THE HARSH WORLD OF THE ESKIMOS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 4

THE HARSH WORLD OF THE ESKIMOS

Between Two Worlds. By J Kaare Rodahl. Heinemann. 201 pp. and Index. The value of bringing the blessings of civilisation to a primitive people has often been debated, particularly in relation to the Eskimos. Human survival in Arctic conditions had been tackled and overcome by them before the arrival of the white men. whose ability to provide better food supplies and other amenities necessarily disturbed the rhythm of the Eskimos’ lives, kaare Rodahl is a Danish doctor and! scientist who with his wife! (herself a doctor) went to Alaska to study the Eskimo constitution and the principal physical factors which had enabled him to live a comparatively healthy life in extremely cold latitudes. .As a, result of these researches the: author has written a most interesting book. The Eskimo diet, with its emphasis on fat is not attractive to a civilised palate: and a Christmas banquet consisting of dried caribou meat, the stomach of a seal stuffed with berries, and plentiful supplies of whale blubber would scarcely tempt the least squeamish stomach. Yet such food is the source of their comparative well-being The Rodahis pursued their researches over the greater part of .Alaska from the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific to Oktiavik (also called Barrow) on the shores of the Arctic, together with the

groups of outlying islands ; which separate the country ; from Siberia. Apart from the medical tests they carried out on the inhabitants they became on very friendly terms with a notably friendly people and joined in festivities which had their origins in some of the earliest community life in the world Like so many Stone-age people the Eskimos, though nominally converted to Christianity still retain aneient beliefs in super-’ natural beings and other components of their early history. Missionary zeal to restrict their matrimonial habits to a monogamous pattern • causes them to indulge in a good deal of back-sliding—-for one of their established! customs was an occasional interchange of wives—and the addition, where it was convenient, to add one or two women to their own households. They were also forbidden to drive their dogteams in fan-shaped formation (w’hich enabled them to reach each dog with a whip) on the grounds of cruelty, and the result of harnessing the animals in tandem instead made the drivers’ control of their teams much more difficult. There is a fascinating chapter on the annual mating habits of seals. One of the Aleutian islands is used!’ solely for this purpose, and the female (whose gestation ■ period is one year) leaves the 1 island for the whole of that : time, returning only toj'

give birth to the pups (who! are left to fend for themselves when a few days old)' before starting the process of mating over again. The Eskimos, though hardy, could never have been a very I healthy race, for their diet makes constipation an almost general complaint, while a multiplicity of half-starved dogs, feeding on any offal available, also caused them to suffer from a form of i hydatids. The arrival of the i white men added tuberculosis.- measles and other killer complaints to their health hazards. which probably made the ultimate break-up jof village-community life inj evitable. More and more Eskimos are tending to drift ; into the towns, where substantial earnings enable them to buy American tinned food. and more durable houses than the shantiek and igloos which sheltered them in summer and winter respectively. The author’s conclusion is that the Eskimo should be gradually trained to accept proper principles of hygiene and sanitation as a preparation for embracing a western way of life, since this development must ultimately be to his advantage. Mr Rodahl has a genuine affection for this simple people, who have managed to survive over the centuries in what must be the most uncomfortable (physically speaking) of all worlds. Line! drawings by Dorothy Robin- ! son. and photographs serve Ito illustrate the book. I