On the Roof of the World

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 898, 15 February 1930, Page 20

On the Roof of the World

Life and Love Among the Eskimos... Tugging For a Bride. . . Arctic Belles Yearn for Silks . . .

Bi OR the past 20 years Canon Alfred J. Vale | has been Anglican misI sionary and ambassador ' of Christianity to the 1 Eskimos and Indians scattered through Canada’s far northwestern wastes. But the circumstances of his career have compelled him to combine such other miscellaneous pursuits as those of school teacher, physician, postman, agriculturist and dog breeder. He is one of that handful of rare men who have been unostentatiously labouring to lead Arctic peoples from savagery to civilisation. Many and remarkable are the changes in the life of those peoples as described by him, upon emergence from two decades of self-imposed banishment In the Great Slave Lake Country: changes which have proceeded unobserved on Canada's snow-clad polar doorstep, yet which mark an almost unparalleled epic of evolution. Queer have been the customs in past years of the natives of the north, and marvellous the modernisation of their ways. Not only have their barbarous practices been largely abandoned, but to an almost undesirable extreme has the pendulum of progress in some directions swung. In a land, for instance, where the midnight sun for generations smiled down on the uncouth antics of Eskimo folk dancers, one now beholds men and maidens hopping a sophisticated charleston to the strains of the übiquitous portable gramophone. Some of the Eskimos dance modern Bteps with grace. The canon knows several who could take the floor of the Royal York ball room and perform more pleasingly than many a portly society dowager. Comedy women on the roof of the ■world, clad formerly in caribou skin, are acquiring knee length silk skirts and rayon lingerie, when they can get jt. and ate rouging their cheeks with toilet confections obtained from the nearest trading post. "Perhaps, that is after all not progress.” the canon whimsically mused, emphasising more significant developments which have lifted the economic and spiritual level of these long neglected wards of the Dominion. More important is it that starvation now rarely stalks the western Arctic, cutting down whole tribes, as a few generations ago In an unlucky year. Nor any longer are the weak and aged left helpless on the icy trail to perish as the stronger press on, driven by hunger to more distant hunting grounds. Nor does the wretched wife of some poor native strangle her new born babe, to spare it. the misery of living, and leave it naked in the snow as a tit-bit for prowling wolves. More important still has been the deliverance of the native from economic slavery imposed as a result of the shrewd and ruthless trade practices of the white man. Twenty-two years ago, on September 8, 1907, Canon Vale, then a young man. arrived at Hay River settlement on the south-west shore of Great Slave Lake, all his worldly possessions in hand, having Irrevocably turned his back on the thought of ease or advancement: The comforts of home were conspicuously lacking when the canon alighted ill the wilderness those 22 years ago. la the matter of food, it was soon found, one must live largely off the land. That is, there was fish and flesh which the natives brought in, supplemented by such vegetables as could be grown in the garden of the mission school under a northern sky

whose early frosts precluded many accustomed delicacies. Fish and potatoes were the staple diet. The menu in fact for many years read mainly as follows: For breakfast, potatoes or fish; for dinner, fish or

1 potatoes; for supper, both fish anti ! potatoes. A professional fisherman was employed by the school and when the catch proved poor, his excuses were not received with much sympathy by the 50 ravenous young pupils. - The hospital is a vitally important part of the equipment of these mission schools, for in 1907, when the Canon first, went north, the nearest doctor was 900 miles away, and the Canon had to act as the medical expert for his community, most ably assisted by his wife, a trained nurse. A curious assortment, these Hay River pupils. Almost unbelievable zeal for education. One boy, for instance, an 11-year-old Eskimo lad, travelled 1,800 miles to enrol.

Nothing obviously very advanced in the form of scholarship can be imparted at these mission schools. Speaking, reading and writing of English, a little arithmetic, the mere rudiments of religious doctrine, but at the same time a great deal of practical Christianity as applied to ordinary social life, are what the student requires. ‘The Eskimo originally had but few religious idea.s, and those were of the crudest. Till the advent of Christianity he believed that spirits inhabited natural objects and that they were capable of helping or hurting him. He did not worry about immortality. His intermediary in invoking the aid or warding off the malice, of the spirits was the Shaman, a species of medicine man or witch doctor—usually a shrewd and able member of the tribe, who was .relieved to possess supernatural powers. It was thought, for instance, that the Shaman could fly; also that he could cure .disease, though his favourite treatment was copious blood letting. The Eskimo is by ns.ture trustful. A 3tranger may walk into his encampment, and he will be welcomed, given meat and treated as one of the tribe. Too often in the early days, when the quest for skins led every variety of cut-throat and adventurer into the Arctic, that hospitality was abused. The Eskimo s impressipn of the white man was often that of a cunning scoundrel, useful only because rifles, ammunition, steel traps and other invaluable equipment might be obtained from him. But gradually, by their unselfish devotion to the needs of the native, the missionaries revealed the white man in a new and better light. To change the Eskimo’s actual mode of living and bring it more in line with Christian standards has been a tremendously difficult task with which nevertheless some substantial progress has been made. Occasional polygamy and the exchanging of wives were among the most distasteful conditions to which the Church addressed itself. The explanation of these practices was, originally, simple and natural. If a hunter were going on a long journey the presence of a woman to cook and to repair garments was a necessity. If his own wife were physically unlit to accompany him, the husband might trade her for another. Eskimo marriage is not marked by any formal ceremony, though it is surrounded by well defined’ tabus. A marriage is.sometimes dissolved after a year or two if no children have been born. To such an extent was It the custom to kill female babies at birth that 30 years ago In the Eastern Arctic there were six adult Eskimo males for every one female. To tribesmen often faced with starvation, the birth of a girl meant one more unproductive being to feed, and for a year or two at least, an added burden for the

mother to bear on the trail. Girls, though sometimes individually skilful at hunting or whaling, were generally less efficient than boys. So most of the girl babies were strangled as they drew their first breath, and then taken a mile from camp and left in the snow for wild animals to feast on.

While there were six men for every girl, the sharing of wives needed no explanation. Food, weapons, implements, everything, belonged to the tribe, and w'ere for common use, naturally therefore to the Eskimo, before his contact with Christianity, women also. Not that it was common for a woman to belong to several men at the same time. She was recognised as one man’s wife and property. But if he happened to go away for a time, another might establish temporary possession. Or, if she became unruly, he might give her away; if growing old he might sell her cheap to some poor hunter who was spouseless, and needed her. Or, as a special privilege and mark of friendship, bestowed on some friend or visitor —possibly a white man—he might occasionally loan her. Usually the maidens were wooed and won by brute force. It was and still is literally a case of “get your girl.” In brief, when a man decides he wants a certain maiden for his wife, he goes to her and tells her so, and leads her willy-nilly to his igloo. If she objects, he is strong enough to overcome her resistance, and no one bothers to save her. But if another man also elects her, woe to the girl. For while two husky young bloods among almost any other people would have battled it out between themselves, leaving the girl to witness the fight and go automatically to the victor, among the Eskimo it is the female who suffers. For the contest is almost entirely a pulling match. The swains grasp her by the arm and proceed to tug in opposite directions. As the battle warms Up, they tighten and extend their grip on her entire person, until almost invariably the garments are torn from her body, her arm may be dislocated, and sometimes she is almost rent asunder. Nor does a temporary advantage for one contestant always end the argument. For, having finally established her in his igloo, and gone off about other affairs, he may return to find that his rival has called in his absence and carried off the bride. Then the performance begins all over again. A popular Eskimo debutante (incidentally, marriages are contracted at the age of 12 to 16) may therefore lead an anxious life. Indeed, Canon Vale has heard of young girls who have committed suicide rather than face the tortures of matrimony which they knew to be awaiting them under these conditions. Whether it be that craft has always prevailed over muscle, or that the Eskimo valour is not what it used to be, certain it is that the mauling of maidens is rather less prevalent today, the more refined and modern process of wife-getting being illustrated in the following logue:—“Thomas,” said the canon to a baptised Eskimo boy of his acquaintance, “why did you marry Susie so young?” Thomas smiled. “I like Susie,” he confided, “and other Eskimo man like Susie to. Other Eskimo man go hunt, deer meat. So I went and got Susie.” A simple if naive solution of the triangle. A striking change has been wrought since Canon Vale first entered the Arctic. Nowadays girls are not so scarce. The advent of modern firearms has placed meat more readily at the disposal of the natives, and the slaughter of girl babies is no longer an economic necessity. Moreover, the whole influence of the missionaries has been directed against infanticide, which is now nearly obsolete. Concurrently, the increase in the female population, and missionary indoctrination, have combined to make matrimony a more permanent, and exclusive institution today than it was 20 years ago.