Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-18
ESQUIMAU CHILDREN
PASTTEES THAT ENLIvEN THH
LONG WINTER NIGHT.
Dances With the Northern Lights One
Of Them-Then They Have
Fine Coasting.
From the New York Sun.

rom tne view fOSk Sun
Most northern OF all Uncle SANS chill
dren are the EsQuimau who live around
Point Barrow. which juts out into tho
Polar sea beyond the Arctic circle. There
IL Is night all winter long and day all sum-
mer long. So far from becoming gloomy
because of their gloomy surroundings and
their long nights. the Point Barrow chii-
dren are particularly bright and lively and
fun OF mischief and play. One Of their
pastimes in winter is to dance to the north.
ern lights. They warmly clothed In
garments made of the skin of the north
ern deer or the Arctic fox. There Is an up
per garment something like a sweater with
hood to It, skin trousers and deerskin
boots coming to the knee.
They wear deerskin mittens. and when
they sing their song to the Aurora Horealis
and dance with 1t, they frequently attach
the tail OF blue or white fox to their belt
behind Each dancer clenches the fist, and.
the sides of the body. keeping time to a
song and stamping vigorously with the
right foot while springing up and down
with the left knee. The song has a large
kioya- Ike" which means hall to the north
ern lights When the aurora Is bright
and in an especially dancing mood the
children wifi often keep up the song and
dance for hours at a time.
SNOWFALL.
In winter the Point Barrow children have
SNOWFALL game which they play with
their fest. They wet some snow and make
a ball about as big as two fists. The cold
Is SO intense that the ball Immediately be-
comes solid ice. Then the player balances
the ball on the toes of one foot and with a
kick and a Jump throws 1t to the other
foot. which catches 1t and throws it back.
Some OF the players are 50 expert that they
will keep this up for q number of strokes
without letting the ball fall to the ground.
The children Of this tip-end of Uncle
Sam land also amuse themselves in win
ter by sliding down the steep banks Of
frozen snow which form under the cliffs
along the shores of the frozen sea- They
use no sleds or tOboggans not even boards.
In this sport. but slide down the steep de-
and sitting well back. with their hands
grasptng their ankles they go shooting
along down great steep hills of snow.
laughing and shouting. and now and then
losing their balance and getting a tumble
which sends them rolling in a heap to the
foot of the snow hill.
Foot Ball and Dancing.
Both boys and girls at Point Barrow are
fond of playing football. but they seem to
have no order system. They simply get
an old mitten or old boot. and stuff 1t with
bits of waste deerskin rags. and then
kick it about with merry shouts and in
great confusion. The children are very fond
Of dancing. and if they can get hold of an
old tin can which some whaler has left they
are happy. Beating the tin can for drum,
they improviSe dances for themselves and
invent songs to accompany them.
The little Esquimaux of Point Barrow
have a most miscellaneous little instrument
which they call "mitgligaun.' 1t is to
the Esquimaux boy what the bean snapper
is to the white boy. 1t is made of a piece
of stiff whalebone about five inches long
and half an inch wide. 1t Is narrowed of
and bent up for about an inch at one end.
On the upper side Of this bent-up end is a
little hollow large enough to hold a small
pebble, and the other end is cut into sharp
teeth. This is purely an instrument of
mischief. and many little Esquimaux boy
is compelled to retire with his mother into
one of their snow huts for a painful Inter
view because of the reckless manner in
which he uses his pebble snapper.
Wooden Dolls
The children who frolic by the shores of
the frozen sea and dance with the northern
lights even have mechanical toys among
their playthings. One is a wooden doll
representing a man dressed in skins. He
holds a drum in one hand and stick in
the other. The arms are made of whale
bone. and by pressing them together at the
shoulders the figure can be made to move
as IL beating the drum.
Then they have little toy kaiaks. ca
noes, in which are seated dolls with paddles
in their hands BY pulling a string the doll
Is made to move Its head from side to side
and make motion as II padding. The
girls are fond of playing cats cradle. Two
little girls will sit In Of the under
ground houses. or in one OF the huts made
Of frozen snow. and. by the light of a
stone lamp, fed by seal oil. will play at
this game for fours making all sorts Of
complicated figures with the string.
The fayOT1te figure. and difficult one
is the representation Of a reindeer which,
by moving the fingers. is made to run down
hill from one hand to the other Lieut.. Ray,
who was in charge Of the government sta
ton at Point Barrow, says that the chill
dren are SO polite that they would take
pains to mispronounce native words in the
same way as he did so as not to hurt his
feelings by appearing to correct him