The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1905-01-05
A HUGE MEYEORI7E.
IT WAS BROUGHT BY LIEUTEN.
ANT PEARY FROM MEL
WILLIE BAY.

The Eskimos Called 1t "The Tent"
Lay for Unknown Centuries on
the Coast OF. Greenland.
Not long ago curious crowds were
assembled in front of the New York
Museum of National History, scruti-
lizing with fascinated interest an i'm
nense piece of metal that looked like
/ boulder, says the New York Times.
Thirty-fve horses had dragged it
through the streets, and it had been
brought up to the museum on a great
wagon to be unloaded on a pedestal
erected to receive it.
This mass is probably the largest
neteorite known in ~the world. 1t
weighs forty tons, and was brought
rom the coast of Greenland by Lieu
.enant Peary. 1t Is the last of three
meteorites known to the Eskimo as
he Woman, the Dog and the Tent.
Interesting as it IS to scientists, its
strange history and traditions make
t as interesting to ordinary people.
For this mass of metal, reposing on
l path in the heart of New York. and
clipped at with pocket knives by IT.
reverent messenger boys, may date
rom before the advent Of man.
For unknown centuries 1t lay in a
wild, almost inaccessible, retreat on
he frozen coast of Greenland, known
only to the Eskimo. For the best
part of a century European explorers
we're hunting for a 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
.ain 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
look two journeys to bulge the Tent
from it's 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
lid, for all that is known to the con-
Lrary. In support of this possibility
It is pointed out that 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
hey came from heaven. 1t is argued
that if the Eskimos had simply found
hem 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
70 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 a wom-
an, a dog, and a 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 a woman seated and sewing. They
used this meteorite for their iron sup
ply, chipping off pieces to point their
aarpoons; 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
lCoo vi II WOluoA Wdo oCLdCUCu JILL
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 .he head loaded on a sledge and
starred across the sea ice. Suddenly
it trembled under them and broke.
Down into the water went the head,
taking with it the sIedge and the
dogs. The men just saved themselves
by the most violent exertions, from
going in, too. A superstitious awe
fell upon the Eskimos when this story
WIS narrated, and nobody ever dared
agt in to take away any portion OF the
meseorites except just what was need
ed for their stock of iron.
s)ne day about nine years ago
Peary. while spending a night in an
Es kimo settlement in Whale Sound.
came cross a small "oodoo,' or wom-
ati's knife. The edge was composed
o. five small pieces of iron. He asked
where it came from and was told at
Is from the Great Iron; it is very
old"
Peary investigated and found that
The woman, while rebuilding a house,
mad found the knife. 1t vas the only
one of the kind she had ever seen,
hut the old men Of the tribe had to1d'