Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1902-04-03

When | started for the arctic re
gions, says Robert Stein, of the United
States Geological Survey, 1 carried
with me a violent aversion for all
lower races, particularly the Esqui-
maus, whom from report had learned
to regard as the embodiment of filth
unutterable. l am ready now to do
penance for any harsh word | may
have uttered against them.
My opportunities for studying the
Esquimaus We're not the most favor
able. Though / spent two years in the
Arctic, yet the time during which |
was in actual contact with them was
far less. We went north under express
agreement with Peary to have no
dealings with the natives, and hence
had not provided ourselves with a
stock of articles expressly for trade.
The occasions when / was able to OBJ
serve them were at the visits which
six parties of them made at our sta
tion. Fort Magnesfa, near Cape
Sabine during the winter of 1899 1900;
during my trip to Cape York from
April Is to May IL; during my stay
at Cape York till August II, and from
that time on till August 80, 1901. most
ly at Fort Magnesia.
Outside of our own Aryan race and
its immediate affiliations, there is per
haps not a tribe of men on the globe
more interesting than this little COM
munity of hyperboreans. Living be-
tween the 10th and 18th degrees of
north latitude. they are the most
northerly of the earth's inhabitants.
since the north point of Siberia, Cape
Chelyuskin extends only TO n degrees
and IS minutes and is uninhabited.
From their kindred in Danish Green
land they are separated by an interval
of 255 miles, mostly occupied by the
icy wilderness of Melville bay. Across
Bafin bay their kindred in Baffin Land
are 225 miles away.
Anything more extraordinary than
the mode of life of these people it
would be hard to imagine. First of
all, they inhabit no ordinary country
The most elaborate "shoestring dis
trict" produced by gerrymandering in
the United States cannot compare
with the land these people call their
home. A mere fringe along the sea-
shore, rarely more than mile wide,
is free from ice. Even this fringe is
interrupted a hundred times by the
rivers of ice that flow through many
valleys into the sea from the ice
sheet covering all the interior to an
unknown depth. Nor is the fringe a
fiowery border. In most places it is
simply a precipitous rock face, peep
ing from under the edge. OF the uniyer-
sal ice mantle. For the most part,
only islands and peninsulas show
larger extent of ice-free land. Imagine
the Palisades of the Hudson extending
distance of some three hundred
here and there a gentle swell, covers
all New Jersey within reach of the
eye, It's frayed edge extending in most
places to the very brow Of the cliffs,
sometimes. like a white forehead band.
running along their tops: with a
stream of ice coming down through
every gorge, and in many cases reach
ing the sea-that is Esquimau land.
If. besides. you imagine that over
about half the distance the foot of the
rock face is hidden by the debris of
a huge quarry, with blocks Of all sizes
tumbled together in every conceivable
way, sometimes to depth of 100 feet,
will
accurate picture of the features that
are apt to leave the strongest impress
sion on the mind. Yet the picture will
net be complete without its milder
features Here and there stretch OF
low and comparatively level land in
tervenes between the foot of the cliffs
and the seashore. and in such cases
we may find veritable meadows, gay
with flowers and covered with grass
foot high. In many places old talus
slopes, with profile as straight as if
laid out by an engineer, testify to the
former activity of the frosty quarry
man in the ellis above. but for some
reason this activity has ceased, the
cliffs are black and gray and orange
with lichen, and the talus slopes are
covered with soft carpet of moss
and grass. In a few places even the
tops of the cliffs, 800 feet above the
sea. present the aspect of vast
meadows, with an abundant. though
stunted. growth of grass.
How such a land can afford susten-
ance to human beings seems at first
sight an enigma. In point of fact,
the Esquimau asks of the land not
sustenance but merely a footing-a
storage place. So long as he has
rock which he knows will not move
away tomorrow or next year he is con-
tent. for there he can deposit the
treasures he wins from the sea with
the certainty of finding them again.
In picking out a building site he is
guided by several considerations. His
house (iglu) must not be more than
100 to 200 feet from the shore, because
the transportation of his yaluables,
easy by water or over ice, is a for
midable task overland. The driest.
levellest. grassiest place, of course. is
preferred. II must not be too close