Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-01-07

@9M2lLSs&@ ST Michael, and | find
many of them here on the
Seward peninsula. The general idea is that
most OF our Eskimos live along the coast Of
the Arctic ocean. This is not true Four
tifths of them are to be found south of the
Arctic circle and the most on the coastal
plains that slope down to Bering sea. There
are many Eskimos in the deltas of the Kus-
kokwim and Yukon rivers, and their settle
ments are to be found also on the Alaskan
peninsula There are said to be $500 Of
them on the Seward peninsula and this num-
Der is perhaps one-third of all the Eskmos
under the American flag.
So much has been published about the Es-
kmos one might think them an important
part of the human race. 1hc truth is they
number, all told, not more than $4,000, and
of these ten or fifteen thousand are to be
found in. Alaska. OF the remainder there arc
a few thousand in Greenland, some Of whom
are civilized; a few in Labrador, also civil
ized, and greater number scattered through
the northern part of the Canadian Domin-
ion from Hudson bay to the mouth Of the
Mackenzie revr. There are also few in
Siberia but nowhere are they Of any i'm
portance except as a race curiosity, and in a
small way as trappers of furs for the mar
kets of the world.
The Eskimos about Nome make their liv-
ing by fishing and hunting and selling ivory
carvings. The stores here are full of their
workmanship, and they bring ivory curios
to the hotels and sell them to the tourists
They have village on the edge of the town.
1t is made up OF frame shacks and cabins,
constructed of all sorts of materials from
driftwood logs to galvanized iron. These
are the abandoned homes OF the miners who
came here TO wash gold from the sands of
the seashore. There are also many tents OF
white canvas. The tents rest right on the
sand, with skins as carpets. None of these
dwellings is large, and but few of them
will cover more than space eight or 10 feet
square. There are no streets to speak Of,
and the houses are jumbled together as
though they had been pitched out of the sky
and let fall where they would Going
through the village i'll the morning, one
finds every house tightly closed. The Es-
kimos do not rise until late, and now, III the
summer, they situp or move about half the
night They have their dances at night and
the village is often alive i'll the wee small
hours OF the morning.
These Eskimos are dressed in half-eiv,l-
lied fashion Many Of the women have
parkas Of calico, trimmed with fur, and
hoods OF cloth with fringe Of wolverine
standing out around their copper-skinned
faces. Under the calico parka, cloth trous-
ers and long boots or mukluks of hide are
&c be seen, the leather reaching half way to
the knee. Other Eskimos will be clad all il
fur Some will wear fur suits and cloth
caps, and some American clothes from head
to foot
1t is easy to tell the Eskmos, no matter
what their dress may be. Their faces are
Monaghan in character | have seen manv
lust like them in my travels through Siberia
and along the Great Wall in north China,
and the same types are il the Himalayan
mountains on the edge OF Tibet They have
eyes which slant like those of the people of
the desert of Cobb, and their faces are of the
same bronze or copper color. They are
lighter in color than the North American In
dams, but they have the same high cheek
bones and much the same features. Their
faces are rather square than long and flat,
with little fat noses. The young men and