The morning call., 1892-11-14
| OUR ESKIMO COLONISTS.
They Are Not Entirely I'm
tutored Savages.
FROM THE LABRADOR COAST
The Sixty Northern People Who Will Attend
the Worlds Fair Are Nearly
all Pure Bloods.

hizeu Esklmos at the Worlds Fair next
year will probably be disappointed, says a
writer in the New York Sun. The sixty
skin-clad men, women and children who
were landed in Boston the other day will
no doubt prove a drawing card among the
chronological exhibits at the big fair, but
they cannot represent the Eskimo in his
wholly uncivilized state. as their brethren
could who live in Bsffin Land or on the
coasts of Hudson Bay. These little people
have come to us from Labrador. and there
are not 200 heather Eskimos Oh all that long
coast. while 1900 or more Eskmos live at
the mission stations that have been MAN.
tanned for many years by Moravian teach
ers from England. The largest number OF
these half-civiized Eskimos lives at Okkak.
400 miles up the coast. where there are over
800 of them.
IL the visitors cannot see wild and IN
tanned ESkimos they will, however. see
representatives OF the race who are mostly
all pure bioods. There are some half
breeds among this branch of the family, for
employees of the Hudson Bay Company and
other settlers have married Eskimo women;
but the missionaries have set up every
barrier against immortality and have
brought to bear such influence upon the
fishermen and sailors who visit the stations
that the native stock has been kept almost
pure. This cannot be said OF the Green
lanGers, where there has been so large an
admixture with Scandinavian clements that
it is said pure blooded Eskimo cannot now
be found along the whole length of the
Greenland west coast except among the
isolated Arctic Highlanders.
When the little vessel went north last
summer for this Eskimo colony it found
the natives scattered far from the mission
stations at their different fishing places.
Early In the spring the men started into the
interior to hunt reindeer. They returned
in May and then took their entire families
with them to the many little Islands along
the rugged coast to hunt seals. AT that
time the seals, having an admonition of adj
vancing heat, are returning 10 the northern
seas. and as they follow the outer edges of
the drift ice the hunters often drive far ont
on the ice in their dog-sledges to inter-
cept them on their journey. They live
with their wives and children upon the
outer islands until the seals have passed
north and the coast Ice has left the bays and
straits. Then about the end Of June they
return TO the stations In boats, 1T up little
sailing craft they have bought from New
foundland fishermen. and then make their
way TO the fishing grounds, where they leave
their families on shore and catch trout in
the many inlets where little streams empty
into the sea. The season OF trout-hShiDg Is
followed by few weeks of cod-fshing. Our
little colony from Labrador was picked up
while the natives were engaged in their sum-
| mer occupations.
lie missionaries nave an easy Time In
summer. TIE natives do not reassemble at
the stations with their families until about
Christmas, and it is during the winter that
the mission work is carried on. For more
than century at these stations schools
have been maintained in winter. Ii is
probable that not single adult Eskimo
Will be seen in Chicago next year who can
not read and write. They have good mem
cries and know most of the hymn tunes
that are sung in our own churches.
n ba IF Igelvf 4
that of the Greenland natives chiefly in the
jacket worn by the women. The garment
as worn by the Greenland women Is a sort
OF roundabout, while in Labrador the
back OF the garment is extended nearly to
the knees. so that il looks something like
the tail of dress suit.
These Eskimos are believed to have lived
on the Labrador coast before there were
any EskimOs in Greenland. Professor A s.
Packard of Brown University. whose book
on The Labrador Coast" is the most COM
plete work that has yet been written upon
Labrador, says there is good deal of evil
dence also that these Eskimos once lived as
FAR south as the northern shores of the Gulf
OF 81. Lawrence. After examining all the
evidence with regard to their former resi-
dence in much more southern ATTITUDES.
Professor Packard thinks the theory of Dr.
c. {. Abbott that the Eskimos at one time,
during the river terrace epoch, Inhabited the
coast of New Jersey, is not SO very i'm
probable. It is said that long after the
close of the glacial period reindeer and
walrus lived as far south as New Jersey
and 1t may possibly be that the EskimOs
extended as far. south as tue region
that is now marked by the edge of the
great moraine. AS the climate assumed its
present features they moved northward.
Undoubtedly. also, they were pushed north
ward by the Indians. Professor L. b. Tyler
read paper befor the British Association
few years age, in which he eDdeavored 10
show that "EskimOs 500 wears apn hafnra
they found their way to Greenland, were
hunting seals on the coasts Of Newfound-
land and caribou in the forests" There
are traces of Eskimos in Newfoundland.
Professor Packard givs good deal of tes-
tlmony to Confirm the early belief OF the
Greenland Danes and Moravians that the
Labrador EskimOs are an older people than
those who migrated into Greenland. 1t is
thought probable that the GreenlandeTs
were natives who crossed to the big island
from the mainland OF America to escape the
Indians, who have usually been the enc
mics of the Eskimo.
1t is certain that the Eskimos of the Lab
rador coast, and also Of Hudson Bay, were
formerly much more numerous than they
are to-day. The Europeans living on the
Labrador coast maintain excellent health,
while the death rate among the Eskimos is
high, many of them falling victims to lung
diseases. The whites among them think
that their ultimate extinction Is certain.
This Is not the case apparently with the
Greenland race at present, who for a num-
Der OF years past seemed 10 have been hold
Ing their own. Unless the seasons are un-
usually severe and the hardships of procur-
Ing their food supplies are uncommonly
great, they apparently do well and slowly
Eskimos age very rapidly. 1t Is rare to
ind among them person who is 20 years
old, and the man who has reached As years
begins to look wrinkled and aged.