Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-09-19
THE BLOND EsQU1MAUx.
Newly discovered Tribes Have Ma
Curiosity.


Newly discovered Tribes Have No
Curiosity.
Prof VihlJalmar Stefansson, who left
new York April 20. 1903. at the head
OF an expedition into the Arctic regions
unuer the auspices of the American
museum OF Natural History, has made
an INFORMAL report that the object OF the
e*pedition had been accomplished In
pref' this object was to discover If there
were any Eskimos who had never seen n
white man.
Tot tn1fteen months I lived as an
Eskimo among Eskimos OF a distiuot
type from the Eskimos heretofore en-,
countered; without the straight biaclx
Monsolian hair Of the Eskimo as we
have always known him. but with red.
dish hair and In some cases with b,ue
eyes. as we'll as with different customs
and habits" said Professor stefansson.
They are probably descendants of the
lost Scandinavian colonists who settled
on the coast OF Greenland and d,san.
peared centuries ago.
This is the first time man of nv
profession has lived with a people In
the Far North who had not been seen
by white man. learned that there
were about two thousand Esk,mos OF
this unusual type. divided into thirteen
tribes. personally met about half of
them Out Of about a thousand saw,
there were perhaps q dozen with blue
eyes, and perhaps five hundred had
eyebrows as light as mine. Some OF
them had curly hair. Those who had
not pulled out the hair IN their beard.
by the roots the same as some OF the
American Indian tribes. had red boards
Not single one that saw had the
stin black Monaghan hair that you find
In the Alaskan Eskimo
EXPLORER ALMOST BOY1sH.
The young expiorer-he " only 80 years
| old-s five feet II inches in height, weighs
100 pounds. and although born In Canada.
ia Of Norwegian descent. He is almost
boyish In appearance He Ii a gradual
Of Harvard University.
Some Of the younger generation Of Es.
KINDS on the Colville river had never seen
white men, In general they we're half
civilized. They never ate a meal without
saying grace. although there had been no
missionaries there" said Professor Ste
fansson.
April q. 1910. started east with three
Eskimos and a sled to find Eskin,os who
had never seen white men The civilized
EsklInos around the mouth Of the Mac.
kenzie did not know there were any Eski.
mos to the east Of them. They had stor.
les OF cannibals living to the east but no
real knowledge.
I'VE crossed 250 miles of uninha bited
country. barren. but with plenty of game
before we came upon the first Eskimos.
1--WE found them May 10. 1910 They
were sealing on the Ice. We stopped our
sled about quarter Of a mile away and
one of my Eskimos went forward One
Of the sealing party met him, jumping up
excitedly when he saw my Eskimo ap-
preaching and drawing his knife as n he
feared an attack.
THE two jabbered at distance from
each other. They had a little difficulty in
understanding each other because Of the
difference in their dialects.
Convinced he was in no danger, the
newly discovered Eskimo took US to his
village. 1t was made up OF few Ice
houses and about 30 Inhabitants.
These were the blond type of Eskimos
referred to-"
"Of half a dozen theories. the most
probable one Is that these Eskimos are
descendants Of the lost Scandinavian
colonists who settled centuries ago on
the coast of Greenland
Professor Stefansson showed q pho
tograph of stone hut. and remarked:
THE Eskimos never built stone houses,
but there 1t Is, and the question Is how
did 1t get there? This photograph was
taken on the southwest coast Of Victoria
Land. The Eskmos say that It was
built by the spirits before the human
race inhabited the earth. The Eskimos
can build a house with blocks of snow
In an hour, These are the only kind of
houses they build. They built one for my
self and the members Of my party We
slept in 1t but ate at their houses.
THE limited accommodations of a
house permitted them to entertain only
one Of us at q time. so that we had to
move around from one house to another
enjoying their hospitality during the
thirteen months that remained among
them They accepted me as an Eskimo,
seeing nothing strange in my light COM
plexion. because Of their own resemblance
in that respect. They did not learn I
was not an Eskimo until I was ieav.
ing.
AT meals we would usually have boiled
seal meat first. after which we would
drink boiled seal blood The food was con-
sumed warm. not hot. The custom was to
boil the meat and when they took II out
Of the pot they would pour in the blood
and stir It around. making a sort Of gravy.
The cooking was done In oblong stone
kettles over lamps burning seal oil.
zone thing that impressed me was the
manners OF these Eskimos. They did not
pry into your affairs like the civilized Els.
kimo They did not ask questions about
wanted to see some things had in a box.
but he replied that, while he would Hike to
see them. he knew that I would show
them II wanted him to see them.
Neither would they walk into our
house without announcing themselves. a
common practice Of the civilized Eskimo
In the morning when they came for a visit
they would start to sing some distance
away so that we would know they We're
coming.
"Out Of the 10 tribes three OF them had
been visited In the fift.es Of the last cen.
fury by the people who were looking for
Sir John Franklin"
The return trip to civilization was made
BY sled to Cape Parry. Professor stefans-
son brought with him a collection Of
everything excepting boats used by the
newly discovered people These are now
on their way to the American Museum Of
Natural History,