A VANISHED RACE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 149, 5 April 1933, Page 8

A VANISHED RACE

ESKIMOS IN GREENLAND. EXPLORER'S DISCOVERIES. Visions of a new race of hunters springing up in the icy wastes of East Greenland, where explorers now find the skeletons of bygone dwellers, were {conjured up hy Captain Mikkelsen, who recently described his voyage of exploration to the Royal Geographical Society in London. "Almost everywhere along the coast," he said, "we found numerous traces that land once gave the means of existence for a numerous tribe of Eskimos. But hard times fell on the tribe; it dwindled .and disappeared. Only once has the North-east Greenland Eskimo been definitely seen by a European—in 1823, when Clavering found 12 people, who disappeared, frightened by the presence of the white man, and whose descendants have never been seen since. "When one has considered the tragedy of the tribe which has disappeared the thought comes—why not try to recreate the human activity which once existed along these barren stretches of coasts by creating again the basis of existence for the enterprising Greenlander, whose only means of livelihood is hunting? "Once upon a time a large number of Eskimos must have been living in this district. Both in the huts and (especially) in the graves we came across many archaeological finds of importance. A catastrophe must have overcome the Eskimos, for in several huts we found a number of skeletons and it seemed as if the Eskimos had met with a sudden, death. "We found a rather large Eskimo settlement, very old and entirely in ruins, with a number of graves, "meat depots and foxtraps. The ruined huts were dug out and we found a number of implements among the ruins, many of- which were well preserved, and of archaeological value. To judge from jthe implements, this coast seems to have been inhabited about 1400-1500."