Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1909-11-01
RASMUSSEN LIVED
WITH ESKIM0S
Danish Defender Of Or. Cook
Authority on Frozen North.
IS AUTHOR OF A POLAR BOOK.

He Went to Greenland With Danish
Expedition In 1902 to Study Racial
History of the GreenIanders, Etc.
Returned There In 1906, to Be Gone
Six Years.
Knud Rasmussen. the Danish eX-
plorer, now at Julianehaab, Greenland.
who defends DR.. Frederick A. Cooks
claim as to the discovery of the north
pole, was member of the Danish lit
erary expedition which left Copenha-
gen early in 1902 and spent two years
among the Eskimos in Greenland.
Rasmussen's assertions of his belief
in Cooks story after talks with Eski-
mos familiar with Cooks exploits have
materially strengthened the Brooklyn
doctors position in various circles
which have shown an inclination to
doubt parts of his narrative.
Rasmussen spent the two years he
was in Greenland on the stated occa-
sion in studying the racial history of
the Eskimos
The other principals Of the expedi-
ton We're L. Myths Erichsen and
Count Harald Moltke. Organized orig
inally as a private enterprise, the OBJ
jects were deemed of such Importance
from a geographical and chronological
point of view that the total expenses
Of the expedition were assumed by the
Danish kingdom.
Went to Cape York.
The expedition arrived in Greenland
in June, 1902. 1t left Upernavik for
Cape York in March. 1903. spending
nearly ten months among the polar Es-
kimos, and left for the south again in
June. 1904, breaking its journey by a
stop in west Greenland and returning
to Copenhagen in September, 1904.
In August. 1906. Rasmussen left Co
penhagen for Greenland, intending to
be gone six years to complete his re-
searches into the chronological and So
cial habits of the Eskimos, the tour, as
originally planned, to cover the entire
north coast Of North America as far as
Alaska.
For this work Rasmussen is peculiar
ly fitted, as he is part Eskimo himself.
His mother Is a south Greenland Eski-
mo. His father is Christian Rasmus-
sen, Danish clergyman, who spent
over twenty years as missionary
among the natives Of southwest Green
land. At the age Of fourteen Knud
Rasmussen went to Denmark with his
parents and entered the University of
Copenhagen. from which he was grad
uated with honors.
Three Branches of Race.
The results of his early association
with his kinsfolk. supplemented by his
more mature studies of 1902 and 1903,
were published in Danish under the
titles Of THE New People, and The
Lash of the North Wind" They were
translated into English in 1908 and
published under the title Of people Of
the Polar North" The book deals with
three distinct Eskimo branches which
comprise the population Of Greenland
the civilized and Christianized inhab-
itants of west and southwest Green
land; second. the east Greenlanders,
being the former inhabitants Of the
southeast coast, now practically de-
serted except in one area on the east
coast known as Angmagsslik. and.
third. the polar Eskimos.
In this record Of the lives Of the most
northerly dwelling people of the world.
comprising the nomadic groups be-
tween the degrees of 76 and 70 north
latitude. are embraced their legends,
religious beliefs and fables-everything
in fact. connected with their folklore
and their present views Of life. In the
preface to his book Rasmussen says:
when l was child l used often to
hear an old Greenlandic woman tell
how. far away north. at the end Of the
world. there lived a people who dressed
in bearskinS and ate raw flesh. Their
country was always shut in by ice, and
the daylight never reached over the
tops Of their high fields mountains)
Whoever wished to 60 there must
travel with the south wind, right up
to the lord Of the wild north gales.
Even before l knew what travelling
meant l determined that one day
would go and find these people"
1.-THE Eskimos." he says, ARE much
like animals. The men love their
wives, but when the fancy takes them
they maltreat them in manner that
we civilized men would consider bru-
tai. But say the Eskimos. If atfec-
ton IS to be kept alive the women
must feel occasionally that the man is
strong'"
Even the presence of civilized man
who had Eskimo blood in his veins
aroused the suspicious of the south
east Greenlanders. All sorts of ru-
mors, he says. We're circulated about
his coming. chiefly hawked about by
old Christian women whose tongues re-
Quired a little exercise" To win their
confidence Rasmussen adopted the
policy of asking no questions for a
number Of days.
"Thus." he says. Il succeeded at
length in winning the confidence of the
people. and during my life with them
Of 1,o Re-