The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-30
LOST ESKIMO TRIBE
On an Island in the Northern
Part of Hudson Bay.
ONLY ONCE IN HISTORY
Have They Ever Found Their
Way to the Mainland.

u
Washington, Dec. 2s.-The strangest
anthropologicai find" recorded in the
last decade of the nineteenth century
will be announced soon by the American
Museum of Natural History. 1t is moth
ing less than the discovery, on a lonely
island in Hudson Bay, of a lost tribe of
Eskimo-a community which had been
without intercourse with other represen-
tatives of the human species for centu-
r1es, and whose members never saw
white man until few months ago. They
are still in the stone age, knowing no
metals; they grow no plants, and their
houses are built of the skulls of whales.
The home of this strange tribe. which
seems to have been cut off in some IN
known manner from the rest of the world
ever so long ago, is on Southampton ISL
and-a piece of water-girt terra frma,
nearly as big as the state of Maine, sit
uated at the north end of Hudson Bay.
Apparently the people have dwelt there
ever since ore-Columbian times, and to-
day live aond subsist in exactly the same
way as they did then.
Having been isolated for so long per-
iod it is natural that they should exhibit
many peculiarities most interesting to the
student Of ethnology, and these are IL
lustrated by superb collection of uten-
sis, weapons of the chase, and other OBJ
jects, which, through the agency of DR..
Franz Boas, has been brought to New
York in whaling vessel and deposited
in the Museum of Natural History
The houses of skulls above mentioned,
more properly described as huts, are
built by putting together the great jaws
of right whales, which are covered over
with skins. In the middle of this primi
tive dwelling is an elevated place on
which stands the inevitable stone lamp
chief essential of every Eskimo house
hold. Indeed the whole life of the family
may be said to revOlve about this lamp,
the inmates depending upon it for their
existence. Without it they would be I'M
able to occupy so frigid and otherwise
uninhabitable region. 1t is employed
for lighting, heating, cooking, melting
Yet it is nothing more than an open dish
of whale oil or seal oil, with a wick of
dry moss soaked in fat.
The whale is the chief means of sub
sistence of these strange people, who
hunt the mighty cetacean in skin boats,
much like those used by other Eskimo.
1t is from the right whale that the whale
bones Of commerce is obtained. and this
material they use in variety of sUrpris-
ing ways, making even their cups and
buckets of it by bending it into rounded
shapes and sewing on the bottoms. Many
of their implements are of whalebone.
and from the same stuff they Ilanufac-
ture toboggan-like sIeds.
They make sledges with pairs of walrus
tusks for runners and deer antlers for
cross pieces. 1t would be hard to find
more daring hunters than they are, the
seal, the yalrus and the wary caribou
contributing to their game bags.
The tribe comprises only ffty-eight in
dividuals. about equally divided as to
sexes. Its members speak a dialect Pc
culiar to themselves, and quite unlike
that employed by any other Eskimo.
rates Southampton Island from their
western shore of Hudson Bay. where
there is a colony of Eskimo. and once in
a long while it freezes clear. across. This
happened, it is said. seventy-fve years
ago, and then a few hunters came over
from the island to the mainland, where
they were much surprised to meet other
human beings like themselves having
doubtless imagined that they We're the
only people in existence. This is now
tradition with the natives on the main
land, who say that the strangers brought
two sledges with them, but went away
again and never returned. Neither be
fore nor since has any news come of the
lost tribe
On Southampton Island there is no
soapstone, which among the Eskimo else
where is the favorite material for pots
and kettles, Hence the people Of the lost
tribe are obliged to make such receipt
acles in rectangular shape out Of slabs
of limestone glued together with mix
ture of grease and deer blood. In the
same way they manufacture their lamps.
and this fact is another evidence of the
prolonged isolation Of the community, in
as much as Eskimo when they can oh
tain no soapstone in their own neighbor-
hood, will pay any price to get it from
some other more fortunate tribe. Some
times they Will make trips lasting several
years in quest Of this material, which is
of rare occurrence, and not often discov-
cred in pieces large enough for lamps or
pots
The hunters Of Southampton Island arm
their harposns with flint points. and their
arrows likewise. They make these points
by chipping the flint with bone instru-
ments. In their hunting pouches they a.
WAYS carry number Of fresh arrow
/ heads and spear heads 10 provide for
/ emergencies. They are not acquainted
/ with tobacco weed Of which the Eski-
no in general is exceedingly fond-neither
| do they possess any article whatever that
| has been introduced into America since
/ the landing Of Columbus. Fire they OBJ
/ tain bv means Of the familiar bow drill