The Eskimo bulletin. [volume], May 01, 1902, Page 2, Image 2

About The Eskimo bulletin. [volume] (Cape Prince of Wales [i.e. Wales], Alaska) 1893-1902

Image provided by: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

                
THE
ESKIMO I: VI, LET IS
w. r. l.oi-r, Eiiiur.
Pnbluhal at the "Alania
Missiiat" of The American
M/»■ iiam ry A m nation.
we FiiiM'R Of Walks. Alaska.
Why do iidelll-evt uativoH t_M.nliu
u«- to go di< h ng Hunting trips wit! out
akfapt? I: it m ease <t rogleet on
th,. part of the “Ong n>;ka’* (women),
■ i- do the lug suppers und bail air of
t ieir s eepin 'apartments deprive them
of their motidng appetite?
il\e!V Eskimo who hue murdered a
white n un in this regitn, has l atl a
1 ud reputation aim ng his own people.
That cue of the Diomede Eskimos
lias muiderod a white man does not
signify that these people have a feel
ing. ot prejt dire against those not of
their own rare. In rottl ng their own
troubles, generally brought about by
domestic disturbances, or drunken
(p arrels, they have always resorted
to killing by stealth. A white man
w ho settles* among a people, isolated
as these are, must take his chauces
with them.
•‘There is no new thing under the
the sun", not even pneumatic tires.
The Eskimos ha\o used pneumatic
Itob-slcd runners forages.
The ease of Too-nuk’a hoarding i
vory, illustrates a trait, often seen
among tho more ambitious Eskimos.
They have been known to hoard val
uable furs. Ivory, and even money,
preferring to suffer from want. In sick
ness and “starving times”, rather
than part with them.
AN ESKIMO LEGEND.
Long ago, whoa wild doer wore
olontlful, a young hunter who bail re
♦.'irueil to his homo on the coast
f/otu a sueee sful dt-er hunt, sent h s
wi'e with a dog sled, to haul in the door
ne had killed and cached in the hills.
On her way home with her load of
meat, her dogs stopped and whined
us if scared. After some urging, they
wont ahead, hut as the moon rose, the
woman saw the cause of their fright.
For there, on each side of her sled,
were two woLos. Their gauut fierce
look, frightened her. She immediately
Vit a pain in her stomach. As she near
,-d her home, the wolves disappear
, d. lint the palu with which they had
nfilleted the woman, increased during
tlio night, aud resulted in her death
before morning.
The husband wrapped her tody in
a wall ns skin, and placed it on a rude
drift-wood scaffold. Hut on the follow
ing day, when ho visited tlie grave, he
found it robbed, ami the snow under
it, was covered with tracks made by
two wolves.
Aiming himself with bow uml ar
rows und spear, he followed the tracks
1 and soon discovered that they chang
ed to human foot-prints, ami b< tween
them, tracks of a third — a woman,
i Follow ing their trail for hours, it took
him to a cave-like house in the moun
tains. lie entered and found liis wife
seated on the floor between two young
men, sons of an oid man and woman
who were the only other occupants of
tin* house.
Her captors refused to give her
up. After much talk, tin y promised
to let her return home for one year, it
the husband would give them Lite eop
por knife-blade, which was lashed to
; the end of his spear, llu agreed to
this. As they where leaving, the oid
man added, “In one year iny two sons
will come after her, and bring her
hack, and neither your charms, nor
your nieilii Ino-meu can keep her from
i us”. ,li
After returning homo, she lived lu
constant dread oi the “wolf-brothers' .
! She feared they would come und rtcai
her away before the cud of the year.
She follow id her husband wherever
lie w«ut, ami never once ullowed him
out of her sight
Near the close of the, year, a wise
old woman announced that the wolf
brother* were nowon their way to get
the wife. The people then prepared
to defend her. All the powerful charms
aud medicine men obtainable, were
securetl for her protection. They
lashed her to a post, in the middle of
of the “Kosga' , with so much seal
thong, that only her face was visible.
Scores of men, armed with bows und
arrows, remained there to guard her.
Others where stationed in the recess
along each side of the long under
ground passage, which led to the door.
When the wolves arrived at the en
trance, they becaime men. They walk
ed down the loug passage and entered
unharmed. In their presence the arm
ed m 'll, and charms becume powerless.
At a touch from the older wolf-broth
er 111 * lashings dropped from the wom
an, and they carried her out.
l’eeovering from their spell, the
people ran out-sido, but the wolf
orot.hers had disappeared with tie
woman. A searching party followed
them to the mountain, /hit in the
place of the former house, they found
a common wolf-den.
Tho Fourth of July was celeb a Led
by au Iuter-Coutluoutul foot-ruce. K
me- uk, of East Cape, Siberia, won
the first prize, and Se-ke-woke, of C.
P. of W., tho second. The course was
over tliree miles of hard sand b< a h.
A largo brown boar wnn.leted into
tho village hist June. His presence
croatoil so much surprise, tin t he ea
sily escaped unhurt.
Oc-nal-ik, and Pe-suk-too-uk me tin*
only men In towu, who wcur lubiets
(ornaments worn in punctured lips'.
CMvaw-sook went to Candle C.ty it!
November, and sold his own dog. ytid
five, belonging to his ncighbois. for
£40, and $45 each. llo soys ‘‘Candle
is all right. ”
Ad-loo-nt Is spending the winter in
Massachusetts. The wood-cuts which
appear In the “Bulletin,” where made
by him, before he hml enjoyed the ad
vantages of civilization.
Ok-ba-ok has a quantity of furs, hand
ed down from his grand-father, which
are known to bo more than sixty year-t
old.
The time-honored custom of tatoo
ing the chinsof the little girls, has lie
come obsolete.
There have beou 18 births, ami
7 deaths during the year.
Six polar bears, “plenty” seals,
eight whales (calves), ih the hunting
score for tin; season.
Ah-woot nuk made a record with
ids canoe last summer. In .Inly he
Hailed aeons the strait, trailed lor a
bout loud of Siberian deer skins, and
1 returned. Then he sailed to Kotzebue
Sound, and exchanged these skins for
red fox, beavor, and otter skins. Ite
turning from the sound in October. Im
sailed across the strait again, and
purchased another bout loa l of deer
j skins.