The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-09-01
ESKIMOs AND SOAP.
Must Battle to Keep From Freezing. Not
as UncIean as Depicted.

as IncItdU as DepiCIeu.
The long-standing libel that the Eski-
mo objects to soap deserves to be cor
rected in the interests of truth, accord
ing to Rev. William A. Thomas, EpiscO-
pal missionary among the Tigaras at
Point HopeI Alaska. Point Hope is
about 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle,
and is the farthest point north of the
Episcopal church's activities. Mr..
Thomas and Lis wife are the only white
residents of the settlement. Mrs.
Thomas. who is a former army nurse
and saw service in France during the
war is the only white woman who has
ever made the 1.0O0-mile sledge trip from
Point Hope to Nenana.
As regards the libel on the Eskimo,
Dir. Thomas has this to say p: The fiction
that the Eskimo does not like soap is alb
surd, for the wholly practical reason
that he must keep clean in order to
stand the rigors of the climate. On our
way East from the coast a friend asked
Mrs Thomas how she kept herself sup
piled with cold cream up in the North
to prevent her face from freezing. The
reply is that the application of anything
that might close up the pores of the
skin and prevent the free circulation of
the blood is the quickest way to have
the face frozen. What applies to
white person applies with equal force
to the Eskimo. He has to keep his face
and hands and feet clean to prevent
freezing If he used seal oil or whale
oil or any of the other lotions which he
is charged with preferring TO soap, he
couldn't stand the bitter cold Of the
Arctic climate.
As a mater of fact the Eskimo uses
a whole lot of soap. In filling an order
for dog meat or clothing or anything
else that the EskimOs buy from us at
the Point Hope store. we find almost in
variably that it includes an item of a
few cakes of soap, especially of the
stronger brands For the same reason
you will find few EskimOs with boards
Like the red Indian they pull out the
hair from their faces by the roots. in
order that their faces may be kept
clean.
I am speaking now, of course, of the
Eskimo at home. in his native igloo or
hut. And this igloo, by the way, is not
necessarily the unclean dugOut of snow
which if is sometimes depicted. The
snow iglOO is temporary affair built
for overnight shelter. The igloO in the
native communities is a One-st0ry hut
made of sod, which is fitted over a
frame of whalebone or of lumber picked
up from the wreckage of ships along
the seacOaSt. 1t is a neat, compact az
fair, with a large living room, and
small shelfliKe sleeping rooms which
are built into the walls around the four
sides of the living room. Generally the
roof is constructed of seal gut stretched
over the frame upright which serves rs
a skylight as well. The walls of these
igloos are sometimes six feet thick and
at the height of the most severe biz
zard you are not aware of the storm
outside save for the undulations of the
skin roof under the force of the wind.
"On the trail the conditions are some
what different, and they apply to the
white man as well as to the Eskimo.
Obviously, with a temperature of 80 tC
90 degrees below zero, with little fue
at hand, it is difficult to get water fOI
washing purposes. What water you get
is secured through the process of melt
ing the snow, and therefore, under th'
conditions which l have mentioned, YOU
get along with very little water.
have made in my six years in Alaska
about 10000 miles with sledges anC
over stretches of weeks at time,
have had to manage with teacup o.
water a day for all purposes. So it i.
with the Eskimo. But as / have said. al
home the Eskimo takes scrupulous car,
n of himself and instead of soap beins
taboo it is regarded as one of his house
hold necessities.