The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-09-20
|OLAR PRIZE FIGHTERS.
DIV Pugilism Is Practiced Among
the Inhabitants Of the
Far North.
} Simply = Test or Endurance and
Not for Scientific
Points.
no Eskims Are . Peaceful People,
However-Oniy Two Tribes Of
Thorn q Outs.

Written Tor TIN HELENA I~NDEPKNDKNr.l
THE ESKIMO HAVE THE REPU-
\I tation Of being . very peaceful race
~ Of people, and they dsssrvo u. 30
ar o. war 10 concerned IL il almost wholly
unknown among them. Whom on ths
ARCTIC coast Of North America, near the
mouth Of Backs Great Fish river, ! found
tribe called tho Nstsohilluks, or s~sal-eat-
m. an unusually aggressive tribe. among
his peaceful race. and they told me thsy
we're at virtual war with the Kindsrliks, or
fJoppe. Eskimo. and they killed sach othsr
Whensvor they met.
There 10 also . Legend On the Yukon
river. Of Alaska, common 10 both Indians
Ind Eskimo. that whore they have met and
contendsd for the lands the latter have In
variably forced the Indians back until this
Eskimo now OCCUPY some 400 miles Of the
stream from its mouth. They are now al
peace. however. and the AskaRannute Es-
kimo. the farthsst inland, live peacefully
and associate with the Anviks and Shage-
looks. The sams statement Of affairs can
be made Of the Kousikoquim and some
other rivers of Alaska and the British
Northwest territory wherever the two races
have come in contact.
To take it altogether the Eskimos are not
I quarrslsome ~. True. = number q peo-
pie who ought to know what they ar talk
ing about have intimated that the Nstschil-
Inks. the seal saters ! have just mentioned,
probably murdered Sir John Frsnklin's i'll
fatsd party while endsavorinR to escape
from ies-bound ships in the Arctic. but the
most that can be said against them is that
a. 10 N Ahnorv onrcDpAaH ~ A~Iv a Ia Sr
considerable facts. Family feuds. CAR lied
to the extent of killing each other. sls not
% uncommo as war; and vet from our own
standpoint of the civilized man they are
extremely few.
The Eskimo are very slow and deliberate,
and even in the rare cases Of q feud exist
ing il il often years before the revenge is
taken, which is make to atone for some
previous and almost ancient murder.
When l was with my party among the
N%etschilluks of King Williams Land and
adjacent mainland there came a sullen
looking fellow of squat, "dumpy" stature,
whose mission, SO my Eskimo found out in
some way, was to kill my best hunter,
Tooloah, who was an lwillik, or walrus
eater, a. that tribal name implies. Many,
many years before. when this particular
wan " ASA SOtAN - Wv
brat in bearskin breech clouts. a relative
of his. q sort of forty-second cousin b.
way Of Adam and Eve. had been killed by
IN Iwillik in the country and it had just oc-
CURED to him that it was about time to get
sven while the event was yet within the
memory OF the oldest inhabitant. Tooloah
knew nothing of the matter at all. but he
was An Iwilllk, and that settled it SO far as
the Netschilluk's revenge was concerned.
Just about that time it occurred to me that
I could not spare Tooloah's valuable
services, and I somewhat astonished them
by announcing that if Tooloah or any
other member of my party was killed I
would not quit retaliating as long as any
male member of the tribe left whom ! could
tind. As nine-tenths Of them had never
seen firearms before and had been dumb
founded at their effect. it stopped all fur
theraction, as l had inferred it would when
I made my threat. which l knew need not
be carried into effect. have given the ex-
ample to show something Of the character
of their feuds.
1t was while among these same people.
the seal eaters of the Arctic shores, that l
heard of a form of pugilism. unknown
among the other Eskimo tribes except 40
far as they had heard of it among the
Netschilluks. This pugilism 10 a modified
method OF settling disputes not quite so
grave a. the feuds, and is often used, SO l
ance and strength. While no prizes are
awarded, they differ but little from the
similar contests We have among us-such
az those planned for New Orleans. except
in the way Of conducting them which l will
now explain.
The contest of the combatants nearly al.
ways takes place in a large snow house. or
iQloo, as they term it. In these large. semi
permanent snow houses they have generally
I'm aisle running down the center separating
the two snow beds on either side. which are
about two feet high. the aisle being about 40
wide. Only the select are allowed admit
tance, the cream of society-the ice cream. of
course. The oombatants sit on opposite sides
of tho aisle, facing each othe-, on tho snow
beds, and are 80 close that their legs over
lap each each others in order to get room.
Time having been oalled. there ia no SOL
entitio sparr'ng or sullivanesque strategy
s%nowhouse. They simply keep still. sx-
Dept one draws back his fist and
plants it emphstically at the butt
of the others ear. The first blow IL
not very hard. but the recipient of the
favor generally knows when he receives it.
one sided, but the dealer of the blow
in entitled to but ono strike when the
other fellows turn comes. He gradually
increases the force of the blow. the person
struck remaining quiet. his head bowed low,
and his hands or elbows resting on his
Aucoss IA6bo ultcf AueAOub VI UluWb JUL
tinue one at a time. each one increasing
over the other in strength until they have
reached the extreme limit of the power of the
belicose blubber eaters to deal them. If
one or he other is not knocked Jenseless
when these terrific blows are at their maxi
num-, there will, of course, come n time
when one or tho other will sucoumb from
sheer exhaustion. Az a test of physical en-
DURANGO these polar pugilistio encounters OF
the seal eaters are undoubtedly Of greater
value than the prize fights among our own
civilized selves, but as matters of 'soience'
30 called. they cannot rank. very high.
How often they take place among these
they are not very frequent. When the Es-
knife found his intentions baked he sent
party. but evidently intended for the native
portion only. l told him ! would accommo-
date him il he would give me 'sAtisfaction"
in a contest with firearms next DAY, but
this ended all further negotiations.
They wsrs mortslly afraid Of powder.
pistols and everything pertaining 10 their
with . face SO pookmarked that l thought
he had had the smallpox, and / was curious
to ascertain II IL were true. He told me,
however. that he had gotten ii In another
way.
At one Of the boat places in his country,
where a large number of Sir John Frank
lin's men had persisted, ana their skeles
tons, mixed with debris. were found scat
tered around, this fellow, then n boy, 90
cured a small red flask filled with black
mutH y N I'm BALLAD ~ 1A hal 49, -A. So,