Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-11-04
ABOUT RASMUSSEN

He Went to Greenland With DAM
Expedition In 1902 to Study Fac
| History Of the Grceniandcrs, E.,
Returned There In 1865, to Be Con
Six Years.
Knud Rasmussen the Danish 81
! plorqr. now at Juianehaab. Greenlan
vino DEFENDS Or. Frederick. a. Cnok
| claim MS to the discovery of the norl
| pole. was member OF the Danish lii
erary expedition which left Copenha
gen early in 1902 and spent two yea
| among the ESkimos in Greenland.
RasmuSsen's assertions OF his belie
| in Cooks story after talks with Esh
mos familiar With Cook exploits hay
| materially strengthened the Brooklyl
| doctor, position in various Circle
| which have shown an inclination t.
| doubt parts of his narrative.
Rasmussen spent the two years b
| was in Greenland on the stated oce
| sion in stud, wing the racial history u
| the Es'limos.
| The other principals of the expeo
| tion were l.. Myths Erickson an
| Count Harald Moltke. Organized orr
mally as private enterprise. the o.
| jects We're deemed OF such importan
from geographical and ethnolori
| point of view that the total expen;
of the expedition were assumed by I
Danish kingdom.
Went to Cape York.
The expedition arrived in GreenlaH
in June, 1902. 1t left upernavik fo
Cape York in March. 1908. spendin
nearly ten months among the polar Els
F! kimos, and left for the south again in
June. 1904. breaking it's journey by n
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
y fitted, as he is part Eskimo himself
His mother is Il south Greenland Eski
mo. His father is Christian Rasmus-
sen, a Danish clergyman. who spent
over twenty years as n 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 '"rhe
Lash of the North Wind" They were
translated into English in 1903 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
first, the west Greenlanders, being
the civilized and Christianized inhab-
itants of west and southwest Green
land; second. the east Greenlanders,
being the former inhn bitafts OF the
southeast coast, now practically de-
serted except in one area on the east
coast known as Angmagssik. 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 &c 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 was Il child | used often to
| hear an old Greenlandic woman tell
| how. far away north. ut the end OF the
world. there lived 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 (mountainsl.
| Whoever wished to go there must
travel with the south wind. right up
| to the lord of the wild north gales.
\
meant determined that one day l
would go and find these people"
| THE Eskimos.' he says. arc 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
| reused the suspicious of the south
past Greenlanders. All sorts of I'll
| mors, he says. were circulated about
| Is coming. chiefly hawked about by
| ID Christian women whose tongues re-
| lu!red little exercise" To win their
| confidence Rasmussen adopted the