Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1885-09-02
Gales aud Sketehes.
WINTER LIFE IN THE LAND OF TIE
ESKIMO.
By LIEUT.. FREDERICK SCHwATKA.
Continued from Yesterday

l BY II. EhEDEhlCh 0Sh W Alma
CONTINUED from Yesterday
It seemed a. if the motor and sensory
nerves could be made absolutely indepen
dent of each other; and this benefit. which
allowed me to thread q needle and sew
below freezing, to use a sextant for OBJ
seryatiops at minus 400 Fahrenheit. or
clean and insert cartridges in a magazine
gun at even 200 lower with ungloved
! hands, believe still. to certain extent
retain, although all others accruing from
Arctic acclimatization have disappeared
in nv five wears away from that zone.
| If a comfortable house made of ice or
snow seems singular during intense cold,
how absurd an enjoyable bed made OF the
same material must appear and yet their
bedsteads are made of snow, the mattress
es of MANY layers of musk OK and polar
! bear robes and undressed reindeer skins,
while the sheets are dressed reindeer
robes and the covers of the same material,
their pillows being their reindeer clothing
rolled in bundle at the head of the snow
bed Here, stark naked, with only one
reindeer skin over them they will sleep
as soundly as farmer in more favored
chimes after hard days work, and that
with the temperature out of doors so low
that every breathing thing is enveloped
in cloud of its own making.
The amount of cold these northern no.
MAIDS can endure, however. borders on
the phenomenal. have seen the little
babies, two and three years old, play, per-
fectly naked, tor hours at time. on the
reindeer robes of the bed in the igloo, the
temperature. as l have said, being con-
stantly below freezing; and in the fall l
have seen them naked, playing and splash
ing in pond of water. long needles of
ice forming on the quiet places. l once
saw on Eskimo 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. fairly
strong wind, sufficient to drift the loose
snow along with it, blowing at the time,
the thermometer minus $50, the only pro-
lection it had being behind sledge load
ed 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,
time that not unconscientious but sensa-
tional writer might readily jot down as
five or ten minutes. And | have known
naked man, surprised asleep in his
igloo by polar bear. hastily grasp
gun and pursue his enemy two or three
hundred yards in the snow, the thermom-
eter fifteen to twenty below zero, and
slav him. These Eskimo rub slushy
snow. dipped in water, on the bottom of
the runners of their sledges. with the open
pa ms of the hands until it freezes into
solid ice. the thermometer being from
zero to seventy below, when have known
| it to be done. | have seen an Eskimo
traveller throw himself on the snow and
rest comfortably for half an hour, the
thermometer seventy-One degrees below
zero, or one hundred and three degrees
below freezing; and probably doing some
| light work with ungloved hands. The
kinnepetoo Eskimo, who seldom build
even the small fires of the native stone
lamp in their igloos during the very cold
est weather of winter, are probably the
hardest of all boreal tribes in withstand
irg low temperatures, and sit around in
their cold, cherries snow-houses with
only their undergarments on (the Eskimo
has two suits of reindeer skins. the outer
with the hair turned outward and the in.
ner with the hair turned toward. and rest
ing against the body) their arms with
drawn from their sleeves and resting on
their bare bodies across their breast, chat
ting all the while pleasantly about vari-
Gus matters the thermometer often being
below zero; in fact, the only warmth the
house has, is that given off by their
| bodies | have known one of these Kin
nepetoos to take an undressed reindeer
| l. do hat had ynl
move the hair. which was frozen stiff as
plate of boiler iron. 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 drum
head Gee IoU lin their peculiar savage
rites. | might say that have been naked
myself in temperature OF minus 68 de-
grees. during the short time it took to I'M
dress, roll my reindeer coat into bundle
for pillow, and crawl into nv sleeping
bag; but my movements partook more of
the character of small boy going to a
baseball match than one saving wood
Their most efficient method of keeping
warm seems to be in the enormous guam
titles of fat they devour. and especially
during the winter season. and of which so
much has been written that will leave the
subject for others not so well understood.
Their clothing made Of reindeer skins
throughout have sufficiently though very
briefly. described above in brackets. Per-
sons looking at pictures of polar people
clad in these swarthy furs, think from
their bulky appearance that they must be
quite heavy. but think they are lighter
than our winter suits at home. They are
certainly lighter than sny other clothing
in the world called upon to protect their
owners from such intense cold.
A most peculiar fallacv of Eskimo win
ter life is that, when they are living in
these odd little snow houses. and wrapped
in furs and subsisting on fats, that their
lives are sort of Information. as near as
human beings can be supposed to hibern-
ate. On the contrary. the very reverse
seems to be the case. and it is by far their
liveliest season. despite the fact that their
DAYS are much shorter. and all conditions,
as we would view them, mnch more I'm =.
favorable for any great amount of active
out-of-door lite. l do not believe exag-
gerate when l say. that for every mile