San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-09-22
THE ESQUIMAUX LAND
DOMINIOK BOXERS EXPERIENCE
NTHE ARCTIC REGIONS.
Some Interesting Incidents of the
Triple Had an Esquimaux
Wife But Has Not Heard
From Her Since He
Left Her.


pie possess, l have in my time
lived in a sealskin house and slept
in a sealskin bed," remarked Domi-
nick Booker in lecture he de-
livered in ST. Joseph's hall at an
entertainment given for st. Peter
Claver's church upon September
the 18th.
The speaker is the chef in the
county jail, and he was prevailed
upon to relate his experiences in
the Arctic regions.
Dominick Booker, was born in
Kentucky, about 80 years ago, and
left for the cold country in 1879,
with Robert M. Berry, Captain in
the United States navy, on the
"Rogers," which, at the instance
of James Gordon Bennett, went
out in search of the i'll fated jean
nette expedition.
The dead body of Captain De
Long, of the Jeanette, was found
by Captain Berry's crew at the
mouth of the Helena, in the Arc
tic regions, in the spring of "S1.
Booker spent about two years of
his life in that country.
~ have been about as near to
the North pole as anyone" said
Dominick Booker. 1 went every
where that Captain Berry went
and the nearest we got to the
North pole was about 1880 miles.
This is an island known as Ran
gels Island, and was discovered
not many years ago. On this is
land we found the skeletons OF
mammoth animals, which no
doubt have been dead for hundreds
of years. A rich marble is also to
be found on this land as well as
other valuable minerals.
81 left San Francisco with Cap
tain Berry on the "Rogers" on
May 20, 1879, en- route to the Arc
tic regions. We went by the way
of Behring strait and reached
landowners island in July of the
same year. On the first day Of
August ne were in the Arctic
ocean. On August % we went to the
highest latitude north 81, 40 de-
grees north, and remained there
about three days, when we return
ed to our quarters on the Arctic
coast. The Rogers was destroyed
by fire on January the 18th, 1881,
and we were compelled to take
up our quarters with the Es-
quimaux. They were very hospit-
able toward us. We lived in the
same houses with them and ate
and slept with them. They looked
upon me as q distant brother, and
1 was unfortunate to be married
to one. But 1 am divorced now
from my Esquimaux wife by
land and sea and have never writ
ten letter to her nor have l re-
ceived any from her. But the
treason for this is that she can't
| ute, and / don't know her ad-
ss.
~ for the houses OF the Esqui-
maux, they are built of ice and
lined with, the skins of the ami.
mails that live up there: the seals,
walrus, and polai bear. etc. The
houses are round and about eight
feet high and about thirty feet
across on the inside.
"The Esquimaux have no
churches, schools or court houses.
But they have their own laws and
worship God as we do. The pun.
ishment of those who violate the
laws of the Esquimaux is in most
cases death. Although the Esqui-
maux have no schools in which to
receive their education, they are
we'll up in science regarding the
elements. The Esquimanx can
predict a storm two weeks before.
hand, and his predictions always
come true. When the Esquimaux
wants to go for sail he goes to
the coast to look at the condition
of the sea. He will wait for wave
to strike the shore and will meas.
ure the time between the first and
second and second and third
waves in coming to the shore
and if the third wave reaches the
shore in less time than the frs
or second wave, the Esquimau1
will stay at home, for he knows
there's going to be rough sea il
few days.
, "Wheu L told the Esquimaux o
the heat in the United States dur.
ing the summer, they laughed al
me. OF course, / couldn't speal
to them as we'll as 1 can now be.
cause they couldn't understand
: me. L picked up some OF theiI
language and pulled through tn,
| best way / could by making sigDt
r and pointing to the subject j
r talked about. They wouldn't be
lieve that there is such thing al
hot weather. When l told then