Iditarod pioneer., 1917-01-27
TALE OF FABULOUS WEALTH BROUGHT FROM ARCTIC
 BY SWEDISH EXPLORER

NEW YORK, Dec. lo.-Rringiug taic of land where gold ls more plentiful than it is in Alas,.a Christen Lcden, young Swedish explorer, has returned to this city after three years spent in the Arctic. As evidence of the truth of his story he has a harpoon head hammered out of gold by ,hc natives of q camp since wiped out by
 .isease. He also has several specimens of
 ,old-bearng quartz brought to him by Es- k;1nGs, who dared many dangers iu order to
 ct them. Leden said he had visited land where the ground was 50 full of oil that
 n the wern! months the smel. of II filled he air
 Mir Ledcn'S explorations carried him over
 thousands of miles in the country nurthwcat of Hudson bay. He went alone, and lived and travelled with the natives and as one of them. He visited the Igluliks, near Fury and HecIa straits; the kinpetus between
 he Great Fish river and Chesterfield inlet; the Netchi!ks, near Rootha and the mag netic pole, and the Elvislks, near the Wayer river. His outfit was shipped by boat to Fort Churchill, in Hudson bay, which was
 he starting point of his travels.
 Just where the gold and oil are MT. Leden, who is now at the Waldorf Astoro will Eot say. The place where the gold Is
 o be found he did not visit, because 10 have done 50, he said would have meant another two years in the far North. The
 erritoly was described to him by some Es llimos. who tcld him of great hill that lad been so split that the different strata were uncovered. Here the reddish yellow metal could be seen. Mr. LeGen persuaded some Of those journeying north to search out the riace.
 The Eskinos who ent in to find 1t had 4 terrible time" he said. Their dogs died 2nd they had to win their way back to the ,lace where 1 wgs staying through terrlO weather They attempted to bring back eyeral large specimens Of the gold, but conditions became so bad they had to throw them away,
 One very old man told how his grand father, the possessor of an old-fashloned pig bore gun, had found yellow metal hat he had hammered out to make bullets. The stories of the Eskimos would indicate that goll is up north in greater abundance than in Alaska, The natives, Of course, have Ho idoa cf it's value"
 Mir Leden's expedition was planned with the idea of making a scientific survey of ;hc country and its people He said he believed that Eekimos he'd common an cestYy with the American Indian. He bases ] is opinion chiefly upon their folk lore and their music. He took phonogrsphic outn; nto the far North, and he brought back many records of Eskimo music
 The Esllnos have q Vsoaderful Ian uage," he said Tt is hard to master be- cause the same word will express 30 many .iffcrent things, depending upon the in. 1ection, the recommendation and relative DO siton Il is much the same as the Indian language There is the same similarity n their myths and in their poetry
 Zach individual composes his own songs. and by them gives expression to his feeling. Their Instrumental music is entirely con fined to the drum"
 Travelling with the natives he said. was not only full of peril but required the ut most diplomacy The natives are superstl- tious and they have firm belief in good and bad spirits white man IS consid- cred more of bad spirit than good one, and this, NIT. Leden said, makes him at all times a sort of Jonah la the camp. If the weather IS bad, if an accident happens, or if sickness comes, it Is always the white man who Is regarded as the cause If he becomes very sick they are sure 1t Is an other manifestation of the anger of the good spirit, and so they never lack for an excuse to abandon him
 Tribes living within few mikes Of each other he found had no words in common. but the roots of their words were the same Their common blood is also shown, he said by the structure of their music and the manner of delivery, and it is by these means that he hopes to prove to the scientific world that the Eskimos are related by blood to the Indian, and not to the Mongol.
 Although he is but 35 years of age, Mir.