Omaha daily bee., 1894-12-17

great event Of the dsy-the athletic con-
tests.
During their trips to this. neighboring set
Elements the boys had invited the natives To
come to the "Peary igloo' (Pesry house,
after so many sleeps, assuring them that
there would be lots to see and more to eat.
This latter inducement prevailed on many to
forsake their own Aeshpots, and for several
days visitors had Seen arriving -
The natives are much more presentabl, in
winter than in summer, for the frequent
snow storms t9 which they are exposed wash
their fuTs and faces, and they usually ar
rived with glowing cheeks and sparkling
eyes. Their broad, squatty figures, much
magnfed by their huge deerskin kooetahs
fur sweaters with hoods attaehed) and their
white bearskin trousers, made then look like
strange animals, while the matted strings OF
coarse black hair hanging over their faces
and partly yelling their small. cleaning
black eyes, added no little to their fierce ap-
pearance. But their looks belle their natures,
for they are mild. patient, Intelligent and
faithful, and their friendliness has won
them a warm place in the hearts Of all
those who come in contact with them.
with this wild escort we now went down
to the bay, where the boys had cleared away
the soft snow and had laid out the courses
on tho smooth ice.
The moon was still behind the eastern
mountains. leaving the head of the bay in
deep shadow, while down at the mouth, ten
miles away, we saw the ice of Inglefeld
gulf cleaning in the moonlight The tors of
the western cliffs were already silverei by
the advancing light, but all the eastern 6: ore
was draped in the deepest black except where
the moonbeams like truant children had out
strlpped their sedate mother and were to-
bogganing down the creviced surface of the
eastern glacier and shooting far across the
bay leaving behind them broad stream OF
light.
&c. tl,A
including foot races, races on ski, races with
sedges and dog teams, high jumping broad
jumping and hurdle racing.
The contestants stood about, mufled In
furs, stamping their feet to keep warm
until II was their turn to take part in an
event, and then they would strip on their
great deerskin "kooletahs," step Out Of their
enormous dogskin overboots and take their
places on the scratch, clad in wooen shirts
and trousers and seaskn kamiks or boots.
The official starter would say get ready.
then bang would go his pistol, and of would
go the racers.
1t was strange sight to look down upon,
there in the white light, on the icebound
bay. The small group of fur-ciad mortals
the Caucasans, moving about with restless
eagerness, peering ahead to catch glimpse
of the dim forms in the distance, whose rap
idly moving feet broke the silence with their
rhythmical patter; the Eskimos, standing III
stoIid silence or discussing in their deer
guttura,s the curious antics Of that to then,
most curious animal, the white man, as he
Jumped about on the ice, from time to time
| uttering Wild unearthly yells--to the right oi
them the western cliffs cleaning now IRON
| base to summit in the white moonlight-tc
| the left the steep slopes of the eastern
| shore. up which the shadows were rapidly
| stealing in their fight before the ADVANCING
moon, which even now was peering over
| the plateau to ascertain the cause of the
/ 49,, Do lat 4
| rocky front, and nesting at It's base tht
| only house within a radius of 500 miles-be
! fore them a great sheet of frosted silver, tht
| bay ice with the moonlight on 1t.
To the Eskimos the most amusing even
| was the sledge race, for which there were
| two entries The natives laughed good
| naturedly at the way the contestants handled
their teams, evidently fully aware that ther'
| was one thing at least at which they coult
beat the wonderful .ltabloonah" (whit,
| mani. ~ -
| The hurdle race was closely contested, anS
| proved a most interesting event In its ar
| rangement 1t was probably the most unique
feature of the program. For hurdles we hat
product of the tropics--bamboo poles-rest
ing on a product Of the arctics-pillars o
snow-the whole lighted by the lurid rays o
red signal lamps, which were placed as
| warming to the runners where to jump.
Clarke and Carr got away together on tn
| start, and moved like two automatons oper
ated by the same machine. Side by side the!
sped away, side by side they took the hur
dies one after another until 1t looked as J
the race would end in a. dead heat. Their
| were only three more hurdles to leap, ant
still the contestants were shoulder to shoul
| der At the first of these Clarke rose t
| Jump a fraction of a second before Carr, a
the next he was half over as Carr left tn
ground and at the last one he was clear o
the stick as Carr jumped and with thi
start In his favor reached the string win
ner by three PAGES.
| l left the boys playing tag between event
to keep warm. and went uD to the house t
look after the dinner, which was going to b
q very swell affair. Mrs. Cross had bake
some nee waters the day before, and we wer
going to serve them with ice cream-mad
from condensed milk, OF course-for dessert
Even now, in this land of plenty, l loo
over the menu with the feeling that we ha
q firstclass dinner. and / know that ever
one of my guests as he came up with hi
appetite sharpened by his eXertions and tn
cold, bracing air, felt that no tonic wa
needed to make him do full justice to tn
meal.
When we came to distribute the prizes
was found that Clarke won eight of tn
eleven events and was, therefore, awarded
narwhal horn, the prize for the best all
round athlete, besides scooping such mino
prizes as a deerskin, boxes of nuts and can
dies, jars of jam, bottles of lime grape an
raspberry juice, plum pudding, with sauce
etc., etc., not the best training diet in tn
world, but the material for many midnigh
feast.
After the award of prizes it was time
feed our menagerie-eighty Eskimo dogs
and for this purpose several hundred pound
Of walrus meat, very ancient and very tough
we're cut into pieces Weighing from one-hal
to one and half pounds each. The dogs wer
already on the alert, and 1t needed no cry G
"huck! huck!" to bring the snarling, fighting
yelping pack about the heels of the feeders.
Hector and Mike, the two st. Bernard
brought from the States, lowered above tn
pack stately and dignifed, but this air wa
soon lad aside when the pieces of meat wer
scattered among the dogs, for then 1T wa
fight and win or go hungry. The dog VIII
was fortunate enough to get hold Of a piec
of meat Immediately bolted it whole for fea
some other canine would capture it, and ais
to enable him to enter again without unneces
sary loss of time in the free-for-al fight fo
another tid-bii.
In honor of TIE day we gave them an extr
large allowance of meat, and l hope they az
preciated it, though have my doubts, for a
Eskimo dog is always hungry
Every one now went into the house an
soon | heard such eXclamatlons as Say
have you got a collar?" "Jove! look at thi
tie! and the like, from which judged tha
the boys were dressing for dinner and wer
discovering that civilized finery left to tax
care Of itself during an Arctic winter doe
not improve In appearance.
However when at last the dinner hell ran