Airplanes do not Surprise Eskimos

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 974, 17 May 1930, Page 18

Airplanes do not Surprise Eskimos

BHE Northern Lights have [ seen queer sights, ac- ! cording to the oft quoted characters of Service's rhymes, and explorers of Canada’s North-West arriving at the end of the steel at Churchill bring tales of the strange new Land of the Midnight Sun. For many years the life of the gold camps has been told in song and story. Today* with interest awakened in the great base metal areas on the rock-rim of the Arctic, prospectors and geologists find an absorbing study in Eskimos who are making their first contacts with the. white men. These explorers of the “Barrens’' and the Polar seas have picked up a new word, a phrase, if you will—“Emiasook.” What does it matter? A comforting thought in adversity. They borrowed it from the Eskimos. Emiasook explains why the adult Eskimo can’t tell you his age. Ask him and he will obligingly try to figure back a few seasons and then give up, saying, 4 Emiasook.” Ask an Eskimo mother why she I does not name her babes when they are born, instead of waiting a year or two, and she answers, “Emiasook.” Ask why she named her daughter Seal Flipper and her son Ptarmigan Tummy. She may tell you that her daughter reminded her of a seal when she was learning to walk, and that the rotund torso of her boy called to mind a fat ptarmigan. But the chances are she will not bother with explanations. She will simply shrug her shoulders, smile blandly and say, “Emiasook.” What’s in a name, anyway?

Emiasook might be taken as the key to Eskimo character. Much of his thought and his logic, to say nothing of his tolerance, centre about that very word.

That may be wby Nachuk was allowed to practise ou the saxophone all winter (writes A. J. Dalrymple in the Toronto “Star”). Nachuk lives somewhere around Wager Bay. Few persons had heard of him until he took to music. Then they heard from him. He managed to trade a lot of things for a saxophone. It was as blatant a saxophone as ever put a saw-edge on the neighbours' nerves. He spent a whole winter tuning His ear and his infernal machine to the music of the phonograph a trader brought in. Nachuk became enthusiastic as he reported progress. He enjoyed himself immensely. But the wild saxophone in the hands of a tyro is not a particularly happy instrument. The iglooites sat by, a. little melancholy, but patient, as is the way of the North. They awaited the (lav when the persevering Nachuk would triumph over the sax. Only the huskies showed their approval. They moaned more dismally while Nachuk played. They howled their displeasure to the northern lights and then slunk in the snow shadows and sulked.

The natives murmured “Emiasook ” By spring Nachuk Had the records off by heart.

Naehuk’s saxophone cost him much in goods of Eskimo manufacture. He

Seers of the Tribe Accomplish Much Greater Flights—of Fancv . . . “ ‘Emiasook,’ What Does it Matter,” say “Ptarmigan-Tummy” and “Sea l -Flipper” . . .

traded a deer skin parka, or coat; a pair of mukluks (waterproof, footwear of sealskin); gauntlets of caribou and other articles. But dollars and cents meant nothing to him. He got what he wanted. What does it matter?

Life of Ihe civilised centres may whirl giddily on an axis of currency, but a fish hook is more to an Eskimo than a gold piece. And if you gave him a sovereign, he would probably fashion a fish hook out of it, anyway. When traders first went into the Arctic, the Eskimos knew nothing of business or even barter. In the simple tribal life they just exchanged the articles one another needed. But times are changing. The Eskimo is learning values. Already he realises the difference between standard makes of articles and the inferior products of the industrial world. For instance, they do not know what a certain standard alarm clock costs. But they do know it is a good alarm. Any trader who treks across the “Barrens” with cheap alarm clocks is just wasting his time. An alarm clock means social status in the Arctic. As a white man is often judged by his car, so is the Eskimo judged by his alarm clock.

So it is with phonographs. You can’t fool an Eskimo. He knows his portables. He wants the best. It is on record that there is a piano accordion that is played to death in the six months' night around Fury Straits. A number of igloos north of Repulse Bay boast of mouth organs. The civilised white who goes into the North thinking the simple Eskimos are going to look upon him as a god is courting disappointment. The Eskimos look upon the whites as children. They see the white man as utterly helpless under conditions that do not bother them. Eskimos, upon meeting whites in the Arctic, at once teel a personal responsibility for the safety of the visitors and so look after them.

Vic Stephens, veteran prospector of Northern. (Ontario an<J Northern

Manitoba mining fields, pays high tribute to the intelligence and 'h« loyalty of the Eskimo. He found them hospitable and generous to a fault, while on his journeys along the coast of Hudson Bay last summer. “Thev never interfere with a white man’s 'business. The white man might make a mistake. An Eskimo would not point It out to him, not out of meanness, but because he woulct consider the white man knew wßat he was doing. In the same way, be would not like newcomers into the Arctic to meddle with iai3 work. He will not be ordered about, and term not stand for any bullying.” Eskimos have been maligned as a bloodthirsty, cut-throat lot. and tribe ever was less deserving of s«c“ a reputation, according to A. L. Reading, geologist of Dominion Explorers, who lias made a study of theneti'CSMr. Reading states that the EskinW • rarely shows anger. If he does, he is j signing someone’s death warrant, it 1 happens so seldom, it is conspicuous. An Eskimo kills, only after carerpt consideration tells him his life is “ peril. Many whites get the wrong impression of Eskimos before they underj stand these simple folk. The Eskimo lis a perpetually happy soul. | smiles readily and laughs often. white man is inclined to seriousness. ! Upon introductions, the Eskimo s i smile is his handshake. If the sfui® man fails to return the beaming smile, then the aborigine's mind tells him ’ ihat the white man bears a S ru VT"‘ The Eskimo reasons that if the white

man is angry he must be out 1°? blood. His solemn countenance may prove his undoing. If he adds a bu • lying attitude, he may be the objec of a discussion at a tribal meeting, and apt to come to grief. On the other hand, the white man who treats his new-found friends as equals and joins with them in their smiles and humour, finds them ream to sacrifice their homes and even the;, lives, that he may be comfortable. While the Eskimo may be by surprise upon being introduced to the mechanics of a talking doll, h“ seldom exhibits astonishment at hi= first sight of such major works ot man as airplanes and locomotives. This is explained by Mr. Reading, who found that the Eskimos are gifted with imagination that prepares them for the wonders of civilisation. The Eskimo has practicaly no religion, although he may believe in the legend of the god of the aurora borealis. Legends and fantastic tales tola by seers of the tribes take the place of religion. Their prophets go int°

trances, have visions and emerge with stories of trips to the stars, the sun and the moon. If a big plane appears int“ 9 heavens next day, it merely clinches the story of their seer. They evince no surprise. Has not one of their number just returned from a j°'f rl ', e into the sky? And did he not sit f° r two whole days on one of those white, fleecy clouds? Didn’t he dangle bis legs over the side as he surveyed the world? And didn't he come right back and tell them all about his wonderful journey? The Tigliamuk, the ' thing the white man flies in,” may thrill some peopWt but not the Eskimo. He has tameß Pegasus. He has ridden wings* horses through air and pee an.