FOUR YEARS WITH ESKIMOS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13299, 7 February 1914, Page 10

FOUR YEARS WITH ESKIMOS.

STEFANSSON'S DISOVEEIES. MYSTERY OF THE- FRANKLIN EXPEDITION. LONDON, December 13. At a timo when there have been doubts as to the safety of the young explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, noAV some- ,. -where ih tho Polar Sea, the results of — "his last, expedition aro published, "My Life With the Eskimo,", and' the public ■ have an opportunity of judging this remarkable man's quality. It is not often that an explorer * combines the philosopher, the scientist, the man of action, aifd tho. writer. There is hardly a doubt that this book of Stefansson's", describing his many years with tho. Eskimo, Avill become a classic of travel, not- because it tells of a region and its people of Avhich.very little is known, nor because, its author did there what white man has done before or is likely to do again, and found many strange aeh'eu_ures— though all that" is true. But this story. is sure to be widely read, because 'through its quiet, nervous, lucid English shines the light of a, strange and engaging .personality, an , ■ethnological scholar who learned the; Eskimo tongue; and" then, protect cd"-only by his regard for his fellow-men— even when they are Eskimos who. live m winter houses of snow and ice and eat whalo blubber — went and lived with them ns one of themselves for -years. . And m what- a country ! Much of it had not been A r isite<J before, and whether it Avas inhabited at all was doubtful. And for the. rest the coast of. that land -hadnot been seen since the early '50*s. Of those first visitors English explorers, Stefansson found traces.': A strange book • telling of the country and of people as lost to the rest of the world as though they Avere m the moon. A SUMMER SUIT IN THE ARCTIC. This was Stefansson's second expedition m Arctic America.. In 1906 he was still north of the Arctic circle engaged m the work of his first expedition, . It Avas then intended he should become ethnologist to the Anglo-American polar expedition, -which sailed from Victoria, ■ British Columbia, m the spring of 19C_.7But Stefansson would not -join the expedition at. Victoria. He reserved to liimself tlie opinion that the expedition schooner might not round Cape BarroAv," m the Arctic. So he arranged that he should go clown the river Mackenzie, and be piekedy up by the. expedition at Herschel Island, m the delta of that river, which flows into the Arctic . Ocean; .If the schooner failed to arrive he intended to settle down to his. own work. The, ship was caught m the . ice at. Cape \ Harrow and was frozen -m; He > writes :— Although I. had. always doubted; 'that the ship would come to: pick .me up, I had, nevertheless; -intrusted my entire outfit to her, for I wanted, if i lived Avith the' Eskimos at all, to live exactly as one of them, in' their dressing like: them, and eating only such food as' they did. I noAv .found • myself, m accord' with my own plan, set down 200 miles north of the polar circle, with a summer suit of clothing, a camera, some notebooks, a rifle, and about : 2CO rounds of s ammunition, facing an Arctic winter, Avhero my only shelter would have to .be the root of some hospitable Eskimo hut. . During those four years he wandered along the coast ..of the Arctic Sea from Cape Barrow to west of the Coppermine River, as desolate and far a land as thero is on the globe. For much of the "Timo Stefansson was acconipanied by aptain Anderson, an American naturalist. This account of their work, is treasure trove to lovers of travel stories, Avild life, and the folk lore of primitives. INDIANS' SCOTCH ACCENT; ; * The author is never romantic: To him the cold ', hard facts, when properly ..explained, are romantic enough. : Speakr • ing of the Indians of the far NorthWest, he says that m general they are ' dressed like white men. • Many of them speak English, often . .with a' broad Scotch accent, for most of • tlie Hudson's Bay factors . .'. have been Scotchmen and Orkney men. There is one strange tribe up tbere, not yet Christianised. The men keep with jealousy the customs, religion, and language: of their ancestors. . . . . These Indians are said, by the Hudson's Bay. men to differ striki ngly from the rest of the natives' in being more enterprising, mbre honorable, and thoroughly self-respecting. Up to four years ago at least they had constantly refused to take presents^ from the Canadian Government, a thing which all other Indians do under the name of treaty money. But it is the Eskimo who— with the author's help — make. this book what it is. It is hard to say whether, their unexpected likeness* to ourselves m .many important things, or' their curious divergence m little' matters,. -is the: more entertaining. .. Eskimo, who used 'buArs and arrowsj and who. had. never, seen white men before,-, were. astonished by Stefansson's skill m stalking game,; but were not surprised at : aU by ' his' rifle. That was merely'- miraculous, and so no more strange than other .miracles. They could cap the author's tallest story of a modern surgical operation with far more astonishing miracles. A most interesting discussion' -m the book is concerning the ' blonde Eskimo. They Avere first mentioend m 1656. Sir John Franklin mentions' » native ~ with a fresh and red complexion'; so it is v hardly worth while considering whether the legend of the white Eskimo originated m the survivors of the Franklin" expedition. The other ;theory- to account for such people is some forgotten Scandanavian colony m Greenland. In Dease and Simpson came m contact Avith a small party of Eskimo, one of. whom they described as of "distinguished appearance" and as looking "much like a Scandauavian." i . • TRACES OF FRANKLiN. : Stefansson questioned! the C° r< matiori Gulf Eskimos concerning Franklin., .' I asked him if he had ever- heard that a ship had been Avrecked *on the east coast of Victoria Island. He said so far as he knew, no ship had been Avrecked on the east coast, but that m his father's, time 'two ships had been fast m the ice. a long way off shore, beyond the east coast, and the' win te men on them had evidently abandoned them and all died. . The author has this comment on tliat Arctic... tragedy :— "That- the country where Franklin's men starved is sufficiently provided with means of subsis- ( tenco is shown by the fact that it waS peopled. Avith Eskimo both before and . after tho great tragedy. At the very timo Avhen these people Avere dying of> hunger, there were living ail about them ! Eskimo families Avho were- taking care of their aged and bringing up their children m comparative plenty, unaided by the rifles and the other excellent imple : ments Avhich the Englishmen had m . abundance." ' a_Ma___aß_B_M_a_M___a