The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-20
Discovers Mysterious Stone House to
Which Natives Give Wide Berth
as Abode of Spirits

the one tribe of the Ksnghirgyuarg-
miut, and they were not all at home
either. for later on we visited another
village OF three houses OF the same
people. and a third village OF four
houses we never saw at all.
Some Of the other tribes visited were
of special interest In that they had
never before been seen by white men,
either they or their ancestors; these
had an interest OF their own in being
the one tribe which have oftener than
others been visited by white men. 1t
was the last Of the tribes to be visited
Sby us. and II was therefore especially
interesting to me that we should come
upon them on the 18th Of May. which
was the anniversary of our discovery
Of the Cape Bexley Eskimo Of the
year before.
! An Eskimo Welcome.
! When We approached the village
and were about two miles south Of II
%e came to group Of three men who
! had been sealing in different places
but who had converged and come to
meet US. They were little timid at
/ first. They seemed TO be surprised
not SO much by the fact that / was
a white man, for this they recognized
at once, but ty our coming from the
southeast, from the country, as they
said, where they knew OF no one ex-
| cept their friends, the Puiplrgmiu..
who were now and then in the habit
OF arriving by the same route as ours,
and at this season OF the year, for
|
see us. however, and assured us that
We would be welcomed in the village.
| When we got within about half a
| mile Of the houses our companions
! began to communicate with their fell
lows in the village by the use OF one
Of the few examples OF eiGn language
| in existence among these Eskimo. The
signs consist in ono member Of an APP
preaching party running few yards
to one side of the sled and stopping,
and then running across the trail I'M
til he is as many yards on the other
side and stopping again. This is re-
peated several times and signified that
| friendly strangers are coming. This
! sort OF signalling, they told us, is never
/ done by the strangers themselves, but
always by local people who have Joined
the party of the strangers, Just as
these three people had Joined ours.
Villagers Troop Ont.
The sign was quickly understood in
the village, which in It's entirety came
running to meet us-mon, women, chill
dren, and about half the dogs. while
the other half that happened 10 be
tethered howled loudly and plaintively
II was n crowd that later estimated
ut considerably over two hundred.
The village was large, and as each
came from his own house and some
were feetcr Of foot than others they
| did not come upon us in crowd
! but Il was only a few minutes until
we were completely surrounded sc
! that further progress was impossible.
Most. II not all, ~ them shouted
/ talked loudly and ran holding their
! arms higher than their heads, open
! ing and closing their hands continu-
! ally to show they carried no weapon,
and saying, You need not be afraid
! OF US" we have no knives" I'VE
are glad you have come" and things
OF that sort.
| We had heen stopped too far away
| from the village to suit us. and, after
| had pointed this out TO one man,
! he jumped on top Of our sled and
! shouted 10 the men to give us an open-
/ Ing. so that we could get nearer 10
! the village and havc n chance 10 pitch
! camp. This was done with the great
! est good will, but our DOGS wcre NC
excited that they refused to pull, upon
| which some one suggested that VIC
! unhitch them, for there were plenty
OF people around for pulling our sled
Tho dogs We're accordingly unhitched
and used their first opportunity to get
into fights with the local dogs. add
ing their srowls and snarls TO the
shouting and cheering OF the people
as they unanimously pushed and
hauled our sled up to tho village.
Snow House offered.
| This was, perhaps, tho most vocif,
erous welcome we had ever received
What with dogs barking and bowling
1 and people laughing and talking i,
was difficult to max" onosef under
stood. We Ner" immediately asked
! whether We desired 10 put IN n
snow house. in which case they offered
! to build ono for MS. but we had oul
own tent and the season If the year
had now come when n tent is prefer
able TO a snow house. So we pre-
ferred TO pitch IL as we ordinarily ola.
4