Smyrna times., 1903-04-22
EASTER IN PARKWAY ALASKA.
Or. John B. briggs, Formerly Of Smyrna Tells
Of Life at Point Hope In the Arctics.

DR.. John B. briggs, formerly of
Smyrna, a brother of Samuel briggs
and Mrs. Mary E. Turner of near
Smyrna, who is the medical mission
ary to Point Hope, Alaska, has an ar
ticle in the current number of the
Christian Soldier on Easter-time at
Point Hope. The article is as follows:
Among the inhabitants of Point
Hope, there are two special occasions
celebrated during the year. The first
occurs in mid-winter, or near our
Christmas time; the second is in the
spring, or about the time of our Eas-
ter The first is an occasion of feast
ing and enjoyment, the second, of
which l wish to write, is a season of
hope and joyful anticipation. The
days are growing long, for we are ap-
preaching the time when there will be
no night. Although the thermometer
still registers zero, yet the cold is not
so intense. The ground is still
wrapped in its snowy mantle, and the
mission house lies Nesting in the
snOwdrifts, but nature is showing
signs of awakening from its long win
ter's sleep.
The men and the boys are preparing
their canoes for the whaling season,
and IN few days more they will move
far out to the edge of the shore ice,
and watch for the spOuting of the
whale, as they pass by on their way
between the shore and the pack ice.
This whale-hunt is the most impor-
tant of the year, for on its success the
Eskimos largely depend for their sup
ply of food for the following winter,
the bone serving as trade with the
ships for ammunition and a few other
necessities. Should the whale-hunt
prove unsuccessful, there will be
scarcity of food the following season,
and no rnid-winter feast during the
lOrg night
Everything at this time is excite
ment; the boys practice their kalima
towns, an instrument made of seven
ivory balls, each the size of walnut,
attached to strings made of deer sinew,
which are brought together at one
erd, where a feather is fastened 1t is
a most effective weapon for capturing
the wild ducks which will soon appear
in countless numbers. In using it,
the boy chooses a favorable spot; and
as a flock of ducks flies overhead, the
kalimatown is whirled around a few
times, and then sent straight up into
the air. Any one of the strings strik-
ing a duck will act as pivot, and in
stantly all the other strings, with their
balls attached, will encircle the duck,
binding it's wings to its body, and
bringing it inevitably to- the ground.
Even the men and women join in this
sport, which is as exciting to an on
locker as to themselves 1t is interest
ing to watch the hunters out on the
ice, and as the ducks fly over to see
the kalimatowns shoot up into the air,
the balls spreading out in such man
ner that the strings look like so many
arms moving and bringing the victim
to the ground.
Taking this Eskimo Easter as a
whole, it is a season of hope and en-
iOyment; hope because of bright an
ticipation from the approaching whale
hunt; and enjoyment, because nature
is beginning to smile once more, as it
awakens from the long, dreary sleep
of darkness and cold, and, often, OF
privation and discomfort. Let us
hope that the time is not far distant
when the people of this dreary land
Will know and appreciate our Easter
festival, the day that Christians eel
ebrate, the Resurrection of our Bles-
sed Lord.