Omaha daily bee., 1909-10-31
LOST IN FAR NORTH
Exploring Expedition Saw Last Of
Ancient Race Of EskimOs.
loEE FOR NEARLY CENTURY
sgthnoIoGists Just Now BEGINNING
stuay of III LsnE Isolated
PeopIe-ReIics Are re
covered

An account Of the lost Eskimo tribes OF
the east coast OF Greenland was printed
recently In the Meddelelser ON Gronland,
the organ Of the Danish chronological SOC
iety. The author is DR.. w. Thalbitzer.
In 1923 Captain Clavering was conducting
a sledge expedition along the southwest
side of the island now bearing his name,
which Is situated on the northeastern coast
OF Greenland off what Is now known as
Koenig Wilhelm Land. There his expedi-
ton encountered a party OF twelve Eski-
mos.
The natives who were with Clavering
tried to talk 10 the strangers and 70 gain
their confidence, but failed in any degree
to make themselves understood. After the
Twelve had camped near Clsvering's party
Tor three days they disappeared and no
further trace Of them was found. That was
the first time and the last that any white
man has seen tribesmen of the now extinct
ancient race OF east Greeland Eskimos.
Perhaps those twelve were the only sur
viving members Of a race that has been
oblterated in the swing OF the centuries up
in the frozen lands.
Ten years ago Lieutenant @. Amdrup of
the Danish navy, heading the Carlsberg
expedition to east Greenland. made an ex-
haustive chronological survey Of the little
known Greenland coast from Ammasalik,
at north latitude 65 degrees 30 minutes. to
SGabine island. "A degrees 90 minutes. NThe
Nuts OF this expedition comprised facts
about the present day Eskimos Of the
southernmost Ammassallk district and the
relies of the lost tribes who inhabited the
coast over a stretch of 300 miles from the
-A.s ef-.a - - o.
BREWSTER at the entrance to scoresby
sound.
Only Lately Studied,
The chronological objects which he brought
back with him lay unstudied until at the
beginhang Of this year DR.. w. Thalbitzer
undertook to classify the collection brought
back by Amdrup.
The harpoon heads, needle cases, wo-
mems combs and chlldren's toys repre-
sent an age in the life of the tribes long
antedating the first contact between the
Europeans Of medieval Iceland and the
Eskimo of the lower Greenland tip. Great
antiquity. how great the scientists cannot
determine. marks the life Of these peoples
by the countless manifestations of origi-
nality In their hRndicrafts," says the author
'the objects Of the collection testify that
this northeasteTly group OF EskimOs after
having been Isolated from the rest of man
kind passed through a vigorous develop
ment Of its own. Finally in the implements
from this corner of Greenland we meei
with certain features which point to a spec.
ial continuity between the northern and
southern culture of the coast, an ancient
connection long since broken off between
the northerners and the Inhabitants OF the
south, l. e., the population of the Sermilil
= and Ammassallk fiords. The highly devel.
oped culture Of this intensely isolated group
occupies a position apart in the, Eskimo
world.
"A number Of the types OF implements
ornaments and traditions which in theil
y main features they have in common with
all other Eskimos have been ndividualiEeC
and transformed by them in accordanc,
with their own personal taste and re
quirements, so that their culture hal
thereby received a stamp of its own whicl
distinguishes 1t from all others. AS /
cannot possibly have been influenced from
without. 1t is with all it's popularity gen
ainely skimO
knowledge by Tradition.
The southerly Eskimos who are now liv
ing and whose tribal continuity has beel
preserved intact. possess a very dim recol
lection of the peoples of the north coast
whose deserted houses and ancient buryin.
places nave yielded the only clues t
their existence. 1t is by tradition onl
that knowledge of these lost tribes ha
been preserved among the more endurin
folk about the southern ford. In thei
isolation the peoples about Scoresby an
franz Joseph's ford dwindled into deca
7 and disappeared.
The scientist does not make ny attemp
to specify the origin Of these .ost north
ern tribes and their southern kinsmer
Not Anough is known OF the archaeolog
~ the Greenland jewellers and those VIII
I'VE on the bridge Of Islands betwee
Greenland and north Alaska to thro,
definite light on the beginnings Of N
race, on this subject DR., Thalbitzer says
"The two cultures both have their sea
high up in the Arctic regions and hav
been evolved under the same natural cor
ditions. There are no adequate ground
Tor Assuming any special relationship b.
tweeh the Point Barrow Alaska) and III
Greenland tribes or a direct immigration
olden times Of the Point Barrow Eskim
TO East Greenland. Furthermore, OF
knowledge of the past culture Of the II
kimo races which dwelt between thes
two remote regions is far too slight
warrant such an assumption.
There exists no connected account
the material culture Of the great grou
OF Eskimos dwelling at about the san
latitude around the mouth OF the Ma
kenEie river. still more meager is OF
knowledge OF that extinct Eskimo cultuD
OF which the sole witnesses are the ruiz
in the islands I'm the north Canadian arch
pelago; these islands form the most mort
erly bridge between the western Eskin
and Greenland"