AN ESQUIMAUX AND CIVILISATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LII, Issue 187, 11 September 1909, Page 6

AN ESQUIMAUX AND CIVILISATION.

'11. c ] --.kiimiiix Mcne, who was takes to Aii'itrm lliirtcpii .yeari ajiq by Com uiaii'ior lYaiy'o Arctic expedition ant „()nj)tt"l U\ ilr. William Wallace, th< .'xploior, sailed back to Greenland oi tlio Hid Cross liner Rosalind on Juh 10. }lo lins been, with tho rest of hi liiiinly, a human exhibit of a sort, an< lias .-.uttered from bronchitis most o ih'' unit 1 . Many friends saw him off .v,\d wcio astonished by the franknes \, lili y. l.yh ho expressed his dislike o .\i!.i'i icaT When interviewed on boart ship, he exclaimed, in answer to a rail ot questions: "I cannot adopt you Clnistian religion, although I liav< tried to do so. trouble is most o you don't really believe in it enougl to live up to it." This charge from tn< li;»s of a brow n- faced boy, with bar like tho bristles of a dog, shocked mam tout ibts on the Rosalind, who crowdef about him.

"Havo you anything better to of for?" someone asked Mene. "In m* luml I worship my father," he replied "He talks to spirits for me. When 1 dio my children will talk through m» to the same spirits, and so it goes oi and on." Some of the women win went to see the Rosalind sail becann almost hysterical over the fact thai Mono was turning his back upon civili sat ion for all time. "How can yoi leave tho comforts of a good home fo; sin ico liouse and a diet of blubber?" tine matron demanded. "You want t< know the reason why I am glad to giv< •ip civilisation and cigarettes?" an M\er<«d Mono. "Well, would yon can !(» stay in a land where they will no \ct you l>ur\ the Ikiiios of your father' There is a ninsonm in New York,** h< wont on: "it holds my father's bones. I: ii s-lcd. his furs, even the furs which I >•, ore \x lion I came here as a bahy. J iKUf 1 prayed to them to let me tak« >--)|>h> of mv father's bones, that the? ipi<ilit bo buried in a manner befittinf an K-.iuimanx and a chieftain. The? n fii .i>d to even talk it over with me f uniit my own people, among whom 1 « ill ho ;i chief. I have learned som« tiling which will help us to lend easiei lives and I huve learned other thingv Inch I am Romp to forget." ■\Ylipii ilone roaches St. John's hf \ ill join the Peary relief ship, wlu'cl 1 v ill cary him back to his native land