The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1909-10-22
STRANGE PEOPLE
WERE AFRAID
Tribe of Eskimos Whose Eyes
Had Never Rested on a
White Man.

On the bleak northwest coast OF
Prince Albert Land, Captain William
Mog, of the whaling schooner, Olga
has Just found men who in spite Of
the hundreds Of Arctic expeditions
that have swept through the north
had never seen white men before, and
who gazed upon the white skinned
strangers with the same awe which
Columbus was greeted on San Saliva
dor over 400 years ago.
Il Is only In the last five years that
whale ships have ventured into the
waters that wash these distance shore
When the whalers did venture there
they little expected 10 find any evil
dence Of human habiration. To their
surprise they found abandoned food
caches. deserted camping grounds and
other signs Of habitation.
As they saw no people they natur-
ally inferred that the country was
ground by natives from the Canadian
mainland far 10 the south. These
natives professed ignorance Of such
hunting grounds.
The puzzle was not solved until last
July, when the Olga in her nothe-n
cruise sighted human forms o. q LII
several miles inland. These forms
proved 70 be old men who were ad-
vancing toward the shore where the
preached il was seen that they car
ship lay al anchor As they APP
ried 10 weapons whatever and walked
with arms extended as a sign Of
peaceful inclinations.
The cid men were Eskimos and
spoke the reguls- Esquimo language
with only slight yaritions. They said
that they had never seen white men
before, and were 30 much afraid
Of them that they could not be
coaxed on board the vessel. They
knew nothing about cereal foods or
flour and when offered pilot bread
laughed al i as an article Of human
food
They said that they lived on seals
bears, whales, caribou and feathered
game, which they killed with bows
and arrows and spears or captured
IN snares and curiously contrived
traps They knew nothing about the
fur trade and said that the skins
were always cut up with the meat
and divided among the hunters en-
gagged in making the kill. They
we're neatly dressed in furs and APP
pcared to be well fed and perfectly
happy
When whale chips first appeared
on the horizon a panic seized the
people and they fled inland. Each year
they had fled, leaving as little as
possible 70 attract the attention Of the
newcomers. 40 they lay concealed be-
hind ridges they listened in breath
less terror TO the chashing Of the bomb
guns used BY the whalers.
At last curiosity got the better OF
them and they decided TO find out
The why aud wherefore Of il all A
council was called and It was decided
70 send mcsseI gers cut to the next
ship that came. The old men yolun-
teered to go because they said that
If the strangers killed them it would
not matter 50 much.
These rude ambassadors said that
they had many people inland, but re-
fused TO tell where they were. They
had never seen guns before and were
very suspicious of men who would
be guilty Of carrying such weapons.
When the vessels first appeared off
Banks Land. half century ago, the
natives acted in a very similar way
and showed a superstitious dread of
coming into contact with white men.
Point Barrow (Alaska) Cor. New
York Sun.