Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-19
Prof. StefansSon Discovers
White People Still Living
in Stone Age

in Stone Age
Prof. Filhjalmar Stefansson. of the
/ American Museum of Natural His,
! tory, on his arrival the other day a,
: Seattle. after a long exploring trip in
the Far North, reported the discovery
, on Victoria Island, so degrees east OF
the Mackenzie River. of a tribe OF
white people who have been lost, ii
! is believed, for several centuries. and
ere living as did the people of the
stone age. There are about two thou
sand OF them, and they are thought
! to be direct descendants il Lief EriCk-
son. who went from Iceland to Green
land, and probably discovered the
north coast of North America. Pro
fessor Stefansson left New York for
the Arctic regions in 1908, and made
many chronological discoveries in ad-
dition to the strange tribe. We read
in the New York Sun:
In his trips around the region at the
top of the world Stefansson discover
ed thirteen new tribes. Ten of these
tribes had never seen nor heard of
! white men. Two other tribes had
seen the members of the Franklin
exploring expedition.
Purely Norwegian.
The tribe of white people, whom
Stefansson declares are purely Of
Norwegian origin, never had seen
other people of their own color. Their
number is about 1000. More than
half of them have red hair. blue eyes.
fair skins, and light eyebrows and
boards. They live on both shores of
Coronation Gulf, on the. mainland OF
North America and Victoria Island.
which was formerly was known as
Prince Edward Island. =
1t was for this people that Raold
Amundsen, discovered of the south
pole, searched while making his trip
through the Northwest Passage.
Amundson, it will be remembered,
said natives had told him OF a race
Of white people living to the north.
ward. He sent an expedition along
the shore of the island, but saw moth
ing of the tribe, nor did they see any
thing of him. -. r.
Many other Arctic explorers have
brought down from the north stories.
Of this tribe of lost white people, but
The tale came to be regarded as al
Indian legend. ..3 =.
Ethnologicaily,F the newly discover.
ed tribe is entirely different from the
Eskimos, not only in the shape OF the
skull, but in general features, color
of eyes, and texture of hair. They
have not single trace of the Mon
golian type 1--.. ...<
Live Primitive Life. l.-.. =. .
While they retain some of the Gus
toms of the Norsemen who were lost
from Iceland in the twelfth century,
their method of living is entirely diff
ferent. The conditions under which
they live are, OF the most primitive
sort. No vegetation, except moss and
a few stunted willows, grows in their
habitat. - .... Il.
They are meat and fish eaters. The.
island abounds with. caribou and the
sea with seal and other fauna. They
use bows made. of willow bound to-
gether with sineWs and their arrows
are tipped with flint. and native cop
per, which is pried out of lodges or
found in stream beds on the main
land. Their knives are made OF cop
per, with horn handles, and made in
much the same manner as nipple
ments were made by the early Morse
men who inhabited Greenland.
Nike nearly every savage tribe they
have a legend of a flood which a long
time ago devastated the world. This
legend, anthropolog say, is uni
versay among savage tribes and there
fore can not be regarded as proof
that this particular tribe is descend.
ed from Christian forefathers.
Professor Stefansson accounts for
their existence by the fact that in
the year 9S2 Greenland was discov
cred and settled by 5000 Icelanders.
One thousand of these people sailed
from Norway and missed Greenland,
but landed on the coast Of NeWfound-
land, where they established COL
ony, built fourteen churches, two
monasteries, nunnery, and other
structures, the ruins of which are
still standing.
Came to Coast for Timber.
These people crossed to the coast
of America for timber. There were
no Eskimos at this time. either on
Greenland or Newfoundland. The
Norsemen settled in two colonies, one
on the north and one on the south
side of Newfoundland.
In the fourteenth century Eskimos
came from the north and extermin-
ated the north settlement. Their re-
cord was complete till 1441, when the
Black Plague scourged Europe and
for two centuries communication be-
tween Newfoundland and the old
country was cut off.
When communication was restored
the people of the second settlement
were missing Their graveyards, |
buildings, and other adjuncts Of their
standardization were found. Thel
theory was formed that the people
had drifted to a settlement further
west across the narrow straits, where
they intermixed with Eskimos, whom |
with Thorn IN tho iGt-t