La Junta tribune. (La Junta, Bent County, Colo.) 1881-1939, 1898-10-08
ESKIMO INGENUITY.
THE FLAT-FACED. RoLY-PoLY
LITTLE SAVAGE A MARVEL.
some Of HIs Invsstioas-Closs ssco1d
- the Yankee In OriEtn.iity -sisdsss
BETTER Than Anything We Could Oner
for the Purpose.

The Eskimo and the Yankee are
we'll could be. ye, they have traits In
common II there is any quality super
!atively characteristic OF the Yankee 1t
is surely his mechanical ingenuity: and
the fat-faced. roiy-9oly Eskimo is SIM
ply q marvel in the same line. though
he doesn't look IL. says the Philadelphia
Press. In fact, 1; is to his cleverness
that he owes his existence. No race
not fertile in expedients could possibly
survive for a single year in that land
Of eternal winter. where nothing can be
done in the same manner as in other
parts OF the world. Really. those re-
giors of frightful cold we're never
meant for man to dwell In. and the har-
dy natives are able TO live there only by
defy!ng nature and outwitting her at
every turn In country where the
mercury drops down into the bulb and
freezes into a bullet that you could
shoot out OF gun. to be long without
shelter means death. yet the materials
out OF which men build houses are no.
where to be found. So the shifty Eski-
mo builds a hut OF the very snow that
seemed likely to destroy him and
makes himself very comfortable In IT,
But again, in that terrible climate
he has neither wood nor coal nor any
thing else that We are accustomed TO
use for fuel, indeed, II he were to build
an ordinary fire In his icy den he would
quickly bring his own roof down upon
his head In mass of slush. So, with
a little lamp, which is nothing more
than saucerfui OF biubber. he gets
warmth and light and heat for his
cooking Fish and seal are his chief
means of subsistence: yet for his boat
he has not even the birch bark which
serves the purpose so well for his In
dian neighhors little farther south.
Not in the least daunted. this arctic
Yankee makes craft of skin. which
Ia scarcely more than an inflated bag
but which he manipuiates with such
amazing cleverness that he can out
ride the toughest seas and actually
turn somersaults on the tumblinE
waves. They are not easily baked.
these phiegmatic. stolid-looking say-
ages. Most ingenious of all are their
siedges. Everybody is supposed TO
know how. In the absence of wood,
they build them of numberless little
pieces of bone deftly fitted. pierced and
bound together with bits of sinew. Bat
though everybody is presumed to know
how 1t is done. nobody but an Eskimo
can do it You might more readily
construct a bicycle Of scrap-iron and
stove wire. II is a task requiring In
g.. y,slt -
ishcd. one OF these siedges lasts for
many generations. an heirloom handed
down from father to son. better for its
purpose than anything We. with all our
science. could offer as a substitute. At
the same time strong and flexible, Il
endures the toughest usage as 1t Is
dragged by the wild. feet dog pacas
over the frozen wastes that girdle the
pole. Not always however. has the
Eskimo sledge of this description
ready to his hand. and something he
must have. But you can't freeze out
an Eskimo. Calling TO his aid the very
frosts that threaten HIS life. he makes
two long tubes of sealskin. fills them
with moss and earth. or even with
snow. and vets them down, bending
them up little at the ends. In few
minutes they are frozen as rigid as
iron-and there are his runners. Mean
while he has cut out large oblong
from thick walrus hide. which he
al;o moistens. When that. too. is
frozen It becomes as stin as deal
pjank-and there is the top board. A
f.w stout thongs do the rest, and in less
tlan an hour he has serviceable
sisdge ready for business.