New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-11-19
NANSEN IN GREENLAND.
WORK AND PLAY OF THE EsoUIMAUx.
ESKIMO LIFE by Fridtjof Nansen Translated
XVI, $50 Longmans. Green & Co.

William Archer. WIN lIustia'oho' ~
xvi, $50. Longmans, Green q Co.
Manners none; customs. nasty. ms Ia
nous laconic essay of the old sea-dog VINO was
asked to read before a certain learned society
a description of the practices of a savage tribe
with which he was familiar has been the epit-
ONE of too many unsympathetic studies of
human life outside the pale Of civilization. 1t
is needless to say that if Dr. Nansen errs at
ALL he errs on the other side of the account.
He is stoo ready to credit every vice of the
Esduimaux to the influence Of Europeans.
Given a more compaisant thermometer, and
his description of life among the natives IN
Greenland might pass for idyllic
Not but that the evil communications or
civilization have affected the good manners OF
these simple fsher-folk of the far North One
Of the obvious instruments Of harm has been
the seductive coffee-pot. There are those who
say that this daily beverage of millions is only
harmless in the Torrid Zone, and that 1t IS
slow poison anywhere above the Tropic OF
Cancer. One thing Is sure-the EsquimauX
long before the medical practitioners OF civilized
countries discovered the fact had FOUND out
that the excessive of coffee injuriously al
fected the nerves and ganga of equilibrium.
OF course they knew nothing OF nerves or gan
glia What they observed was the pracucai
fact that the persistent drinking OF TWO large
bowls of strong coffee every morning sooner or
later made it impossible for them TO balance
their narrow kayaks in calm sea, to say
nothing of managing them in tempest. FOR
that reason. at least in some communities cof-
fee was forbidden to the youth, though older
men continued to indulge habit which they
felt was hurtful to them. 1t may seem curious
fact that the Esquimaux should so soon nave
fixed upon the particular loan from CIV
ization which was doing them unusual harm
But their acuteness will not seem so strange
when 1t is remembered that the livelihood OF
these people depends, to a very large degree on
the skill with which they can Keep their
balance in a boat in which not one civilized man
out of millions could keep himself afoat. JUST
as a European or an American mas MS coat
cut and made to fit him. so the Esquimau mas
his kayak made according to his size Ihe
length does not usually vary much. being about
eighteen feet: nor the beam-for few men over
eighteen inches in breadth woull be seaworthy
in a canoe. But the depth which must be ac-
commodated to the oarsmans figure varies con
siderably and the hole at which he enters MS
fraii craft fits him like the finger OF a glove
II is fitted with a narrow fange, to which he
binds what may here be called his topcoat
Thus he and his boat together make what is
that machine is more unsteady than an empty
barrel; and, as DR.. Nansen says, in Mr.. Archers
translation. 1T will readily be understood that
II is not easy to sit in vessel like kayak
without capsizng. and that it needs good deal
of practice to master its pecuarities. l have
seen a friend of mine in Norway, on making his
first experiment in my kayak capsze four times
in the space of two minutes; no sooner had we
got him up on even keel and let him go than
he stood on his head with the bottom OF the
KAYAK in the air" Then the author adds re-
mark which illustrates in SPECIFIC way the
strongest argument he presents in behail OF
his simple minded Northern friends: But when
one has acquired by practice mastery OF the
kayak and of the two-bladed paddle, one can
get through the water in all sorts of weather
at an astonishing speed. The kayak is be-
You'd comparison the best boat for single
oarsman ever invented
1t is the marvellous resourcefulness and in
ventve skill of these men Of the far north
which Dr. Nansen is never weary Of praising;
and il is here he meets with almost angry
contempt the assertion that civilization has made
up for some Of the injury ii has done savage
races by giving them better implements for
gaining their livelihood He declares that fire. |
arms have been positive injury to the Green
landers as hunters They were. indeed. enabled |
to slaughter the creatures upon which they |
subsisted more rapidly. But the result was just |
such wastefu butchery as caused the buffalo |
to vanish from the praires of the United States |
1t went far says DR.. hansen. that on the |
narrow strip of naked. broken country which |
stretches along the west coast. no fewer than |
$1,000 reindeer were killed every year, only the |
skim as a rule. being taken and sold to Euro |
peans while the flesh was left behind to rot. |
OF course this led to the almost total extermi- |
nation Of the animals. and hunting almost |
entirely ceased, because. as it was explained, |
the reindeer had left the coast What hap |
pened in the case of the reindeer is also about |
to happen with the seal This wary animal is
frightened by the crack of the rife On the |
other hand, use of the rifle has lessened the !
dexterity Of hunters with the harpoon. The !
final difficulty. worst of all. is that while the
slaughter of seals with the rifle is much greater |
than 1t was with the nativr weapons vast |
numbers OF the carcasses are lost thing that |
almost never happened In old times. The sho
gun has proved Of the same murderous efficacy
with birds AS the rifle has with larger game.
Thus. tempted ky the appliances Of civilization.
the Esquimau wasting his means of life. AS
things were few years ago he was able to
procure the subsistence needed by himsel. and
those dependent him without diminishing
the supply of land and food which forms
his only dependence. In those days he only
drew the interest on his capital; now he is de-
stroying the principal just fast as he can
load and fire his gun.
Meanwhile the Greenlander is rapidly losing
not only the game which he lived upon but the
skins Of which he used to make his clothes and
his boats The making of the women's boats
so prominent in every story of Arctic travel has
almost ceased With the disappearance Of
these end forever those periodical rnigrations
which were and are indispensable to the exist
encc or the race. Shvering in his European
rags. the wretched native must starve ashore
In places where with warm furs bows and ar
rows. harm oons and lances and huouant La.aLa