Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-17
NEW TRIBE I'M ARCTIC CIRCLE
Discovery of Strange People ON
Island Off Coast Of
Alaska.

Front a land of ice and snow, where
the natives drop their bows and arrows
and flee at the sight Of white men. and
where spiders are 1alf a foot long and
over, W. j.. Bower, we'll known to Arctic
whalemen, arrived in San Francisco from
Point Barrow, the most northerly ,habi-
tatlon of whites in the Arctic circle, by
Captain Foley's steam brig. the Jean
nette.
Bower, with others IN the gasoline
schooner Olga Of San Francisco, pene-
trated into a part of Prince Albert Land
where white men had never been before,
and he has something to remember his
visit by. The sight of his left eye was
destroyed by the sting of a gigantic
spider, and he comes here in the hope
that II may be restored by treatment.
Nearly three years ago Bower left San
Francisco to join the Olga at Point Bar
row as W and trading agent. The
Olga shaped its. course for Prince Albert
Land and reached a point estimated NO be
about 1900 miles TO the eastward OF
Point Barrow. Here the people Of the
Olga found a colony of natives of a
different type than they had ever seen,
and apparently there was something
strange about the white men from the
natives point of view, for they were
very timorous when approached.
''The morning we came near their habi-
%tation," said Bower, -four natives APP
proached the vessel In wonderment. They
carried bows and arrows and each had
a little dog trailing along behind him
attached to a cord of walrus skin. We
sent some of the lower-circle natives In
our crew out to meet them, but they
were frightened at first. Seeing this,
the visitors, after some time, laid down
their weapons and stretched out their
hands, symbolizing friendship. They
spoke a different tongue than any Of the
people Of the north I had encountered
before. but we managed to make our
selves understood. They lived in abodes
made of rocks in winter and snow houses
in summer Their utensils were of stone
the knives OF copper and deer horn. the
spoons Of musk OK horn and their only
implements of sewing was a strange
four-cornered needle made Of copper,
with which they made very deft strokes
"The entire village was in terror at
first at our approach but we finally con-
WINGED them that We were not hostile.
some of their older men said that they
had once seen a party Of white men, but
Il was back many years, maybe half a
century. The men they saw were prob
ably of McClure's party, which went on
an expedition TO Prince Albert Land in
1859.
'Never before had any Of us seen such.
enormous spiders anywhere in the Arctic.
some OF them were six inches long and
Others still larger. We spent a long
time at the place and the spiders ap-
peared when II began to thaw. They
were frightful looking things. but the
natives did not seem TO mind them.
The country is mountainous and even
the natives never attempt 10 penetrate
it's vast reaches Of snow and ice. Part
OF the route we took with the drift was
that covered by ROAD Amundsen, the
explorer and diseoverer OF the Northwest
passage. On our return to Point Bar
row the olga got caught in the ice 100
miles north OF there and we were COM
PEELED 10 n IL for the winter, mak-
ing our way to Point Barrow over ~
Ice desert as best we could. The otfsg
members OF the crew returned 70 the
schooner In June. but / decided TO come
back TO civilization and try TO get back
the sight Of my left eye, which was de-
stroyed IN such a horrible manner that
/ shudder at recalling the evSnt"-ssn
Francisco Chronicle.