Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-10-13

them. But Feathers and Jawb0ne did
get within shooting range. and prof
fered a cultural hail. Without re-
Spouse or seeming comprehension they
only shrank further away.
Our Eskimos held their ground.
Presently the strangers took a few
steps nearer then SHE'D off again. Up
they came once more. then back. but
not so far 1t was like making friends
with a stray dog. Finally one of them
grew bold enough to draw clear up
and seize from Jawbones hand the prize
which proved irresistible. 1t was an old
tomato can.
BY the third day the tribe had VEN
tured to the tent in considerable num-
bers. eliminating in the advent of the
king or chief. The captain. with a
dence. and after that there was no more
need for maneuvering.
Now, when I said that the first of
them was the queerest figure l had
ever seen / meant exactly that. They
were diminutive. even compared with
the Eskimos, not more than four feet
tall-a veritable race Of elves Their
clothing differed from any that we had
known. To begin with, they did not
wear ''mucklucks"-the Eskimo foot
gear-but boots of hide. which came we'll
up on the thigh. Above their skin
trousers. too was a remarkable gar
like the regulation evening dress. with
two long tails behind, which hung al
most to the heels. On their heads they
wore another curious article. 1t was a
conical hood of skin, one or two feet
high.
What astonished us especially was
that their faces were not copper colored.
They were white and their eyes were
blue. Their features. small and shapely.
were not Eskimo, either. but Caucasian.
and out of the chins Of the men there
fell stringy, blond boards.
Almost supernatural they seemed. for
with the tall Ounce caps. their dangling
swallow tails and patriarchal boards
they looked like nothing in the world
much the gnomes or COLLINS of a
German fairy tale.
The women were dressed in the same
way as the men. except, of course that
they lacked boards.
AS they had practically none of the
attributes of Eskimos, we could only
surmise that they had been an offshoot
from Lapland. Their weapon was the
bow and arrow, made of a supple wood
and thong of skin, exceedingly artistic.
Yet it registered the degree of their
advancement. apparently not step be-
yond the earliest Of mankind.
How they lived or even where We
never could discover. They were evil
IDENTIFY nomads. We saw neither village
nor snow hutS Their utensils were of
copper, from the copper island, we be-
lieved. and so We're their arrow heads.
That much of their environment We de-
termined, but otherwise they seemed
simply to have materialized there on the
ice We could not trace their comings
or their gOings.
The captain, as / said, extended him
self to make up with the chief. and by
the fluent use of signs gave them to I'M
derstand that we sought meat and skins.
For inducement he showed them our
treasure-laden sleds.
L had observed folk eager to possess
things before. but nothing to compare
with the mania which seized these little
this gestural conversation they lugged
into camp the hides of two enormous
polar bears, 100 white foxes and forty
deer. slain with their copper pointed ar
rows.
The dickering began. For two skins.
which later sold in Nome for $500, the
captain made them blissful with exactly
twelve condensed milk cans.
1t was the labels which hypnotized
them. The value of the cans as utensils
did not seem to appeal TO them, for they
scorned our pots and kettles, but they
would have snapped their souls if they
possessed such) for the lurid print on a
salmon can. Many a man impoverished
himself. 1 venture. for a necklace of these
discarded tins. They loved to listen. too.
to the f1atted, dismal rattle. And L
should not be surprised at all if the
fashion has since been introduced of ty-
ing a can to each of their stately swal-
1ow-tails to serve the double purpose of
ornament and harmony.
While 1 know of no humber item of
civilization than an empty tin can in
vacant lot. l have a secret veneration
for it now, since / have found that
through the relatively of values it could
outbid continent of copper.
This people had curiosity unauench-
able. By signs they indicated that they
wanted to have illustrated the use of
every article of our equipment. They
stood in grinning ecstasy as We showed
them how to open and close clasp
knife.
When they first saw us strike a match
their CONSERVATION was only equaled 10y
the way they fled for their lives as Jaw
bone, having drawn pipe and tobacco
from his pocket. started to blow smoke
through his nose
The chief, becoming emboldened and
a block of our California matches and.
sitting down on the ice with score of
his people around him, spent an hour
lighting one match after the other until
all We're gone. And he would not drop
a match. either. until the flame crept up
and burned his fingers.
:: =
They were a race of children. with
they were not even human children.