ESKIMO’S HEROISM

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 147, 7 June 1932, Page 3

ESKIMO’S HEROISM

BOY SAVES MOTHER’S LIFE. THREE DAYS WITHOUT FOOD. A dramatic tale of a 12-year-old Eskimo boy’s heroism in saving the life of his sick mother was told in Ottawa recently. At Chesterfield Inlet, in the Hudson Bay territory, lived an Eskimo called Eladenac, with his wife and two sons, aged 12 and three. The names of these boys are not revealed, Eladenac died early in the winter and soon afterwards his widow, Kudluk, took sick. The family was destitute, but the 12-year-old son set himself in the role of provider. He made daily excursions into the forests, to return with plenty of game and fish. One day he got two deer, but by this time he had only two dogs for his sledge, and these dogs could not pull the deer through the woods. So the boy patched up some old harness to fit his own shoulders and took his place besido the dogs, to help them pull the precious meat back to his home.

When he got back from that trip he found his mother had become worse. It was imperative that she should be taken to Magner Inlet, 160 miles away, where the nearest doctor maintained headquarters. The boy bundled Kudluk and his younger brother into tho sledge, harnessed himself again beside his two dogs, and started tho long haul.

It took weeks of back-breaking ton, with little to eat on the way. Y r et tho boy struggled on with his heavy load. With three days to go, the little family ran out of food and for three days tho lad strained at the harness without having eaten. Finally he reached Wagner Inlet, exhausted and famished. Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who described the lad’s feat as one of the greatest examples of Northland heroism they have ever encountered, reported that the mother, Kudluk, is recovering from her illness under the physician’s care.