QUEER LITTLE PEOPLE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1988, 14 May 1906, Page 7

QUEER LITTLE PEOPLE.

HELPING PEARY TO FIND THE POLE. By Robert E. Peary, in the "New York World.” .t Of all interesting aboriginal tribes of men there is none more strikingly so than the little community of Eskimos whose habitat is the west coast of Greenland between Melville Bay and Kane Basin. 'They are at once the smallest, the most northerly, and most unique tribe upon the earth, and perhaps file oldest upon the Western Hemisphere. Many of them are strikingly Mongolian types of countenance ; all of them possess the Oriental characteristics of mimicry, ingenuity and patience in mechanical duplication, and their appearance indicates the strong probability of the correctness of the theory that these people are the remnants of an ancient Siberian 'tribe, the Onkilon, the last, remains of which driven from their homos and out on the Arctic Ocean by the fierce waves of Tartar invasion in the Middle Ages, passed to the New Siberian Islands, and thence gradually over or along lands as yet undiscovered, perhaps even across the Pole itself. PROBABLY OE CHINESE DESCENT. Among other facts upon which this theory is grounded, are the strong resemblance of the stone dwellings of the Arctic Highlanders to ruins of similar dwellings discovered in Siberia. 'There are also apparent strong physical resemblances. 'The facial characteristics of many individuals ■in the tribe are noticeably Asiatic. The obliquely set eyes arc a common occurrence. The natural aptness for imitation shown by many is also ■strikingly suggestive of a Chinese and Japanese trait. «*«»*• That the tribe was originally much more numerous than at present seems to be borne out not only by their own statement, but by the existence of many ancient igloos all along the coast from Bushnan island nearly to Humboldt glacier. Since my first expedition in 3891 there has been a marked pro] onderance of the birth-rate over the deathrate, until the epidemic of 3895-1)0 decimated the tribe* carrying off 3 1 •per cent. In the years since the birth-rate is again in excess. In disposition and temperament these people arc a race of children—simple, kindly, cheerful and hospitable. In powers of endurance in certain directions they probably arc not surpassed by any other known race. There is no form of government among them, no chief, each man being supreme in his own family and literally and absolutely his own master. ■Such a thing as real-estate interest is unknown to them. Every man owns the whole country and can locate his house and hut where his ■fancy dictates. The products of (he hunts are common property with slight limitations as. for example, anything smaller than a seal is the property of the hunter who captures it, yet unwritten law requires him to be generous even with -tliis if he can do so without starving his own family. J’ersonal possessions are of necessity very limited, consisting almost entirely of clothing, travelling equipments. weapons and implements and u single skint tent or lupik. Every man is his own tailor, shoemaker, boatbuilder, house carpenter and everything else—in other words, .each family is literally independent and self-supporting and could continue its existence for an indefinite length of time without external assistance. CURIOUS HABITS AND CUSTOMS. These Esquimaux estimate time by the movements of the stars, as well as by the position of the sun, and yet, less observant than were the Arab shepherds, they have not noticed that one star is the centre about which all the others move, nor have they set about the planets, which to them are simply large stars Probably this is due to the fact that ;the. movements of. the stars can he observed during only three months of the year. As regards morals, these people do j not stand high according to our scale. The wife is as much a piece j of personal property which may be j sold, exchanged, loaned or borrowed, j as a sledge or a canoe. It must be j said in their favour however, that! children as well a-s aged and infirm ; members of the tribe arc well taken 1 care of, and that for the former the j parents evince the liveliest affection, j There seems to be no marriage ccr- ! emony. .The matrimonial arrange- [ ments are frequently perfect- j ed by the parents while the par- \ ties are children. Of religion proper- j ly speaking, they have none. The : nearest approach to it is a simple j collection of miscellaneous supersti- } tions and belief in good and evil j spirits. j In physical appearance the members j of the tribe are below the average I stature, generally well built, plump j and rounded in figure, and deceptively heavy. The popular idea that the people of this tribe are of small size is, in |f«neral true ; but there arc comparative. giants among them, and I could t narne several who stand in the ■neighbourhood of 5 feet 10 inches and weigh from 175 to 184 pounds :net. A man of these dimensions ’When dressed in his midwinter cos'tnroe of bear and deer skin looms up dike a colossus. r JBbe women are quite small, but

. they, as well as the men, arc very solid and extremely deceptive as to weight. The muscular development of the men is astonishing, but here, 1 again, they are very deceptive in api pearance, the external covering of blubber, which they possess in com- ! mon with the seal, the walrus and ! the bear, destroying the differentiation of their great muscles and giving , them a smooth and rounded appear- ; a uce. | Their clothing is composed entirely | of furs and skins of animals and birds I and, in pattern and addaptlon of each material to a certain purpose, as the result of an evolution extending through generation after generation, until to-day the Eskimo dress may be considered perfect for the conditions under which it is worn. 'Their amusements arc few. In summer there are tests of strength between the. young men of the tribe, consisting of wrestling, pulling, lifting and a rude kind of boxing. in winter the sole amusements are marital pleasures, and the songs and improvisations of the angakoks or medicine men of the tribe. With our surroundings and bringing up, drawing as we do upon the entire world for our daily wants, we can have no conception of the earlier condition of this people and their almost inconceivable destitution and restriction as to materials, dependent for everything upon a few miles of Arctic coast line. To them such an ordinary thing as a piece of wood was just as unattainable ns is the moon to the petulant child. It is to be wondered at that under these circumstances a man would give me his dogs and sledge and all his furs for a bit of board as long as himself ; that auotlicr offered mo his wife and two children for a shining knife, and a woman offered me everything she had for a needle ?