Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-09-17
ENDURANCE OF THE ESQUIMAUx
Wonderful Stories by Lieutenant
Schyyatiza of Their Power to
withstand Geld.

The amount of cold these northern
! nomads can endure, however, borders on
the phenomenal. have seen the little
, babies, two and three years old, play,
perfectly naked, for hours at a time, on
: the reindeer robes of the bed in the igtoo.
. the temperature, as I have said, being
constantly below freezing; and in the Fall
| have seen them naked, playing and
splashing in pond OF water, long need
les OF ice forming on the quiet places. l
once saw an Esquinaux baby boy taken
from its mothers hood, and naked, made
to stand on the snow until she found its
reindeer skin clothing from the sledge, a
fairly strong wind, sufficient to drift
the loose snow along with it, blowing
at the time, the thermometer minus
3S degrees, the only protection it had
being behind sledge loaded about three
feet high, around and over which the
wind poured. Its exposure thus was
good minute, and to appreciate this one
must take watch in his hand and see
that length of time drag by, a time that
not unconscious but sensational writer
might readily jot down as five or ten
minutes. And I have known a naked
man, surprised asleep in his igIoO by q
polar bear, hastily grasp gun and pur-
sue his enemy 200 or 800 yards in the
snow, the thermometer Is to 20 degrees
below zero, and STAY him. These
Esquimaux rub slushy snow, dipped in
water, on the bottom OF the runners OF
their sledges, with the open palms of the
hands until it freezes into solid ice, the
thermometer being from zero to 20 de-
grees below when l have known it to
be done. have seen an Esquimaux
traveller throw himself nm the snow
and rest comfortably for half an
hour, the thermometer II degrees
below zero or 103 degrees below freezing,
and probably doing some light work with
ungloved hands. The Kinnepetoo Es-
quimaCx, who seldom build even the
small fires OF the native stone lamp in
their igloos during the very coolest
weather OF winter, are probably the
hardest of all these boreal tribes in
withstanding low temperatures, and sit
around in their cold, cherries snow
houses with only their undergarments on
(the Esquimaux has two suits of reindeer
skins, the outer with the hair turned out
ward, and the inner with the hair turned
toward and resting against the body,
their arms withdrawn from their sleeves
and resting on their bare bodies across
their breasts, chatting all the while pleas
antly about various matters, the Their
mometer often being below zere;
in fact, the only warmth the snow
house has is that given off by
their bodies. have known one of these
Kinnepetoos to take an undressed REIN
deer hide that had been soaked in water
to remove the hair, which was frozen
stiff as plate of boileriron, put the same
against his naked body, and not only hold
it there till it was thawed out, but until it
was perfectly dry, so as to use it for a
drumhead (kee-low-tee) in their peculiar
savage rites. In fact, might say that
have been naked myself in a temperature
of minus 68e, during the short time it
took to undress, roll my reindeer coat in
a bundle for pillow and crawl into my
sleeping bag; but my movements partook
more of the character of small boy
going to base ball match than one saw
ing wood.