Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1914-07-10
ESKIMO man EATER?.
Stay Whom They Please Without
Fear OF Punishment.
Natives Of Hudson Bay Territory New.
er Wash and Are Revenoeful-ho
Laws In Vogue; Murder Of
Little Consequence. ..0'

A great work IL being done far up
on the northeast shores Of Hudson bay
in converting the wandering Indians
who inhabit that desolate region to
Christianity. A devoted little band OF
three or four Christian pioneers is sta
toned there, and a member OF that
Arctic mission" who Is in England
for short leave" gave some Of his
experiences Of the country and its peo-
pie recently.
+ Il am stationed at q tiny settlement
on Great Whale river" said the Rev.
w. G. Walton. according to a Lon
don newspaper, "and the town con-
sists of two houses and store. !
Ii ,e at one of the houses with Hud-
Bon bay trader. We get two mails a
year out there, but the newspapers
only visit US once, SO that you can
imagine our expectation when newspa-
per day comes round. At the end OF
August every year ship calls, and
we have to be careful to remember
to order everything we want. because
if we forget anything we should have
to wait another year.
THE Eskimos never wash them
SELVES. have often seen an Eskimo
woman washing her young children
like cat does a kitten-by licking
them all over. Their only means of
livelihood lies in catching seals. They
are always on the lookout for seal holes
in the ice. They eat the blubber, that
is the fat of the seal, and clothe them
selves, or at any rate make their
trousers out of sealskin. 1t Is very
colds degrees below zero, as a rule
and we Europeans have to keep
roaring fires going in every room
Of our house.
The people don't live in villages,
but separately in families, so as to
have as wide field for hunting as
possible. They are a very revengeful
people. A short while ago an Eskimo
was out hunting and saw black dot
In the distance on the ice. On ap-
preaching he made certain that it was
a seal just protruding from a seal
IOlC. I1C III Gu duu AlC ~, OuS "AASA AAS
got up to it he found that he had &C
cidentally shot man. He called on
the widow, said how sorry he was,
and, promising to help the woman,
asked for forgiveness.
THE son Of the dead man entered,
and, when he heard the story, he
rushed off and killed all the hunters
family, and so the feud began. When
we were Informed of this and came to
investigate we found that there was
only one man surviving out of two
families of about II persons.
They were terribly lawless until
we came, and even now when In the
grip of starvation commit the most
awful deeds. Lately: a. mother, raw
aged terribly by hunger, ate her two
children. Another killed his wife and
lived on her, and when she had been
eaten up tried to murder three other
mems children. Luckily he was pre-
vented. There are no native laws.
They don't steal, but think nothing
of murder. When they are put out
as the saying goes, they must Ike a
life.
They don't mind whom they kill
when they are angry as long as they
kill some one. There is no sort of
punishment for the crime. They are
fond of singing and their favorite or
only game is connected Herewith. A
piece of seal bone, with a little hole
in it, is suspended from the roof
They all sit round the ROOM and each
tries to throw an arrow into the hole.
HE who succeeds has to sing
song, and he who sings most songs
wins the game. They have large fam
lilies, and the race would increase
tremendously were it not for accidents
and murders. They are, however, very
much impressed by the Christian
creed, and we are gradually getting
them to change their ways"