The sun., 1906-01-14
ES0UIMAU FAIR AT NOME,
WHERE ARCTIC NHABITANTS
BARTER AND DANCE.
Men and Women Make the Trip Acros,
Rough Seas in Open Skin Boat,
Strange Wares They Bring and show
Weird Music for the Dancers,

and county fairs and state fairs, but the
oueerest fair In all the world Is the Es III
mau fair on the shores Of Bering Sea- says
Frank Caldwell in the indianapolis Nora.
II fair Is a gathering Of people for the
purpose OF exhibiting their products and
exchanging their wares, then the gathering
OF Es1uimaux on the Sand Spit at Nome is
q genuine exposition. For during the sea-
son OF continuous light in summer time the
queer natives from all the shores Of Berina
Sea and the Arctic Ocean come by hundreds
and estab blish their temporary villages on
the gold bearing sands of the beach at
Nome in ignorance Of the value OF the little
particles of yellow dust which gisten at
their feet.
They come from the Asiatic side and
from the Diomede Islands. which lie half
way between the two continents in Bering
Straits. They come from Nunivac Island
on the south and from the frozen shores Of
Kotzebu Sound and the Arctic Ocean on
the north. From the barren coasts Of
the two continents come these black haired,
almond eyed, good natured. blubber eat
ing natives to Nome, the isolated metropo-
lis Of the furthest Northwest
These savages come in small open boats
OF their own construction, no larger than
lifeboat and made by stretching walris
skin over framework Of driftwood. These
boats are called Aoomiaks,' and are made
Just as these natives have been making
them for centuries without the Use OF any
thing that the white man furnishes. In
these little, open skin boats, with paddles
in their hands and a walrus hide for sail,
L. oil in ha 81 M
beasts, without chart or compass and
guided only by their strange instinct for
the sea, these wild inhabitants OF these
barren shores cross and recross from one
continent to the other in defiance of the
terrible and weird forces of nature that
rule in these treacherous waters.
Seldom do they miss their course or
meet a storm at sea, although many
whalers and other ships from the civilized
parts of the world have gone down and
the bones Of many white sailors lie
the white man does not possess the in
stinct for the sea" and cannot tell lntu,,
lively what the winds and waves VIII
be doing twenty y-four hours ahead, as can
these fur clad tribesmen.
No scene among savages more inter-
esting can be imagined than that pre-
sented on the beach at Nome during the
continuance of this fair. For more than
half a mile are rows of inverted "ouniaks,
in which the natives live and work and
eat and sleep and barter and trade their
1ona For The thing that on the .ea they
caii tbeir boat on Ia nd thpv on their house.
Tho aonmiak" ,lacnnlcs the aigloo" in 30
short time after landing that the civilized
spectator who watches the tanftoNna-
eda J NJ themsnlvas 10 their surrounding.
Pia e. sida m This ,rai thing made J
r.ofr,s hida pitb NOM n nail or I0lt, is heir
hoat n,tu1 sbeir % .oomiok'" tnsd los; down i, i'm
inadiatelv becomrsa a house their "igoo."
''s'i, The az little onen boa's % are always over
throuah The irv 3urf that. in summer time,
fnrevsr haats mon th" rich eoid beari,g
sands in the region Of care Nome. For
into these skin hoats they load their whale.
bone and their wairIa heads and tusks,
their bag Of skowkow," or seal and walrus
rich furs. They also bring their many
saaiskins filed with senl oil, in which iarr@,
i,,icv chunks of hlubher ere coating 10
preserve and give them the proper flavor,
FOR seal oil and whale blubber are 10 these
people the stan Of life. They bring Their
bows and arrows and ,heir seal and wa.rs
and whale spears and ivory pointed javelirs,
which they throw with their hands a. ducks
and geese. And on top of all they place
their women, their children and heir dogs
After the strange pas, enRerS and FIRE y'N
have been Landed ON the sand they pull thS
boat 4 just above tho high water line an
invert it. propping up one side with short
paddles or pieces OF driftwood WaIr,i5
hides are then stretched from the top q.
the open side down to the ground and skins
and furs are placed upon the sand inside
for carpets. they then Law out Their uner
household goods and stock Of merchuntfss
and become part of the fair. Soon friendly
visitors come to welcome them to the gatle'-
ing, and much laughter and jahberinc are
heard in the aiploo" of the new arrivals
The different tribes that gather here
although coming from both continents
seem to understand one another. and 70
mingle a. though they were one pecpe
The primary object of the coming together
of these wild tribes il to barter and to trade,
but they also seem to have a more social
purpose as we'll and spend much time IN
Visiting one another'a "ieloos and ntakinr
part in the games and dances in which al
the tribes freely join.
From the Arctic Ocean or Ko.2elp
Sound they bring the skins of the arctic
fox and polar bear and trade them to the
tall savaeei from the Diomede4 for whale
blubber and seal oil. or to the Siberian for
Siberian wolf and dog skins, or 10 other
inhabitants of the strait. region for walru-
tusks and hides. In addition to the chpnne
of making GOOD bargain with their fellow
sayares they all know that the white m.