New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-17
gEFANSSON TELLS
0f BLOND ESQU|MAUS
uiyt,Ire of Scandinavian COL
onistS Lost 1000 Years
Ago, He Says.
soME WEAR SANDY Boards
svrlorer Returns to New York
n Perfect Health After
Four Years in the
Arctic Wilds.

o.Ns,,re perfect tealth. ~. Vilhjalrnar
A,ssor. the Arctic explorer. returned
,-ssv 10 New York after spending
~. ears in the frozen North in the i'm
-, Of the American Museum Of Nat
al ui,tory. IN that time he discovered
\ ..r race OF men and mysterious stone
1 s,rsss His chronological collections num-
4 - sone nifty thousand pieces.
vor6 about his discoveries came early
80, year in communications 10 the mu-
IN officials. Yesterday the explorer
.,larged upon the former accounts.
gts, asked to tell something about
.,.,sl, he demurrcd, and said he vas
..,r medium through which the dis
varies were made. II was what he saw
"a not himself that he thought should
\, dwet upon.
ors nrncipal object OF his journey was
4. ,,udy the Esquimaus. The explorer
IA ne found that wherever civilization
IA come into contact with tho Esqui-
,a,, II was TO their loss, both physically
and morally
Tells Of Blond Esquimsus.
n. blond Esquinaus. 10 the number OF
80, ,housand were the new race Of
,.i,rs discovered by the explorer. Many
:, them had blue eyes. light eyebrows
ana sandy boards. There are several
,,ys DR.. stsiansson said, 10 account for
,h.l, being in that part OF the frozen
y.-tN. but he believed they we're a MKT
NJ, OF the lost Scandinavian colonists
,ss settled IN Greenland some time short
,y before the year LOO a. D. These peo-
"a he said lived n Southwestern VIC
nra Land. and along both shores OF
Dolphin and Union straits and Coronation
crt I, is in the most inaccessible part
d the Arctic regions.
In speaking Of the theory that Is held
BY some that the blond EsIuimaus were
descendants of some OF the whalers and
.Aiors who visited the frozen North in
ne past, Or. Stefansson said that IN the
sumner time, when vessels were enabled
10 reach those regions. the Esquimaus
bad pushed further inland.
Describing a mysterious stone house.
toricsl in shape, he had seen, the eXplor-
gSld:
The Esquimaus believe i, was butt
By spirits AS EsquimaUs OF the present
cay never build stone dwellings there is
no telling who built that one or the 9TH
.rs on the southwest coast Of Victoria
Land ! did not have time Ia go into
me one We came across. While the Esqul-
nsu children sometimes hide in them
while at play, their elders look upon them
a hs5tauons OF spirits and remain away
from them"
Diseased by Civilization.
As Illustrative OF the bad influence Of
civilization on the Esquimaus DR.. Stefans-
sO1 said that when. in lS4S. Or. Richard
son was searching for Sir John Franklin
he found a population OF two thousand
. EsQulmaus In one place. When the mount
isd police recently took a census OF the
same tribe only forty were found alive.
snd all we're diseased. They were in
Place where they came in contact with
civilization.
In lS3," said the explorer. "collinson
found DO Esquimaus in an Isolated place,
way from CIVILIZATION. Nnen NlSi''"
ne same place | found 30 Esquimaus'
aad they were in good health"
Dr. stefansson said he had walked ten
thousand miles IN the four years I'm the
Arctic regions, and had travelled t~I
'aogsand miles by river.
Wasn't IL a little cold sometimes" lie
vas esked.
IN oil my experience IN the Arctic re-
sons have never found a blizzard that
could compare in severity 10 one I'm North
Oako,a The temperature got down 10
below zero on some occasions, hut
children in Winnipeg go 10 school most
'aeoncernedly when they have the same
temperature"
en- days was the longest period the