HEALER OF THE NORTH

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22563, 6 May 1935, Page 32

HEALER OF THE NORTH

DOCTOR'S UNUSUAL CHARGE LIFE AMONG THE ESKIMOS. Two thousand miles north of Vancouver, Aklavik, commercial metropolis of the Eskimos, of the Canadian northwest territories, is the headquarters of the farthest north physician, Dr J. A. Urquhart, whose round of patients takes him over an area of 90,000 square miles. North of the. timber line, with tne exception of a few score of whites, they are all Eskimos. " Depression has not touched these smiling children of the north," said the doctor, when interviewed recently by the Herald correspondent in Vancouver. " They depend on Nature for food and ch thing, and Nature has no share in a depression. Prosperity among Eskimos is judged by the number of dogs each family possesses, and 8 family without a dog team is rare.

"Much ignorance, prevails in/ the cities about' them. They are not, as is popularly supposed, undersized and short of stature. The men are of average weight and height, many of them six feet and over. They are not dirty and unclean, as the old-time missionaries described them. Their homes are spotlessly clean. They are a sturdy, hard-working people. A more physically fit race it 'would be difficult to find anywhere." Dr Urquhart, his wife and three-year-old daughter like tho climate of the Arctic. They suffer less from the cold than do the people of Vancouver, because they dress for it, and \ their frame houses are well insulated. Their child plays outside in the coldest weather—4s degrees below zero—and, like her parents, has never been frostbitten. I"

In summer Dr Urquhart travels thousands of miles by schooner. He has many exciting bouts with fog and drift ice. Reading the compass on these perilous journeys requires a mathematical juggkr, owing to ,the proximity of the Magnetic Pole. ■ ~ . Communication with the outside world is by radio telegraph, through a network of stations erected and maintained by. the Canadian Government. Messages from Ottawa are received within two hours. As there is no static in the Arctic, there is uninterrupted reception of radio programmes from many parts of the world. All mail is carried by air—three trips in summer and three in winter. Freight is received twice during the summer by the Mackenzie and Athabasca Rivers and tributary waters, at a cost of £24 per ton. HEALTH OF ESKIMOS.

" The health of Eskimos is considerably better than 'whites who live 'outside,'" Dr Urquhart said. "In the six years I have been in the Arctic I.have yet to learn of a ■ case of cancer. Tie greater part of the food of the Eskimos is eaten raw. When I say raw, I mean it It seems to make up for certain articles of diet which are required as vegetable content. Scurvy is very rare among them, and tuberculosis no more prevalent than it is in southern climes., Eskimo clothing is a perfect shield against wind and water. When they can get driftwood they do not burn it as fuel, but build log houses. " Frequently, on a long trip behind my team of seven Mackenzie River huskies, I am beset by a bad storm. In. 45 minutes my interpreter will build a twoman snow hut, in which I can rest for two or three days as snugly as in the Hotel Vancouver. The Eskimos have a very pleasant attitude toward life. They do not quarrel with their wives and never abuse their children. The spirit of some departed friend is supposed to inhabit each child, who is therefore immune from scolding lest the spirits be offended. For that reason children are the most spoiled youngsters in the world.

" The peop]e live to a ripe old age. At our annual sports meeting there was a race for old men—6s years and over —and there was a good entry. They made splendid time In the 100 yards sprint, having trained for weeks, running beside their teams." Dr Urquhart deprecates the popular idea that contact with the white race has deteriorated the physical standards of the Eskimos.