ADRIFT ON ICE FLOE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21165, 23 April 1932, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADRIFT ON ICE FLOE.

ESKIMO AND HIS WIFE.

LIFE ON LONELY ISLAND.

DELIVERANCE AFTER 10 YEARS. A remarkable example of tho virility and endurance of tho Eskimo is related by tho " Bishop of tho Arctic," Dr. Turquetil, who has been enjoying one of his rare vacations, says the Herald's Vancouver correspondent. An Eskimo and his wife one day found themselves adrift on a small ice floe headed for parts unknown. To them this was but one of tho natural vicissitudes of the seal-hunter's calling, so they waited undismayed to see what fortune would bring them. Eventually their ice cake grounded on Mansel Island, a

virtual desert 40 fniles from the mainland, uninhabited and windswept. The Eskimo had a rifle, a few cartridges, some fish hooks, and his wife some home-made needles. Their only other resources were their native intelligence and the clothes they stood up in. With his few remaining cartridges the husband killed some wild animals and with his fishing gear was able to lay in a stock of fish. Eventually all his ammunition was

gone, likewise his fishing tackle. Instead of sitting down and quietly freezing to death, as many a white man does, tho Eskimo set about quietly to adapt himself to tho now conditions. This he did quite simply by reverting to the mode of life of the stone age- With flint and bone he fashioned rough tools and weapons and for spear shafts he used pieces of hide, which he soaked in water and allowed to freeze, and tfrom the snow in winter and the hides of animals in summer he built his living quarters.

In spito of their difficult start the man and his wife prospered and when the waters froze again they had no desire to return to the mainland. So they remained where they were; children were born to them and they were happy. But one summer the man and his wife felt a longing to see their friends again. After

all, 10 years is a long time in tho life of an Eskimo and the children were growing up and would soon require mates. So tho Eskimo and his wife and the older sons set about to build themselves a ferry.

Great bones were collected from the skeletons df animals and seals and walruses killed in past years and from them tho man selected thoso best adapted to his purpose. His wife, meanwhile, was busy preparing leather thongs with which to bind tho bones together, and soon there arose on the shore of Mansel Island the frame work of one of tho strangest craft that ever sailed tho Arctic seas. Over the bones tho man and his wife fixed many waterproof sealskins and from the same material fashioned a rude sail.

With everything in readiness, the cotiplo waited for a propitious time when tho sea would bo reasonably calm and tho wind set fair. Eventually the time came, and bundling their family into the bottom o{ the craft, along with the belongings they had acquired during their long isolation, they shoved off for tho mainland to arrive safely, and bo welcomed by friends they had not seen for a decade.