The Washington herald., 1911-05-14
Playthines

the race in Greenland, I never saw them at
II; but they have two customs which are
nearly allied, and in which both old and young
alike indulge
One Of these. the mildcst, is the closest to
a wrestling. match, and in this two men or
two boys face each other, and locking the
little fingers Of the right hand, endeavor to
pull the other from the spot which they
stand.
The other custom partakes more of the ma.
ture OF pugilism; but instead of furnishing
each other at will, after the manner of SO.
called civilized beings, one of the combatants
thumps the other on the muscle Of the left
arm until he cries enough, when the thumped
one takes his turn at pounding the arm Of
hts adversary.
The one who can hold out the longest is
here that in contests Of tins kind, hardy as
thcv were, the Peary party, with one excep
ton colld not cope with the Eskimo.
=, Tie one exception was John NJ. VcrhocR,
by falling into the crevasse of a glacier at
iobertson's Bay, few days before the time
for the party 10 return home.
:, Duck on Davy Is game the northern
sport, witt, them. 1t was introduced by the
men,bers o! the Peary Relief Expedition in
1892. The game took nightly; even the
angckok, or medicine man, unbent his dignity
youth.
The same party .endeavorcd to teach the
huskies leap frog" but only the girls and
women seemed to enjoy il, the men and boys
s..ILnee Lee 10 say, appearing to be afraid TO
The sling is favorite instrument among
the native boys, and it is fashioned exactly
IKE the one familiar TO every other lad
nancEi i,i OF an eilptical piece Of soft leather,
VIII VIII, a lon3 piece OF cord fastened al each end
Inc skill attained in the use OF the sling
by the young Eskimo boys is deadly. A lad
ten o; twelve years old can with il send
goodsized pebble humming and whizzing so
true that in few hours he can knock over
more birds than he can eat at one meal
W, Miuh n g cross bow, made like that used by
William Tell only infinitely smaller, he can
do even greater execution.
Humming wheels, made of round and
cinisna. or reindeers sinew, are among the
popular playthings for boys and girls, while
the latter have quaint little dolls OF ivory
toys representing Arctic animals and slcds
and other things rs their treasures
These toys are all fashioned by the fathen
out oil walIus ivory with the rudest kind Of
tools. and il is pleasant to note that the rs.
k'mo parents who love their children with a
tenderness not surpassed by the fathers OF
civilized boys and girls.
The eats cradle"--tbat curious set of
changes oi form in the position of piece
OF string held in the two bands-is a fami.
liar amusement in that b,eak northern land
In the ingenuity displayed in. this the, Eski
tht latter knows. at the most, but half a
dozcn changes. the fcYmer can show at least
three times that number
Without slipping the cord from her hands
or seeking outside assistance in anyway she
can make several curious knots in it that
will, by a peculiar movement, follow each
other from one hand to the other. These,
according to the shape Of the knots are call.
cd "thc dog and the rabbit" "the hunter
and the seal" "the bear and the walrus,''
and 80 on.
hut Of all the plnythings in this world. the
EIimos have perhaps one Of the most curl.
can boy crazy before he learned TO master il.
l. rcyninds one in its playing somewhat Of
the coup and balls" though in the ap-
pcarh nee of the playing itsef there is little
resemblance to that toy.
II is made Of piece OF ivory about four
inches long and slightly curved, but with
square sides. Through one end hole the
circumference Of steel crochet needle is
bored diasonally. and another straight through
at the opposite end
In the centre is fastened one end Of a
piece Of cord half the length Of the ivory.
TO the other end Of this cord an ivory
cd In playing the skewer is held in the
hand and the ivory bone is thrown loose.
The object is to pierce one of the two
holes with the skewer, the diagonal one pre-
ferably.
To see the Eskimo children play with this
toy it seems easy to do, but when the at
tempt is made it becomes more aggravatingly
difficult than than the solving OF some OF
somo Of the puzzle games so common with
us.