The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-17

were usually limited to four innings as
by o'clock it would be too dark to
see the ball
All the whaIemen were dressed in the
Esquimau fur costume, only the face
being exposed, and on their hands wore
heavy fur mittens. These clumsy nit
tens, together the fact that one was
apt to fall on the ice unless he gave a
large part of his attention to keeping
his feet underneath him, made good
catching practically impossible. ''A1uffS''
were the rule, and the man who caught
and held the ball received an ovation,
not only from the whalers, but from the
hundreds of Esquimaux who were al
ways crowded about the rope With the
ball frozen as hard as a rock, no one
was apt to repeat an experiment of
catching with bare hands. One Of the
center felders was cOrpulent Orkney
Islander whose favOrite method Of stop
ping a hot grOunder was to lie down in
front of it. The Esquimaux considered
him the star player of the fleet. Sliding
was the only thing done to perfection,
the ice offering excellent facilities for
distinction in that line; and there was
always a wild cheer when a. runner.
getting too much Roadway, knocked the
baseman off his feet and both came
down together. The scores were rid1cu-
lousy large, seldom less than fifty on
a side, and sometimes twice that. On
the smooth ice a good hit meant home
run.
A most amusing feature OF the games
was the interest shown by the Esqui-
maux. With the fleet there were nearly
a hundred of these people from Behring
Strait and Point Barrow and there were
several villages in the vicinity of Her
schel Island. These latter were Kog-
mulliks, the largest Esquimaux in ex-
istence, and the presence Of the fleet
had drawn them from all along the
coast. Men. women and children be-
came typical baseball cranks, and there
was never game without a large at
tendance Of Esquimaux who stood about
h 4 4 Id
franticaIly whenever there was a bril-
liant catch or a successful slide. At
first dozens of them would break over
the line and try to hold a runner until
the baseman could get the ball, and it
was only by vigorous cuttings that they
were taught that the spectators duties
are limited to cheering and betting.
They borrowed the paraphernalia. and
tried a few games of their own, but
rarely got beyond the first inning US
ually winding up in a general melee and
hair-pullfng. One Of their umpires, who
insisted on allowing a nine to bat after
it had three men out in order to even up
the score, was dragged off the diamond
by his heels. They are naturally great
gamblers and bet among themselves on
the results of the whaler's games.
A fact that impressed me very much
at one of the games that I saw was
that the crowd of several hundred peo-
pie watching our national sport at this
faraway corner of the earth, only 20
degrees from the pole, and thousands
Of miles from railroads or steamship
lines, was more widely cosmopolitan
than could have been found at any 9TH
er place on the globe. From the ships
were Americans, a hundred or more,
men from every sea-faring nationality
of EUrOpe-Chinese, japanese and Ma
lays from Tahiti and Hawaii. The col
Ored brother, too, was there, a dozen
of him, and several Of the players were
negroes. Esquimaux of all ages were
everywhere while the red men were
represented by the eleven wiry fellows
who had snowshoed with me from their
home in the valley Of the Yukon. One
day I noticed that in a little group of
eleven, sitting on an overturned sled
watching a game, there were represen-
tatives of all the five great divisions Of
the human race.
There are no men on earth who are
more hospitable and more thoroughly
good fellows than these whalers of the
Arctic Ocean, and it was hard to leave
them; but we finally got away and
started on the long tramp over the
snowy wastes toward the Yukon. Just
before we left a notice was posted in
the club house which, with many
''whereases.' - tafore-saids." and other
legal formula, recited that the "Auro-
ras'' thought they knew something
about ball, and hereby challenged the
''Herschels" to meet them on the dta-
mOnd within three days.