The lands of silence : $b A history of Arctic and Antarctic explorationMarkham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
History
The lands of silence : $b A history of Arctic and Antarctic exploration
Markham, Clements R. (Clements Robert), Sir
Polar regions -- Discovery and exploration
These Eskimos are described as cheerful and good-humoured,
quick-tempered but placable, and with strong conjugal and parental
affections. They are shrewd and observant and some exhibit considerable
capacity. Far to the eastward, in Boothia, the Eskimos live in snow
houses instead of wooden huts. These snow houses are built of large
blocks of snow carefully laid and made in the shape of a dome with a
square hole for light. The dog sledges of the Boothians are rude, and
the runners made of folded seal-skin carefully coated with ice.
Still further east, in Melville Peninsula at the head of Hudson’s
Bay, the Eskimos average an inch or two more in height. Instead of
lip ornaments, they tattoo the face, arms, and hands, and as with the
Boothians their winter habitations are snow huts. Besides dog sledges
they have _kayaks_ 25 feet long, with a width of 21 and depth of 10½
inches, but no _umiaks_ or women’s boats. Their dog sledges are heavy,
with runners of bone scarped and lashed together. Their weapons are
spears, bows and arrows, and bird darts used with a throwing-stick.
Thus the Eskimos spread themselves over a vast extent of country,
wandering from Bering Strait to Labrador, a distance of 2000 miles.
They adapted themselves to their environment alike in the construction
of their dwellings and in their contrivances for fishing and hunting.
They are equally at home whether the building material is plank,
drift wood, stone or snow; and with the same versatility they adapt
their weapons and sledges to the materials within their reach. These
Eskimos, by reason of their vigour and courage, of their shrewdness
and intelligence, have been among the greatest and most successful
wanderers on the face of the earth.
The problem of the peopling of Greenland has been more difficult
to solve. It is now clear that the Eskimos, as we call them, who
established themselves in Greenland, originally came from the north. We
therefore seek for the evidence of movement of Arctic people. The most
remarkable migration was that of the Onkilon, Omoki, and other Siberian
tribes during a long period of years, owing apparently to pressure
from the south. We are told that their abandoned _yourts_ may still be
seen near the Indigirka and Cape Chelagskoi. As we have already said,
there is a tradition that they wandered away from Cape Jakan to the
land in sight in the distance, which we now know to be Wrangell Island,
and thence across the ice to the American continent. Finding the coast
already occupied they went northwards and eastwards seeking for a home.
They must have come in very small parties and at long intervals, for
the desolate country could not sustain a large migration. Wandering
along the coasts of Banks Island, they came to a region which, owing to
the absence of open water during long intervals, was unable to support
them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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