The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-10-25
PASTIMES
Of
THE ESkIMOS

a OST northern OF all Uncle Sam
WI children are the Esquimaux who
live around Point Barrow, which
juts out into the Polar sea beyond the
Arctic circle. There it is night all win
ter long and day all summer long So
far from becoming gloomy because Of
! their gloomy surroundings and their
long nights, the Point Barrow children
are particularly bright and lively and
full of mischief and play. One Of their
pastimes in winter is to dance to the
northern lights. They are warmly
clothed in garments made of the skin
Of the northern deer or the Arctic fox.
There is an upper garment something
! Ike a sweater with a hood to il, skin
trousers and deersHin boots coming to
the knee. says the New York Sun.
They wear deerskin mittens and when
they sing their song to the Aurora BO-
reals and dance with it, they frequent
iy attach the tail of a blue or white fox
to their belt behind. Each dancer
clenches the fist, and. bending the ell
bows, strikes them against the sides
Of the body, skeeRing 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 num-
Der of stanzas and begins "Kioya Ike,
kioya ke," which means hail to the
northern lights" When the aurora is
bright and in an especially dancing
mood the children will often keep UP
the song and dance for hours at a time.
In winter the Point Barrow children
have a SNOWFALL game which they play
with their feet They wet some snow
and make ball as big as two fists.
The cold is so intense that the ball i'm
mediately becomes solid ice. Then the
player balances the ball on the toes Of
one foot and with a kick and a jump
throws il to the other foot which
catches It and throws il back. Some Of
the players are so expert that they will
keep this UP for a number of strokes
without letting the ball fall to the
ground
The children OF this tip-end of Uncle
Sans land also amuse themselves in
winter 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 declivities on their
knees. KneelIng down and sitting well
/ back, with their hands grasping their
ankles, they go shooting along down
great, steep hills Of snow, laughing
and shouting, and now and then los
ing their balance and getting a tumble
which sends them rolling in a heap to
the foot of the snow hill.
Both boys and girls at Point Barrow
are fond OF playing football, but they
seem to have no order or system. They
simply get an old mitten or old boot
and stuff it with bits of waste deerskin
OF rags. and then kick il 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 imprevisee dances for them
selves and invent songs TO accompany
them.
The little Esquimaux Of Point Bar
row have a most mischievOus little in
, strument. which they call a "miugli-
gaun." Tt is to the Esquimau boy
what the bean snapper is to the white
boy. 1t is made Of a piece Of stlf
/ whalebone about five inches long and
: half an inch wide. 1t is narrowed or
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 a
little Esquimau boy is compelled 70
retire with his mother into one Of their
snow huts for a painful interview be
cause Of the reckless manner IN when
ne uses his pebble snapper.
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 q stick in the other. The arms are
made Of whalebOne, and by pressing
them together at the shoulders the fig
ure can be made TO move as if beating
the drum.
Then they have little toy kaiaks, OF
canoes, in which are seated dolls with
paddles in their hands. BY pulling .
string the doll is made to move rs
head from side to side and make a mo-
ton as il padding The girls are fond
OF playing cats cradle. Two little girls
will sit in one Of the underground
houses, or in one Of the huts made Of
frozen snow, and, by the light of q
stone lamp, fed by seal oil, win plal
at this game for hours, making all sorts
Of complicated fig-'-Fs with the string
The favorite iguse. and a 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 Lieutenant Ray, who was il
charge of the government station a
Point Barrow. says that the childreI
are so polite that they would take pain
to mispronounce native words in tn
same way as he did so as not to hnr
his feelings by appearing to correc
him bluntly.