The Romance of Polar Exploration: Interesting Descriptions of Arctic and Antarctic Adventure from the Earliest Time to the Voyage of the "Discovery"Scott, G. Firth
History
The Romance of Polar Exploration: Interesting Descriptions of Arctic and Antarctic Adventure from the Earliest Time to the Voyage of the "Discovery"
Scott, G. Firth
Antarctica; Arctic regions
In the matter of clothes they carry their wardrobes on their backs. Fur
garments do not wear out very rapidly, and, when a "husky" is full
grown, the suit of clothes, made in honour of the event, remains in
constant wear until one of two things happens. If the man kills a bear,
he has a costume made of the skin and discards the ordinary sealskin
suit for it. If he does not kill a bear, he wears the sealskin suit
until it no longer keeps him warm, when he gets another. In their snow
houses during the winter and storms, if the temperature is too warm for
them in their thick clothing, they take the clothing off; being a
primitive people, their manners are as simple as their minds.
The first arrivals at the Peary camp were, however, very useful people.
There being no trees in this far northern region, and wood,
consequently, being one of their most valued treasures, they were for
some time unable to comprehend how so much timber had been acquired to
build the house. When they saw a fire made in the stove of refuse bits
of wood they were still more amazed. Never before had they seen so much
fire all at once, and the man, growing curious, kept on feeling the
stove to see what the effect would be. When it was hot enough to burn
his hand he developed a wholesome respect for it, and preferred to
regard the, to him, uncanny object from a distance.
The problem of how the sewing was to be done was rather a difficult one
to the white people for a time. To allow the furs to be taken into the
Eskimo tent was to invite the introduction of an insect population of
which it would be impossible to get rid later. On the other hand, to
allow the huskies to enter the house too frequently was equally
dangerous from the sanitary point of view. A compromise was effected, by
the Eskimo woman doing the sewing near the door of the house with some
one always keeping an eye on her. Later on, when it was found that
little danger existed from the spread of insects if reasonable care were
taken, the workers sat inside the house. They were fairly deft in
handling the needle, and the suits they made for the party were all
excellent and serviceable. These were made on the native pattern, and
the experience of Lieutenant Peary and his comrade Astrup in their
journey over the great ice-cap proved that the native pattern was the
best.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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