Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-01-19
gun Of EsauImau Children.

Most northern OF al Oncle sam chill
dren are the Esquimaux who live around
point Barrow, which juts out into the
polar sea beyond the arctic circle. There
n is night all winter long and day all
summer long.
So far from becoming gloomy because
of their dreary surroundings and their
long nights, the Point Barrow children
are particularly bright and lively and full
Of mischief and play. One OF their pas
times In winter is to dance to the North
They are warmly clothed in garments
made OF skin of the northern deer OF the
arctic fox There is an upper garment
something like sweater with, hood to
II. skin trousers, and deerskin boots COM
ing to the knee
They wear deerskin mittens; and. when
they sing their song to the Aurora Borea-
lis and dance with It, they frequently at
tach the tail Of a blue or white fox to
their belt behind.
Each dancer clenches the fists, and,
bending the elbows, strikes them against
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
number Of stanzas and begins Kioya Ike,
kloya Ike. 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 a ball about 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 1t to the other foot, which
catches It and throws 1t back. Some Of
the players are so expert that they will
keep this up for number Of strokes
without letting the ball fall 10 the ground.
The children Of this tip-end Of Uncle
Sans 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
board, 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 losing their balance and
getting a tumble which sends them roll
ing in a heap to the foot of the snow hill.
Both boys and girls at Point Barrow
are fond Of playing foot ball. but they
seem to have no order or system. They
simply get old mitten or old boot, and
stun it with bits of waste deerskin or
rags, and then kick It about with merry
shouts and in great confusion.
The children are very fond OF dancing;
and II they get hold OF an old tin can
which some whaler has left, they are
happy. Beating the tin can for a drum,
they improvise dances for themselves and
Invent songs to accompany them.
The little Esquimaux OF Point Barrow
have a most mischievous little instru-
ment which thew call rniffCIfOaup
is to the Esquimau boy what the bear
trapper Is to the white boy.
II is made Of a piece of stiff whalebone
about five inches long and half an inch
wide. 1t is narrowed off and bent up for
about an inch at one end
On the upper side Of this bent-up end
is little hollow large enough to hold
a small pebble. and the other end Is cut
into sharp teeth. This is purely an in
strument of mischief, and many a little
Esquimau boy is compelled to retire with
his mother into one of their snow huts
for a painful interview because of the
reckless manner IN which he 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
in skins.
He holds drum in one hand and a
STICK IN the other. The arms are made Of
whalebone, and by pressing them to-
gether at the shoulders the figure can be
made to move as II beating the drum
Then they have little toy kaIaks, or
canoes, 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 a motion as
II padding.
The girls are fond OF playing cats
cradle. Two little girls viii sit in one of
the underground houses, or in one of the
huts made of frozen snow, and, by the
light OF stone lamp, fed by seal oil. viii
play at this game for hours, making ali
sorts Of complicated figures with the
string.
The favorite figure, and difficult one.
Is the representation of 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 station at Point Barrow. saws
that the children 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 bluntly.-[New York Sun.