The Jensen Museum is comparatively small, but what it lacks in size, it more than compensates for in fascinating exhibits. What impresses me most about the Arctic peoples is their high degree of self-sufficiency. The Jensen Museum has displays of the many handmade tools used by the men in their hunting activities, and the tools used by the women in preparing the meat, sewing clothes, and performing a myriad of other duties. It struck me how absolutely vital each adult member of the community is to ensure the safety and well-being of others.
Children learn from very young, the skills necessary to be a contributing adult.
There is a high degree of eye-hand coordination involved in twirling the bola and releasing it at the proper moment and with sufficient force to entangle a bird. Eskimo boys don't learn that skill overnight. It comes through years of play and then later trial and error. A similar exceptionally high degree of skill is involved in drying out seal intestines, stitching them together with tendon sinews from a caribou using needles carved from bone, and creating a waterproof jacket in the process. The sinews are such that when they get wet they expand, thus creating an impermeable barrier in the stitching.