The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-03-27
THREE YEARS In THB ARCTIC
RaSMT SSEN'S PLANS ron MS
LONG EMILE.


g Whem aia NssahsP Mas cue. 20
s.earn 10 Peasible. Where Tlaey OrtBa.
nated-re visit lnknSWn Lands.
knud Rasmussen. the DaniSh explorer.
and one time partisan Of DIR. Cook. has an
nOunced his programme for a three yearp
exile in the baFren lands within the Arctic
circle. which he shall devote TO the study
Of his Ancestors. RasmusaSn 10 perhaps
the only educated white man who nesSis
90 TO Eskimo land % learn sOmsthing
about his forebears. His mother was a
f'Ill blOOded Eskimo and not only 10 Has
mussen proud Of il. but he feels that by
HE kinship with the EskimOs his mission
10 that Of adding to the wOrid's knowl-
edge 81 the scattered northern peoples.
According Ia the announcement which
Rasmussen has made through the current
number Of the Journal % the Royal
Geographical Society " London. the
Danish EihnogTaphical Expedition 10 the
Central Eskimos. which no 10 TO head and
which 10 10 receive the support OF the
Danish Government. will leave CoPen-
hagen some time during the summer OF
IstI In ship OF the type Of the GjOa. which
threaded a northwest passage in Amund-
sens expedition several years ago. BE-
aides the crew the ship will carry eeolo-
gist and physician who will also be an
expert in botany and zoology Pro-
vision will also be made 70 have ships
officers. who are able TO do cartogrnph
and meteorological work. for it ~ Has
musssn1 plan to strike into fields north
% the continent Of America which have
either never been visited OF only casually
explored.
The great aim Of this Danish-Eskimo
explorer and scientist 10 to trace the
migration of the Greenland Eskimo from
their supposed original home somewhere
about The northern shores Of the American
coniin-nt. Heretofore scientists who have
made studies OF the Eskimo have always
gone Just 80 far in their researches into
the history and eshnology 81 the strange
nomAds % the North and then have
found themselves zap against blank
wall Of mystery-ihe mystery OF the
peoples origin. The Greenland Eskimo.
especially those IN the Smith Sound
region from which PeAry and Cook drew
their AIDES in polar work. seem TO be
particularly barren % folk tales or OF
tradition which might throw light upon
their origin. EihnoIogi-is who have
visited the frozen regions have guessed
that there vas some bond between the
Eskimos Of Alaska and those 81 Green
land but ihs.irp has been guess unsup-
ported by evidence. Rasmussen hops To
ind such evidence and to fin u he can
the original starting point Of all the
Eskimo migrations
Ia pursuance % this scheme he intends
to drive his = hip through Hudson Strait
after having first made n call AZ Danish
West Greenland for sledges and fur
supplies. BY way Of Fox Basin he plans
to find a winter Quarters IN the Fury and
HecIa straits which separate Melville
Peninsula from Cockburn LAND At about
the s,Rhty-af'h parallel Of longitude
With ms base here he plans 10 spend the
irst winter out in sledge Journeys in and
around the northwestern shoulder Of
RafYn land.
The inhabitants % northwestern Bafin !
Land are very little known SAYS Ras-
mu.sen They have never been subjected Z
10 a thorough ethnOgraphicaI study b
The RafiinlAnders found and studied by 1
FTans BoAs In the Cumberland Sound !
toward the southeast 1--we - Tar from 1
the inhabitants 81 northwestern Bafiin |
Land and under such widely different /
conditions 81 life that 70 u impossible |
to make any oOInpArisOn hetween the /
two l,rOups. Upon the whol. the E-sklmos
in the northwestern Bafin Land are |
among the most unknown ~ the Eskimo |
people. though this district must naturally
he Looked upon a. the very thOroughfArs /
from the American continent To Gre~n-
land.
After the frat winter IN the Arctic |
Rasmussen plans To break from the ice
a. .oon a. spring CONES and go south
In the Che~tsrfield Inlet country, This
long slender finger Of salt water that
points westward from Hudson Bay AZ
about - latitude into cluster 81 lakes
M the harrrn GROUNDS will be the theatre
for RASmussen's activity during the /
following fall and winter. Here ~ the
country where the Eskimo and the Indian
types. known gensricallv az the Noun
taiDesr Indians meet along n ragged
and hosly contested frontier. The Barren
Grounds Esk,mos ARE 49, little known as
ths. RafinlAnderS except Co the fugitive |
traders who risk their ships IN the Hudson
Ray ice during III. brief summer months |
of free water. by sledg' parties kas- !
nI-ssn hopas 60 find tbs-' BARREN Land /
trihe~ and by barter Ia procure from them |
chronological specimens which later he |
will Correlats with those obtained from I
other tribe~.
spent according to HIS plans. IN western
tr,ps through the maze Of islands that
fringe the northern rim Of the continent
A. far a. Coronation GIiif which lies he I
tween the liOth and iISSh PARALLELS just
Al,oye the Arctic circle. This IN a cOun-
try which ~ absolutely ds-SolAts and I'M
visited by white men. ave on such expe-
dit ions ~ diecovery A. that planned by
Rnnmusssn. How many Eskimos or what
tribes OF the nOmAds live within the
stretch from Coronation Gulf to Melville
Peninsula nobody knows. Hsre ~ an
entirely new field open to the scientist
Rasmussen expects that he will live with
.ome 81 these Eskimos almost constantly.
taking sIedRe trips With them into the
interior barren lands and studying their
Droblems Of life and tribal communism
Rasmussen believes that the seat Of .
Enkimo culture lies somewhere in the
hAgryn grounds between the Chesterfield !
Inlet country ana Coronation Gulf and ,
this vast tract represents the original ]
horne Of the peoples Of the North. He 4
aAys that tho fishing methods Of the in ,
land ENk mo have hesn modified and
fitted 90 tiCeWatsr conditions and have 4
1....s.0na. Nka common mat ho.Aa ~ -