Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-02-04
The Eskimos.

The Eskimos are essentially peculiar
people. Their character and their con-
dition, the one of necessity growing out
OF the other, are peculiar. First, Ii is
claimed for them that they are the anon
alous race of America only people
of the new world clearly identical with
any race of the old. Then they are the
most literal people in the world. The
iineal extent of their occupancy, all of
ii a narrow seaboard averaging scarcely
one hundred miles in width, is estimated
at not less than five thousand miles. Be-
fore them is a vast, unknown, icy ocean
upon which they scarcely. dare venture
beyond sight of land; behind them, hos
tile mountaineers ever ready to dispute
encroachment. Their very mother earth,
upon whose cold bosom they have been
borne age after age through countless
generations, is almost impenetrable,
thawless ice. Their days and nights
and seasons and years are not like those
of other men. Six months of day sue
coed siA months of night. Three months
of sunless winter; three months of night
less summer; six months of giimmering
twilight
About the middle of October COM
mences the long night of winter The
earth and sea put on an icy covering;
beasts and birds depart for regions shell
tered or more congenial; humanity hnd-
dies in subterraneous dens; all nature
sinks INTO repose. The little heat left by
the retreating sun soon radiates out into
the deep blue realms of space; the tenn
perature sinks rapidly TO forty or fifty
degrees below freezing; the air is hushed,
the ocean calm. the sky cloudless. An
awful, painful stiffness pervades the
dreary solitude. Not sound is heard {
the distant din of busy man and the
noiseless hum of the wilderness alike ara
wanting, Whispers become audible at a
considerable distance, and an insupport-
able sense of loneliness Expresses the
inexperienced visitor. Occasionally the
aurora borealis flashes out in prismatic
coruscations, throwing a brilliant arch
from east To west-now in variegated os-
citations, graduating through the vari-
Gus tints of blue and green and violet
and crimson darling, flashing or stream
ing in yellow columns upward, down
ward, now blazing steadily, now in
wayy undu.ations, sfmetimes up TO the
very zenith; momentarily lighting up in
UJdJtstlI tHt tHtGiltSS llpSSi
scenery, but only to fall back with eX-
hausted force, leaving denser obsCurity,
Natures electric lantern, suspended for
time in the frosty vault OF heaven
muniicent natures fireworks; with the
polar bear and the polar man spectators.
In January the brilliancy of the stars
is dimmed perceptibly at noon; in Feb
.uary a golden tint rests upon the hori.
zon at the same hour; in March the in.
cipient dawn b.oadens; in April the
doing Eskimo rubs his eyes and crawls
forth; in May the snow begins TO melt,
the impatient grass and flowers arrive as
it departs. In June the summer has
fairly come. Under the incessant rays
of the never-setting sun the snow speed
lily disappears, the ice breaks up, the
glacial earth softens for depth of one,
two, or three feet; circulation is restored
to vegetation, which, during winter, has
been stopped--if we believe John Rich
ardson, even the largest trees freezing to
the heart. Sea, and plain. and rolling
steppe lay aside their seamless shroud OF
white and brilliant tint of emerald
overspreads the landscape. All nature
with one resounding cry, leaps up anc
claps her hands for JOY. Flocks of birds
lured from their winter homes, I'LL thf
air with their melody; myriads of wild
fowls send forth their shrill cries; thu
moose and the reindeer flock down from
the forests; from the resonant sea comes
the noise of spouting whales and bark
ing seals, and this so lately dismal, cheer
| less region blooms with an ex
uberance of life equaled only by the
shortness % - duration. And G 10 eohen
of I. j.st appreciation or the creator
| goodness, this animated mcdley-man,
and beasts, and birds, and fishes-rises
up, divides, falls to, and ends in eating
or in being eaten.
The physical characteristics of the
Eskimos are : A fair complexion, the skin
when free from dirt and paint, being al
most white; medium stature, well pro.
portioned, thick-set, muscular, robust
active, with small and beautifully. shaped
hands and feet; pyramidal head; a
broad, egg-shaped face; high, rounded
ek-bones; fiat nose; small, oblique
eyes; large mouth; teeth regular, but
well worn; coarse black hair, closely cut
upon the crown, leaving a monk-likc ring
around the edge, and paucity of beard
The men frequently leave the hair in a
natural state. The women of Icy Reef
introduce false hair among their own,
wearing the whole in two immense bows
at the back of the head. At Point Bar
row they separate the hair into two
parts or braids, saturating 1t with train
oil and binding it into stiff punches with
strips of skin. Their lower extremities
are short, sd that in sitting posture they
look taller than when standing.
On the northern coast the women
paint the eyebrows and tattoo the chin ;
while the men only pierce the lower lip
under one or both corners OF the mouth,
and insert In each aperture a double
headed sleeve-button or dumb-bell-
shaped labret, Of bone, ivory, shell, stone,
glass or wood. The incision when first
made is about the size Of quill, but as
the aspirant for improved beauty grows
older the size Of the orifice is enlarged
until 1t reaches width Of half or three.
quarters OF an inch. In tattooiDg the
color is applied by drawing thread
under the skin, or picking it in
with a needle. Different tribes and
different ranks in the same tribe have
each their peculiar form of tattooing.
The plebcian female OF certain bands is
permitted to adorn her chin with but one
~ T.. al. IL