The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-12-27
east of the riySei which traverses the
land Of ice and ,smpties into the Arc

with the studytng the manners and
customs Of the Eskimo tribes east Of
the Mackenzie md in the Coronation
gulf and CQppeTmine river sections.
The two investigators, Judging by let
ters sent hero sby them, have found
opportunities 10 study these tribes
wholly uninduanced by the white
race. for there Rre many parts Of that
wild region which have never been
penetrated by white man.
One OF the tribes which was, no
doubt. encountered by DR.. Anderson
and Mr. Stefansson, Is the island tribe
Of Nunatma. This tribe has never
traded with the white men. and little
or nothing besides their name is
known to scientists. The authorities
of the museum are eagerly looking
forward to the return of the two ex-
plorers, in order to learn something
OF this tribe. lt'is likely that large
collection descriptive Of their mode of
life will be added to the museum.
One of the recent letters from An
derson and Stefansson describes the
trying experiences they had last win
ter, when food ran low and they were
meat Of a whale.
Late in the tall Of 1909 Mr.. Stefan
sson and the Eskimos with him found
themselves at, Langton bay, just east
OF Cape Parry. The party was short
Of deerskins, but the Eskimo hunters
met with small success. and the ap-
preaching .wintef was dreaded. DIR.
Anderson was not with Mr.. Stefan
sson at that time. He, with another
party of Eskim0s, had started east in
q small boat inlAugusts They skirted
along the coast, leaving at Herschel
island, boxed and ready for shipment,
all the specimens collected up to that
time. 80
AS the winter started in stefansson
became uneasyFand started with his
Eskimos to md DR.. Anderson. BY
the middle Of November they had
travelled fifty miles over the ice and
snow, but without any sign Of DR..
Anderson. Starvation seemed facing
them, when they came across the car
cass OF whale on the beach. The
whale had been dead about four
years. but, says Stefansson In his let
ters, they were glad to eat the frozen
flesh. Striking eastward again, Stef-
|ansson and his party tramped all day.
then came across DR.. Anderson and
his Eskimos. They all went back to
the beach and feasted on frozen whale
and blubber.
There was ore stretch of fifteen
days when Mr.. Stefansson and his
band Of Eskimos were especially hard
put for food. In a recent letter he
describes It, az. follows:
In Danger Of Starvation.
..On the whoigf trap- We killed five
|ptarmicAn and not q single rabbit.
The sun was gone and the daylight
was meager. The whale tongue was
very bad eating. It had little to 1t
but very dry fibers, and was strongly
with sea salt. When we
finished this we were really better
OF, for the stuff seemed to make
us sick. We then ate sealskin, some
deerskin we had along for sole leath-
Ter, and our snowshoe lacings; in fact.
every edible thing except clothes.
with about cupful of oil day
one does not feel in the least hungry,
but lazy, sleepy and weak. All of us
found It little difacult to take the
oil straight. We soaked 1t up in tea
leaves, deerskin with long hair on it,
and ptarmigan feathers"
To add to their difficulties, several
|of the Eskimos became i'll that winter.
And to make matters even worse, the
oil gave out and there was nothing to
burn for light. In describing this Mr..
StefanssOn says: 8
"At this time we had left only
about a quart Of oil, which was soon
gone, and we were without lamplight
|all the time the sun was away. This
was especially inconvient for the wo-
men, as sewing in the dark is diff
cult. There was more than once, a
whole week, too, when made no en-
try in my diary because could not
see. One could write for about two
hours at noon, but I was usually
hunting at that time, always starting
out before daybreak.
II used to see deer almost every
clear day, but on the clear days it was
$50 absolutely breathlsssly calm that
deer could hear you and you could
hear them from quarter to a half
mile away. therefore never got q
shot at them. An Eskimo always
looks upon such protracted ill-luck
as caused supernaturally. Taboos
had been violated, They know had
eaten deer meat the day had killed
"a wolf. but, worse than that. they
knew Of more than one case Of my
breaking the Sabbath. They were
therefore certain they should never
be able to get any deer. One day,
however, I shot a tawn This seemed
to break the spell, to the notion Of
the Eskimos.''
The outlook for food became SO
alarming in January Of this year that
o forced march was made back to
Langton bay, where q winter quarters
In charge Of an Eskimo woman had
been established. hut wolverines had
broken into the supply of blubber.
Again they made q forced march. and
reached an old wreck on the coast,
where they had also built a shack.
and left supplies. But there polar
bears had broken into the larder and
destroyed everything except the -four.
# But the explorers struggled through
the winter, and the last letter states
l!Nr.->N. - ~.