FIVE YEARS IN THE ARCTIC

Evening Star, Issue 15174, 3 May 1913, Page 10

FIVE YEARS IN THE ARCTIC

A five years’ sojourn in Arctic regions in search of a race of Eskimos who bad never before seen a white man was described recently before the Royal Geographical Society by Mr Vilhjahnur Stofansson, the Canadian explorer. The equipment of tho expedition was simple in the extreme, for Mr Stefansson is persuaded that life in the Arctic is a simple matter provided that one lives as the Eskimos do. A rifle and a sufficient supply of ammunition are necessary, and with these, ho says, it is possible to go all over tho discovered lands of tho Arctic. They left New York in April of 1908. and the small item that may upset the best-laid plans \ms illustrated by the fact that they were relying upon a supply of matches at Herschell Island, on the north Alaskan coast, and as these were not forthcoming D” Anderson had to retrace his steps a distance of 1,200 miles to Barren Point for them. “ The whole expedition cost only £2,000,” said Mr Stefaiisson, and quite hah that sum was spent in securing matches. (Laughter.) From Herschell Island the party pushed steadily eastward and reached Cape Parry in the winter, and here they found a whale, which eked out their provisions fortuitously. “That whale,” recalled tho explorer with a dry smile, “had been dead fom* years. The Eskimos said so. It had ■frozen in the winter, and had thawed in the summer.” —Search for Eskimos;— It was after lie had been two years In the Arctic that Stefansson set out upon his specific quest for the Eskimos who, to use his own words, “ had not been contaminated by missionaries or traders (laughter)—of course, I mean from tho

scientific joint of view.” “1 set out in the April of tic third year with a dog team, four rifles, 960 rounds of ammunition, and two weoks’-Bupply ,of provisions. We were depending in other words upon the country. I had with me two Eskimo, men and one woman.” The trail of an Eskimo tribe was picked up in Victoria Island and followed. ■ Deserted snow villages wore found at about every ten miles, and the trail got fresher and fresher until they reached a village where the Eskimos had left their gear behind, proving that they meant to return. Standing on a hut, Stefansson saw the Eskimos seal hunting about seven miles away and went in pursuit of them. The Eskimos thought they were spirits, and prepared to defend themselves, but his (Stefansson’s) Eskimos discovered that they spoke a similar dialect, and peace was secured and introductions to all the tribe—men, women, and children ensued. Intellectually these Eskimos worn on a level with the inhabitants of Great Britain 10,000 years ago. It was in Victoria Island that he came across the blonde Eskimos, whom he preferred to cal! bronze or copper. Their eyes were blue their eyebrows and whiskers fair, and the formation of the head and face akin to Europeans. Sir John Franklin had recorded that he saw one such Eskimo in 1824 in the Coppermine district, and Stefansson said he had come to the conclusion that they were descendants of an ancient race ot settlors who, originating in Scandinavia, had travelled to Mackenzie by way of Iceland. ’ '