LAZIEST ESKIMO

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1934, Page 5

LAZIEST ESKIMO

STOLE MEAT FROM FOX-TRAPS. The laziest Eskimo that had ever been known was met by Mr. P. Ashley Cooper, Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, in a voyage he made last summer to the Arctic. Mr. Cooper described him at a luncheon of the Royal Empire Society, held at the Cannon-street Hotel, London, recently. “Ho was a particularly cheerful old scoundrel, so I asked the post manager who'he was. ‘Oh, he’s the laziest man in the place,’ 'was the reply. ‘in fact, he’s so lazy, he keeps ' himself alive by stealing the meat which the other Eskimos put on their fox-traps as bait,’ ” he said. At each trading post the party w«nt ashore with a piper, in the full-dress uniform of theßlack Watch, playing in tho bows of the ship’s launch. The Eskimos who had come in from the surrounding districts to greet them sang ‘God Save the King.” “Later we all assembled in front of ‘he trade store, and we presented the Eskimos with gifts—shirts and hunting knives for the men, dresses and I scissors for the women,.” Mr. Cooper continued. “It was amusing to see how tney received theso presents. Some were shy, some were eager, but they were all delighted with what they got. and they gave a sort of guttural yell as their expression for thanking us. “After this there were races, in which almost the whole , population took part. The sports ended by our throv/ing handfuls of sweets, tobacco, pipes, pencils, and beads into the air, and the Eskimos scrambling to catch them. “In a moment there was a yelling, laughing, struggling mass of people on the ground, grabbing for what was vzithin reach. Films were shown of the British Navy at sea and of ‘kayaking’ in Greenland, but the greatest applause was for the picture of a husky dog yawning.” . In the winter the Eskimos trapped and then brought the furs to the p ist to exchange them for food, clothing i and ammunition. In the summer they i went scaling.