud* I could not make out -my fellow- 
traveller's name; it sounded rather like the chatter of 
a seagull as he pronounced it. He was very inter- 
ested in my doings. Was I a trader? Had we any 
sort of goods on board our ship, and would we trade 
with him, somewhere out of sight along the shore? 

I explained that I wished to conform to the law 
of the land, at which he protested, urging that the 
shops were all empty, and one could not even pur- 
chase ammunition. To make my own position 
clearer, I told him a little story I had heard myself 
regarding one .of the American traders a few weeks 
before our arrival at East Cape. He had been in- 
formed, through one of the Eskimos on Diomede 
Island, that the Russian authorities had no objec- 
tion to his landing at East Cape and trading with 
the natives there. Trusting to this safe conduct, 
he went across, and started bartering, only to find 
himself immediately seized and accused of illicit 
trading. AH the ready cash on board his vessel, 
some $2000, was confiscated; the trader himseJf 
got away, thankful that they had not taken his ship 
Bat when the Eskimo intermediary on 
^^M,lieafd what had happened to his 
Mend, be crossed to the mainland himself to com- 
plain of having been made the instruBae&t of a plot 
ie "defiance of good faitk AI he got for his pains 
a fine of $25 for insulting the authorities, and the 




REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RUSSIAN SOVIET FROM EMMATOWN 

He refused us permission to land at East Cape in Siberia. 



366 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

curious combination garments of reindeer skin, worn 
as a rule with one aim out of the sleeve, leaving half 
the body naked. They were not without a certain 
ample grace, rather reserved, and trying not to 
appear inquisitive. I had not time to study them 
closely, however; an elderly man, broad-shouldered 
and of stern countenance, stepped forward and I 
braced myself to meet the Governor. As it turned 
out, however, this was only a bankrupt trader one 
of the victims of the new monopoly. A moment 
later another Russian appeared, dressed from head 
to foot in sealskin; he introduced hfangftlf in excellent 
English as Peter Cossigan, trader and interpreter. 

Authoritatively he waved the crowd aside, got my 
papers from the driver, and led the way up to 
Government House, where my fate was to be decided. 
On the way, I managed hurriedly to explain who I 
was and what I wanted. As a sufferer under the pres- 
ent regime, he seemed inclined to sympathize with 
my position. 

Despite the commotion occasioned by our arrival 
among the natives, none of the Government officials 
appeared, and we made our way in to the office* Here 
all was wild disorder, with papers and documents 
strewn about everywhere, and a medley of people 
dodging about and getting in one another's way. 

"Dctiskaya Ekspeditiya" is all that I could mate out 
of what is said in the course of an eloquent speech 
introducing me to the Governor, one Nikolaus Los- 
seff . He wore a ragged old sweater, and his manners 
were as informal as his dress. Losseff appeared to 
be a kindly soul, personally most willing to oblige, 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 367 

and was deeply distressed on hearing what is the mat- 
ter. I was introduced to the other officials present: 
Vassili Dimitrievitch Kouslmm, Chief of Police, 
newly arrived from Leningrad; Peter Bodrofi, In- 
spector of Finances for the Chukotsk Peninsula, and 
Police-Constable Maxim Penkin, a giant of a man, 
who smiled with the simple kindliness of giants as a 
race. 

The Chief of Police at once took over all my 
papers, including a passport issued from Montreal, 
a letter of recxmmendation from the Danish Lega- 
tion at Washington, a letter from the Danish Con- 
sul at Seattle, and one from the American Minister 
of the Interior, strongly emphasizing the purely sci- 
entific aims of the Expedition. Unfortunately , it soon 
appeared that the Chief of Police could not read our 
Governor, who is in no better case, 
^> tbs office, to afl appearance 
mudi perttifbadL M-^b^^p^e|fei^ve treated me 
with the greatest courtesy, altogether diitereat from 
what I had expected of the new Soviet type; and 
after the exaggerated inf ormaJity of C^adiaa and 
Americanmanners, it was quite refreshing to see a man 
bow, actually bow politely, when one is introduced. 
A chair was placed for me, and Russian cigarettes 
were offered. Then the negotiations commenced* 
I was no longer conscious of my wet clothes; my 
one thought now was for the Expedition, With the 
aid of an excellent interpreter, I endeavored to mafce 
dear to them tfeat my object in visiting East Cape was 
strictly and exdus&ely scientific, and that thk was 
abundantly evident from the papers I had shown 



368 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

them. With all the energy at my command I 
that my having no passport was due to the fact that 
there was no Government of Siberia in existence at 
the time when I started from Denmark, and that 
the Governorship of Wahlen was not established 
until a year after. Also that I had endeavored, 
throtigh the nearest Danish consulate, to get into 
communication with Moscow, but in vain. And 
finally, that after three years of travelling from one 
Eskimo settlement to another, I had arrived at 
East Cape in order to study the Eskimos there, and 
begged the Soviet authorities to accord me the same 
facilities as I had received in Canada and America, 
where an Expedition coming from the Arctic regions 
is regarded as exempt from passport formalities. 

In vain the Governor tugged at his hair, went out 
and came in and went out of the room again, all the 
time hugging the one solid fact which he seemed 
unable to get over, namely, that I had no passport 
from the Supreme Government in Moscow, and that 
his instructions left no margin for acting at his own 
discretion. I was further informed that the great 
concentration of officials was due to the strained rela- 
tions existing between the Soviet and the rest of the 
world* and not least the formal conflict regarding the 
possesskm of Wrapgel Island, to which place a war- 
s&ij> b$d been despatched that swimer. 

to be popular after Vilh- 
eaqpkat in planting the British 



ing m Wraagd Island, which the Russians regard 
territory, Eagka4 #eftised to recognize 
aad Stefaassoa established a trad- 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 369 

ing concern on the island by himself, but later ceded 
the rights to a syndicate at Nome, which brought 
over Alaskan Eskimos to the disputed colony. 

All unsuspecting, I had tumbled innocently into 
a political wasps* nest, and made the best use of 
such arguments as I could find, pointing out, for in- 
stance, that it would hardly be wise to turn away a 
scientific expedition from Russian territory after 
it has been received with interest and encouragement 
everywhere else especially just now, when the 
Soviet should be keen on showing the world that 
Russia under the new regime appreciates the value 
of culture and science generally, AH, however, 
apparently to no purpose. 

All at once the Governor seemed to recollect that I 
had been travelling for some time; and appeared also 
to notice that I was covered with mud. 

"Are you hungry?" he asked suddenly. 

I admitted the fact. Whereupon he dashed out 
into the kitchen, to retttrn a moment later and drag 
me through with him. Two smiling Russian girls 
were busy preparing a meal, and I passed them with a 
bow, finding time to notice their peculiar beauty, the 
white sldn, and their eyes with long dark 



lashes that seemed fifce an expression of all unspoken. 
melancholy in the world. We entered the dicing 
room, the Governor sat down at table with me, and 
the women followed. One of them was his wife, the 
other a yottng sdK>dims tress from Irkutsk I made 
an attempt at conversatkm, trying three languages, 
but in vain. We turned ena^ticafly to the dishes 
before us; oversweetened cocoa and some hot, sweet 



370 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

preserve eaten with bread; famished as I was, it went 
down as meat with a hungry Eskimo. 

The dining room was an apartment with bare walls 
devoid of ornament, perhaps in order to focus atten- 
tion the more directly upon the Constitution of the 
Soviet Republic, a copy of which covered the whole of 
one wall. And also I had almost forgotten it in 
one corner a picture of Lenin, dressed as a simple 
street scavenger. I gazed at him, not without bitter 
reproach at the thought of his having given this 
otherwise amiable Governor instructions leaving no 
room for the slightest deviation: the letter of the law, 
or off with his head! 

A moment later the Chief of Police came in and 
informed me that I might stay the night in the Gov- 
ernor's house, but must return to my ship the following 
day and leave Siberia at once. Very sorry, but . . . 

It was goodbye to East Cape. 

I had thus one evening and part of the following 
day to work in, and hoped that after all I might 
be able to make some use of my time. East Cape 
was out of reach, but there were a few old Eskimos 
at Wahlen and at Emmatown whom I could talk 
to. There were also the Tchukchis; and I had here 
an excellent interpreter in the person of Peter Cos- 
who spoke their language and English with 
The police imposed no further restric- 
tions on my liberty? I was free to go where I pleased 
and speak with whom I pleased during the eighteen 
faotes or so that I was stiE strflered to remain ill 
Sroiet territory* : ' * 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 371 

I began by calling on the traders, who were as- 
sembled in a small house, and discussed with them 
the situation generally. They were all Russians, 
but in spite of this, their position was worse than my 
own. The Soviet monopoly forbade them to trade 
on their own account, while at the same time, the 
government offered them no other means of making 
a living, and no opportunity of getting out of the 
country. One of these tmfortunates, whose name I 
will not mention, fumbled in an old chest full of odd- 
ments, and pulled out a huge bundle of notes paper 
roubles from the time of the Czars. These were his 
savings; rouble on rouble hoarded up by years of 
economy; and now, he declared, worth less than so 
much cigarette paper* 

I asked how many there were* 

" What does it matter?" he answered. "I used to 
know the whole sum to a kopek, but now, I can- 
not say. Thirty thousand, a hundred thousand 
roubles, it makes no difference either way." 

One old trader named Gobrinoff, who had suffered 
the same fate, burst out suddenly into a foolish 
mirthless laugh, and the rest of us fell silent. 

These bankrupt traders speak no ill o the Soviet, 
in spite of the fact that they, like everyone else in 
the district, have to look forward to a winter with- 
out tea or coffee, perhaps without tobacco, though, as 
tbey explain almost apologetically, there will be 
plenty oi wates meat and blubber. It is something 
erf a degi2u3a$i m tfeeisr old age; tbey were wealthy 
once, snsesi c$ (^tiifcetica in the place, and 



are now reduced to eating the blubber cf charity and 



372 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

seeking the warmth of the native yarrangs as soon 
as the winter drives them from their own wooden 
huts, which they have no fuel to make habitable. 

It was not a cheerful party, and I was glad to take 
my leave and go visiting with Peter Cossigan. among 
the natives. The information I acquired in the 
course of these visits, and subsequently, may be sum- 
marized as follows : 

Save for the Governor's residence and a couple of 
stores, Wahlen consists exclusively of yarrangs 
huts of the Tchukchi type inhabited by a couple of 
hundred people, who get their living solely from the 
sea. The Tchukchis, and also the Eskimos of East 
Cape, still live exactly in the same fashion as before 
any white men came to their country. No attempt 
at spiritual influence has ever been made. It was 
thus a magnificent field for ethnographical research, 
and one in which I might well have spent some 
months. As it was, I had only a few hours, and can 
only give one or two of the main features. 

Peter Cossigan, who had himself married a Tchuk- 
chi woman, led me first of all into one of the largest 
yarrangs. It was a curious structure, half hut, half 
tent, consisting of a heavy wooden framework built 
to the shape of a dome, and covered with walrus 
hide. We found ourselves at first in a sort of front 
room which occupied about half the entire space, 
with a fireplace in the middle of the floor, on which 
some walrus njeat was cooking at the time. Despite 
a couple of ventilation holes in the roof, the place 
was so full of smoke that it was some little time 
bdfore I made out the figure of a woman kneeling by 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 373 

the fire and tending her pot. She rose to her feet 
with a little laugh, and invited us to enter. I now 
perceived that there was a sma.11 tent of reindeer 
skin hung up in the interior of the hut, being fastened 
by thongs to the wooden framework, but without 
tent holes of its own; this was just large enough to 
enclose what would have been the raised sleeping 
place in an Eskimo hut. There was no particular 
entrance to this tent; we simply crawled in any- 
where under the sides, which were made of heavy, 
thick-hair^ winter skins. In this inner apartment 
sat a young woman perfectly naked, busy prepar- 
ing some sealskin, The temperature indeed did not 
call for any excess of dothing, for though the sun 
was blazing down outside on the walrus hide, and 
making the place intolerably hot already, there were 
two blubber lamps burning in addition. There 
was no raised platf arm or couch to serve as a bed- 
place, but the floor itself in this apaitmeat was made 
of wood covered with layers of walrus hide. The 
place served as a workroom for the women during 
the day, and a bedroom for the whole family at 
night. Looking about me, I realized that all the 
implements in sight, knives and other tools, even 
the drums, were of exactly the same type as those 
I had found among the Eskimos. It was therefore 
the more remarkable to find that I understood not a 
angle wofd of the language. The young woman 
greeted m wife a frieodly smile, and went on with 
her work, and i^^p^aaioa now informed me that 
o&iy womea wesie geaeraHy to foe f emnd in the 
bouses during the daytime; they dM their cooking 



374 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

and needlework here, while the men were out in the 
open air practically all day long. When not actu- 
ally out hunting, they would be outside somewhere, 
whatever the weather was like. We should there- 
fore find no men anywhere indoors at this time of 
the day, and therefore found it best to invite a 
couple of Cossigan's Tchukchi friends in to the little 
hut, where his native wife, a gentle and kindly soul, 
at once made tea for us* 

The one thing most prominent in my mind at the 
moment was to find out what the Tchukchis and the 
East Cape Eskimos respectively thought of each 
other, and get their views as to relations generally 
between the races. One old man whom we ques- 
tioned was well up in this subject, and began by 
pointing out emphatically that his people were the 
original inhabitants of the country, and nothing to 
do with the Eskimos. In which connection he gave 
us the following story: 



"In a strange land, among a strange people, there 
lived a little girl whose mother was always displeased 
whatever she did. No matter what trouble she took 
with the tasks assigned to her, she was continually 
being scolded. At last she could bear it no longer, 
aad ran away from home, taking with her aH her dolls. 
She walked and walked for ever so far, till she came 
to a land she did not know, And here she built her- 
self a shelter from the wind, and decided to live 
there. But one night she woke up and found that all 
her dolls had come alive; had turned into real men 
and women. And from these, it is said, sprang the 
of the Tc&ukdhis." 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 375 

Originally, all the Tchukchis were hunters, but 
some learned in course of time to tame the wild 
reindeer, and grew rich; others, who could not attain 
to the ownership of a herd, moved down to the coast 
in the hope of finding better fortune there. When 
the Tchukchis first came down to the coast, there 
were no Eskimos there. They found all manner of 
beasts in the sea; seal, whale and walrus, but it was 
long before they learned how to hunt them; they 
tried to make boats so as to follow them out at sea, 
but their hunting implements were poor, and they 
were often hungry, despite the wealth offered them 
by the sea. At last they took to tnaking long sea 
voyages, along the coast and far out to sea, where 
they could perceive land in the farthest distaace. 
This was Diomede Island. Here they met a strange 
people whose tongue they could not understand; a 
people who called themselves Eskimos, and lived 
likewise on the beasts of the sea. But they had fine 
weapons for their hunting, aad many curious ways of 
Idling seal and whale and walrus; they had har- 
poons furnished with lines and bladders; they had 
big sktr* boats f or long voyages and little swift kay- 
aks. But they were a hostile people, with whom it 
was not wise to live for any length of time, and there 
was often war between the two peoples. Once a 
wfaole boatload of Tchukchis was attacked and slain 
to ifee last man. This was too much. AH the men 
from many villages assembled and sailed across the 
sea; and whea the Eskimos saw this great number 
apf8*>adhiBg, they mad$ iready for a fmttle. But 
the Tchukehis had not ocme to fight; they only 



376 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

proposed that an agreement should be made between 
them, so that they could live in peace and trade with 
one another thereafter. They then laid out all the 
trade goods they had brought with them; skins of 
the caribou, and handsome white spotted skins of 
the tame reindeer; skins of wolf and wolverine they 
kid out on the rocks by the strangers' village, and 
the Eskimos saw all these skins, which they them- 
selves needed but could not get, because they lived 
on a little island in the midst of the sea. Thus the 
Tchukchis offered to make peace, and peace was made 
between them, and has never since been broken. 
And it was not long before the Eskimos in turn 
began to make trading voyages to the coast of the 
mainland, and finding excellent hunting in the 
neighborhood of East Cape, they determined to 
build a great village of their own there. Thus the 
two peoples became neighbors, and the Tchukchis 
learned all the Eskimo methods of hunting; they 
built fllHn boats and made lances, harpoons and bird 
arrows, and lived as the Eskimos did. The Eskimos 
in their turn wished to dress as the Tchukchis did, 
and copied also the manner of their houses, which 
are built of wood and walrus hide. They also 
learned to cut their hair in the same way. So the 
aae people learned of the other, but each retained 
its own language, and only very rarely did those of 
oil jr&ce fetennsrfy with the other. 

The Eskimos, however, were frodoq. the first superior 
oa tibe sea^ and so they remained, The East Cape 
Igidmos, who hunted with the America** whafcrs, 
became famous tor their ^ffl,in^managbg a boat; 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 377 

and in a mixed crew of Eskimos and Tchukchis, it 
will always be the Eskimos wlio take command. 
When hunting on the ice in winter, if difficulties arise, 
it is invarably an Eskimo who is chosen to lead the 
way* 

All this I had from the mouth of the old Tdaukchi 
himself, 

According to the Tdhttikchi tradition, then, the 
Eskimos are a new people who came into Asia from 
Alaska and the islands of the Bering Sea* This tra- 
dition accords entirely with the Eskimos' own recol- 
lections of the manner in which the islands in ques- 
tion, and East Cape itself, became inhabited. 

All the old myths agree that the first men came to 
Xing Island, from the interior east of Tellar, while 
Diomede Island was inhabited by people coming 
from Tffag Island and Schismareff; from here again 
they found tfadr way -to East Cape, and thence fur- 
ther along the coast of Siberia both iKarth and south- 
west. Ruins of Eskimo houses are also found in 
both directions. I was naturally tmable to make 
excavations here, but I did manage to examine a 
number of old houses at Wahlen, which were indu- 
bitably of Eskimo origin. The only island in the 
Bering Sea colonized by Eskimos from the Asiatic 
side is St. Lawrence Island, called by the Eskimos 
Sk&aq; this, however, is due to the geographical 
the island lying close to the Siberian shore, 



so that a^entarers from East Cape would reach it 
by way of 

I managed dtmtig &rf short slay to note d0wn a 
Hst of native words showing that the East Cape dia- 



378 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

lect is very like the language spoken at St. Lawrence; 
and oddly enough, both resemble mostly that spoken 
south of Norton Sound and over the Yukon right 
down to Bristol Bay, differing considerably from the 
form current in the rest of Alaska. 

Until the American Bureau of Education com- 
menced work in Alaska, the Siberian Eskimos were 
greatly superior to the American, both in conditions 
of life and in general estimation; now, however, the 
reverse is the case, and those Siberian natives who 
have been to Nome for trading purposes marvel at 
the enormous progress made by their fellows on that 
side, while they themselves live in a country whose 
government seems to take no interest in them what- 
ever beyond getting their furs at the lowest possible 
price. 

This then was the result of my visit to Wahlen and 
my encounter with the Soviet. 

On the following day I was taken back across the 
same dreary tundra, and escorted on board the 
Teddy Bear by the Chief of Police and the kindly 
giant of a constable, Penkin. I was shown out; 
requested to leave and that forthwith; but it was 
some consolation to reflect that my visit had not 
been altogether fruitless. The information I had 
Ipiteed fitted in admirably with the previous re- 
of the expedition, ^nd confirmed the correct- 
s of wtiat we had already learned. 
We hoisted sail and got under way. The ice lay 
to shore, and we were forced to He for a little 
off the Eskimo village at E&st Cape. It was 



THE BOLSHEVIK CONTRAST 379 

like looking into the promised land that one was not 
fated to enter. Novoqaq is a big village with some 
400 souls. The jaws and ribs of whales were used 
for building material, as we could see, not only for 
the houses but for platforms and drying frames out- 
side. The houses themselves were built on a slope 
of the steep hillside, wall to wall; down on the beach 
were skfa boats and whale boats ready to put out 
the moment an animal was sighted. It was in the 
height of the walrus hunting season, and one had 
not long to look with a good glass before one per- 
ceived the great heavy bodies on the ice-floes as 
they surged along dose together to the northward. 
The walrus were dosing; as if well aware that the 
boats could not put out because of the ice between, 

Young men and children came running down, out 
on the ke itself, and right up to the ship, A few 
came on boaixl M& sfcayed with us for an kmr; 
they knew I was not allowed to stay, and the situ- 
ation called forth expressions of regret on both 
sides. Needless to say I should have been glad to 
see more of them, and I could see that they wotild 
have welcomed me among themselves, 

However, there it was. A few days later we were 
back in Nome. And the Fifth Thule Expedition 
was at an end. 

As I rowed on shore in the dinghy, I saw a mart 
rtmokig backward and forward on the beach, wav- 
iag in his hand. It was a telegram, 

addressed to w^&iKf 8& I opeeed it not without 
some excitement, as to its coirteiite. It proved to 
be from the Danish Foreign Ministry, stating briefly 



ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

that permission had been obtained from the Soviet 
Republic for me to land at East Cape, 

Only, as fate would have it, the information arrived 
six weeks too late. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

SILA 

AH true wisdom is only to be found far from the dwell- 
ings of men, in the great solitudes; and it can osily be 
attained through suffering, Suffering and privation 
are the only things that can open the mind of man 
to that which is hidden from his fellows," 
IGJTJGARJUK, erf the Caribou Eskimos. 



moraing at the end of October, 1924, 1 awoke 
for the last time in the little wooden dwelling 
on the outskirts of Nome, where I had been living 
for the past month. By noon that day I must be 
on board ffee big totirist steamer bound for Seattle, 
and these years of life among tibe Eskimos would be 
at an end, 

I was delighted at the work I had beea able to 
acxxmrplisli dttring that time, and my thoughts iiat- 
ttraHy tamed once more to a last survey of tfaevast 
regions which we had traversed and the people we 
bad met. Otae could not but fed some regret that 
it was all over and done; a happy spell of work that 
w<^dd never come again, aad now mtist give place 
to" tile hurry of returning to civilization, and the 
trying to give out again scaa^- 
tiling of aH I had ii&c3ved. 

Alas, what are t^otfcfe *m*3a fife itself! 

I went out into the morotftg staalight aad felt the 

38* 



382 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

cool breeze in my face. The lakes were already 
frozen over, and the first sledges were driving over 
the snowy plains. The town itself was getting ready 
for the coming winter; white men were writing their 
letters for the last mail before the port was closed by 
ice, and the Eskimos were making preparations for 
return to their scattered villages far around. 

As fate would have it, this very morning I received 
a visit from an angakoq ; one of the few still remaining 
in these parts. And as he was the last of all I met, 
it seems fitting to conclude with him* 

His name was Najagneq, and I met him for the 
first time in the streets of Nome, as a fugitive in a 
strange place. His appearance alone was enough to 
create a sensation; among the well-dressed people, 
with fashionable shops on either hand, and motor 
cars hurrying past, he looked like a being from an- 
other world. His little piercing eyes glared wildly 
around, his lower jaw hung down, swathed in a 
bandage half undone; a man had recently tried to 
kill him, aad wounded him badly in the face. 

Strange things were told of him. He had turned 
his house into a fort and waged war single-handed 
against tie rest of his tribe. And against all white 
men as welL He had already killed several people, 
whim he was captured by a ruse and brought in to 
Norse, Here he was Jcept in prison for a year, and 
fepd jtist been refeasedipr ki&ctf ^evidence to <x>n,vict 
him. Opinions wefe. divided as to the rights of the 
case; some declared he was simply half^iiffiad, and a 
to the community; others regarded him as 
oa behalf of Ms people agaiiist the whites, 



SILA 383 

and against those misguided natives who supported 
them. He was forbidden to speak his own language 
in prison, and as he could not speak any other, be 
did not speak at all for a whole year. By the eod 
of that time, ten witnesses from his own village had 
been brought in to give evidence against him, but 
when confronted with the accused, all without excep- 
tion dedated they had nothing to say. He was 
known to be a powerful wizard, and no oee dared to 
give evidence against htrn. In face of this, there was 
nothing to be done but release him, and send Vmn 
back to his own place, on Nunivak Island. 

I managed to get into touch with him just before 
his release, and as I happened to be working amoag 
his fellow countrymen at the time, I had ample op- 
portunities for observation. He was never tired of 
telling stories of his life in prison, and by no means 
disinclined to tritsnph a little over those of his own 
people who had tried to rM tfaeasifres of his #oe&- 
tricity by affiance with the whites, yet had not dared 
to say a word when brought face to face with ****** in 
court. 

He had found fresh food for thought* in this great 
town. Though accustosned cmly to earthen huts, 
sledges and kayaks, he was not impressed by tibe 
great houses, the steamers or the cars; but a white 
horse pulling a heavy cart had set his imagination 
woddng. And he solemnly iaf onaed his wondering 
feUow-tribesmm that the white men in Nome had 
killed frfrn ten times during the past winter; but be 
had had ten white horses for his helping spirits, and 
by sacrificing one oil each occasion be had managed 



384 A CROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

to save his life! For the rest, his confinement in a 
solitary cell had not crushed his spirit. He, the great 
hunter, had learned to talk to the darkness, had van- 
quished solitude itself, and now, released at last, had 
accustomed himself to the lack of open air life, of 
speech and humankind* 

This 10 HP wizard was an oldish man, with fiery 
eyes, a power of words and a forceful utterance 
that impressed those with whom he spoke. He was 
curiously gentle and friendly toward me, and when 
we were alone, was not afraid of confessing that he 
had been playing on the credulity of his native 
friends. He was not a humbug really, but a man 
accustomed to finding himself alone against a crowd, 
and with his own little tricks of self-defense. When- 
ever the talk turned on his early visions and the faith 
of his fathers, he spoke firmly, clearly, and in the 
plainest earnest. His words were brief and to the 
point; and I suited myself to his manner as far as I 
could. So that a conversation between us would 
be something like this: 

"What does man consist of?" 

"Of the body; that which you see; the name, 
wfaich is inherited from one dead; and then of some- 
tfoing more, a mysterious power that we call yutir 
the soul, which gives life, shape and appearance 
to ail that Eves." , 
> ; ; ?fW!a&t do you think o the way men live? " 

* They five bcofee&ly, imngtfog all tljings together; 
because they cannot do one thing at a 
A great hunter must n0t be a ; great lover of 
But no ooe can help it* Animals are as 



SILA 385 

unfathomable in their nature; and it behooves us 
who live on them to act with care. But men bolster 
themselves up with amulets and become solitary in 
their lack of power. In any village there must be 
as many different amulets as possible. Uniformity 
divides the forces; equality makes for worthlessness/* 

"How did you learn all this?" 

"I have searched in the darkness, being silent in 
the great lonely stillness of the dark. So I became 
an angakoq, through visions and dreams and en- 
counters with flying spirits. In our forefathers* day, 
the angakoqs were solitary men ; but now, they are all 
priests or doctors, weather prophets or conjurers 
producing game, or clever mejx&ante/lseffing their 
skill for pay. The ancients devoted their lives to 
maintaining the balance of the universe; to great 
things, immense, unfathomable things." 

"Do you believe in any of these powers your- 
self?" 

" Yes; a power that we call S2a, which is i*0t to be 
explained in simple words. A great spirit, support- 
ing the world and the weather and aH life on earth, a 
spirit so mighty that hj$ utterance to mankind is 
not through common, words, but by storm and ^jow 
and rain and the fury of the sea; all the forces of 
nature that men fear* But he has also another way 
of utterance, by sunlight, and calm of the sea, and 
little children innocently at play, themselves under- 
nothing* Children hear a soft and gentle 



voice, almost like that of a woman, It comes to 
them in a mysteriotts -way, but so gently that they 
are not afraid; they only hear that some danger 



386 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

threatens. And the children mention it as it were 
casually when they come home, and it is then the 
business of the angakoq to take such measures as 
shall guard against the peril. When all is well, 
Sila sends no message to mankind, but withdraws 
into his own endless nothingness, apart. So he re- 
mains as long as men do not abuse Hfe, but act with 
reverence towards their daily food. 

" No one has seen Sila; his place of being is a mys- 
tery, in that he is at once among us and unspeakably 
far away." 

These mighty words form a fitting dose to the 
sketch I have tried to give throughout this book of 
Eskimo life and thought* Before many years are 
past, their religion will be extinct, and the white 
man will have conquered all, the country and its 
people; their thoughts, their visions and their faith. 

I am glad to have had the good fortune to visit 
these people while they were still unchanged; to 
have found, throughout the great expanse of terri- 
tory from Greenland to the Pacific, a people not only 
one in race and language, but also in their form of 
culture; a witness in itself to the strength and endur- 
ance and wild beauty of human life. 

Najagaeq's words come as an echo of the wisdom 
we admked in the angakoq we met at every stage of 
tfe je&smey; in the inhospitable regions of King 
WSEairfs Land, in Aua's snow-palace at Hudson 
Bay or m the circle of the Caribou Esktroo Igjugar- 
whose woids are quoted a tte liead of this 



SILA 387 

A month later, I stood on the roof of a skyscraper 
looking out over the stony desert of New York. 
Miteq and Anarulttnguaq stood beside me, im- 
pressed, as I was myself, by the marvels we saw 
about us. 

"Ah," sighed Anarulunguaq, "and we used to 
think Nature was the greatest and most wonderful of 
all! Yet here we are among mountains and great 
gulfs and precipices, all made by the work of human 
hands. Nature is great; Sila, as we call it at home; 
nature, the world, the universe, all that is Sila; 
which our wise men declared they could hold in poise. 
And I could never believe it; but I see it now. Na- 
ture is great; but are not men greater? Those tiny 
beings we can see down there far below, htirrying 
this way and that. They live among these stone 
walls; on a great plain of stones made with hands. 
Stone and stooe and stone there is no game to be 
seen anywhere, and yet they manage to live and find 
their daily food* Have they then learned of the 
animals, since they can dig down under the earth 
like marmots, hang in the air like spiders, fly like the 
birds and dive under water like the fishes; seemingly 
masters of all that we struggled against ourselves? 

"I see things more than my mind can grasp; and 
the only way to save oneself from madness is to sup- 
pose that we have all died suddenly before we knew, 
and that this is part of another life." 

The Expedition was at an end. The years which 
to us white men had been full of strange happenings 
and experiences, were just everyday life to our two 
Greenlanders. It was their turn now; their expedi- 



3 88 ACROSS ARCTIC AMERICA 

tion was beginning. But as I showed them the mar- 
vels of this new world, my thoughts were constantly 
returning to the people we had left, to the men anc^ 
women who had spoken so simply and yet so powei 
fully of the greatest and the smallest things. Hun- 
ger and feasting, happiness and adversity, the daily 
round and the great moments of life they spoke of 
all with true and simple feeling. So here; face to 
face with a chaos and confusion of marvels, Anaru- 
lunguaq found the very words for all it meant : 
Nature is great; but man is greater still.