Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-01-10
EATERS OF WHALE etUeeER.
Two Queer Little Mcn-Quaint MarriaSs
and Religious Customs

Two Queer Little Mcn-Quaint MsrrtaS>
and Religious Customs.
Il have one wife, my brother has two
and my father has four" said a quaint
looking little man with alnysnd eyes ans
an y in India ink on each cheek to re
porter The speaker Was Dom Koch. and
with him WAS Tommy or Naghsook, both
Esquimaux, who arrived here on the
whaler Reindeer. Their home is among
the Siberian steppes, within the Arctic
circle in GO l-9 degs. north latitude and
10 degs. west longitude Here, born and
bred in a snow house, in land where the
sun never sets in summer. they had re
manned, as had their ancestors for thou
sands of years. and never dreamed OF
another country until. when their little
skin boat was blown far out TO sea, they
were taken aboard the Reindeer.
Il expect nv wife will be gone when
get back said the funny little man who
first spoke, and who talked English re-
markably well. ''Some other man viii
probably have her, but then III get me
another one. Up there IL mans goes nsh-
ing, come back and find wifes gone, he
don't worry. He goes and gets some
more"
Tommy listened to this speech rather
demurely Tommy is homesick," said
Dom Koch. HE wants to get back again.
He has two pretty wives and three ugly
ones. like California very well. It's
nice and warm down here, and when 60
back next year TN going to bring my
three sisters and come down here to live. -
''These queer people, said ]. c. Greene.
who was with them, and who was wrecked
on Behring'S straits, Siberia, in 1881, do
not hold the ties Of marriage very sacred.
Another thing, they NO not punish fof
murder. Murder, however. is rare. There
are probably 10000 or 1900 Esquimaux
within radius Of 5000 miles of where l
was wrecked and where Dom and Tommy
are from. and these speak twenty-five or
thirty different dialects. You may he able
to understand one dialect and be COM
pletely knocked out by another. The peo-
pie live in ice houses, 800 or 400 in a vii
lage, back little way from the water.
They are very superstitious people, too.
When the W. F. Marsh went to pieces
and we We're cast away. we fell in with
the simple Esquimaux and got couple
to guide US to distant st. Michael's. 1t
was the latter part Of August, and we
NSEc bcscl Win euCn ledElut stpfuiS tiidt
we could make very little progress. Our
guides thought an evil spirit WAS among
US, and went TO work to get rid Of it. One
Of them lay down on his right side while
the other fastened a rawhide string round
his neck, with a stick attached to it SO it
could be twisted tight Pulling at this
be would raise and lower his head, while
both howled out their weird chants TO the
gods. After awhile they changed Off, and
the Esquimau who had been down, arose
and became chief howler. He prayed to
the gods for less wind, and ;hc two then
in the most hair raising groans
and chattering and grinding of teeth.
Finally one of them piled q big stone on
his shoulder, and whirling with it, uttered
the most doleful sounds Then the other
Indian was thrust up there, the whirling
and moaning and hallooing going on rs
before. How either the stone or the Indi
an staid there don't know. for neither
was held, but just seemed TO lay there. 1t
was some sort OF legerdemain. At length,
worn out and exhausted. they
quit, and the wind going down about that
time, they thought they had made u good
job of il, and we thanked them and moved
on. San Francisco Examiner.