Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-01-03
A HUGE MEIEORITE.
IT WAS BROUGHT BY LlEuTEN.
ANT PEARY FROM MEL
VILE BAY.

the Coast of Greenland.
Not long ago curious crowns were
assembled in front of the New York
Museum of National History. scruti
nizing with fascinated interest an i'm
mense piece of metal that looked like
a boulder. says the New York Times.
Thirty-five horses had dragged ii
through the streets, and it had been
brought up to the museum on a great
wagon to be unloaded on pedestal
erected to receive it.
This mass is probably the largest
meteorite known in the world. It
weighs forty tons, and was brought
from the coast of Greenland by Lieu
tenant Peary. 1t is the last of three
meteorites known to the Eskimo as
the Woman, the Dog and the Tent.
interesting as it IS to scientists, its
strange history and traditions make
1t as interesting to ordinary people.
For this mass of mccall reposing on
path in the heart of New York, and
Clipped at with pocket knives by ir-
reverent messenger boys, may date
from before the advent of man.
For unknown centuries It lay in
wild, almost inaccessible, retreat on
the frozen coast of Greenland. known
only to the Eskimo. For the best
part of century European explorers
were hunting for vaguely rumored
Iron Mountain" supplying iron to
Greenland. They never found it, and
Peary was the first white man to put
eyes on it and see in the tabled noun
tain this ancient visitor from the sky.
This monster is the Tent. The
Woman and the Dog are already in
the possession of the museum. Peary
brought them here years ago, but it
took two journeys to bulge the Tent
from its ancient moorings in the ice
and rocks, and it was with almost
Incredible difficulty that he got it
away. to the establishment of the Eski-
mo.
When these three great meteorites
landed on the coast of Greenland no
man can say. The meteorites may
have come to Greenland before man
did, for all that is known to the con-
trary. In support of this possibility
1t is pointed out tIlat the Woman and
Dog were not imbedded in the ground,
nor were the rocks below them crush
ed or broken by their fall The me-
teorites themselves were not scratch
ed or cut by striking the rocks. They
may, therefore, have fallen in the gla-
cial period and have landed upon the
great sheet of ice that covered the
land, which long after melted and
let them gradually down.
But it is more probable that man
was already there when the meteor.
ties came, for the Eskimos have a.
legend about them to the effect that
they came from heaven. 1t is argued
that If the Eskimos had simply found
them there, they would have supposed
the meteorites to be ordinary rocks,
or at all events would have had no
reason to ascfibe a heavenly origin
to them. Perhaps their fall was brok-
en- by a great snow-drift, through
which they forced their way to the
place where they were found.
The Eskimo legend is that origi-
nally the three were actually wom-
an, a dog, and tent. The woman
owned the dog and lived in the tent;
but Tonarsuk, the evil spirit, threw
them from the sky. The woman re-
sembles anything feminine very lit
tie now; but the Eskimos say that
originally the meteorite had the shape
of woman seated and sewing They
used this meteorite for their iron sup
ply, chipping off pieces to point their
harpoons; and in the constant process
of centuries the upper portion of her
body disappeared in this way. She is
now only about half her original size.
After centuries had gone by the
head of the woman was detached from
the rest of the body. Some Eski-
mos conceived the idea of taking the
head away to their home, So as to
save the difficult and perilous journey
whenever they needed iron. They
got the head loaded on a sledee and
started across the sea ice. Suddenly
it trembled under them and broke.
Down into the water went the head,
taking with it the sredge and the
dogs. The men just saved themselves
by the most violent exertionsI from
going in, too. A superstitious awe
fell upon the Esidmos wien this story
was narrated, and nobody ever dared
again to take away any portion of the
meteorites except just what was need
ed for their stock of iron.
One day about nine years ago
Peary, while spending a night in an
Eskimo settlement in Whale Sound,
came across a small "oodoo,' or wom-
ans knife. The edge was composed
of five small pieces of iron. He asked
where it came from and was told 1T
is from the Great Iron; it is very
old"
Peary investigated and found that
the woman, while rebuilding a house,
had found the knife. 1t was the only
one of the kind she had - sr seen.
but the old men of the tribe had told
her that in generations past the wom-
en- had used knives like it.
Peary asked other tribesmen and
found that only the oldest men in
the tribe had ever seen such knives.
Later, however, he found a bone han
die which had evidently been the
handle of a similar implement.
On the northern shore of that DESC
late and ice-bound body of water,
known as Melville Bay, Peary found
the Iron Mountain" guided by an
Eskimo hunter named Tellikotinah.
In 1895 he took away the woman aud
the dog, lifting them by hydraulic
jacks. On the cruise home tho pres
ence of the masses of iron affected
the compass, and whenever there was
bad weather they had to depend on