THE ESKIMOS OF GREENLAND.* ONE cannot imagine a more interesting
people than the Eskimos, whether we regard them socially or from the naturalist's point of view. They live, as Nansen says, on the verge of existence, waging a perpetual fight against that climate which is of all the most inimical to human life and development,--extreme cold. Yet the Eskimos live, so perfectly have they adapted themselves to a cruel existence by the elaboration of their hunting implements and the long- inherited skill in pursuing the seal, and though not a prolific race, their struggle for existence is a successful one, and has left them the most happy, the best-tempered, and the most Christian of converted savages.
It is difficult for us to comprehend a people living amid such stern surroundings, and often completely isolated from their own kind. They are spread over the West Coast of Green- land from Smith's Sound to Cape Farewell, and the number under Danish control is reckoned to be about ten thousand. On the East Coast, the number is about five hundred, and though no permanent settlements, according to the Eskimos themselves, exist further north than the Angmagsalik district, in latitude 66°, yet they wander as far north as the parallel of 70°, and Clavering found some families at about 74°. Neilsen, though recent voyagers make no report of these families, says he sees no reason that colonies should not exist, nor that nomadic families should have escaped notice, for the North- East Coast is rich in game, and therefore suited to the Eskimos. That is to say, the Eskimos can live comfortably as near the Pole as we, with the utmost determination our civilised courage has given us, have been able to penetrate. Dr. Rink, who has made the Eskimos the study of a lifetime, thinks they came into Greenland along the North-East Coast, spreading thence southwards round Cape Farewell. Nansen's admiration for the implements with which the patient and courageous Eskimo supports life will be shared by every one. First and foremost of these is the "kaiak," a canoe made of a framework of driftwood, over which the watertight skin of a bladder-nose or hood-seal is stretched, it is about six yards long, eighteen inches broad, and seven inches in depth at the hole where the Eskimo sits ; it tapers to a point at both ends, and has a very flat bottom,- Nansen puts the angle at 140°. The Eskimo has, besides a half-jacket for fine weather, a whole jacket with a hood, which fits over the ring of wood round the hole he sits in, so that he can be upset again and again without letting in a single drop of water. Nansen says "the 'kaiak' is beyond comparison the best boat for a single oarsman ever invented." He goes on to deny indignantly the reproach of cowardice with which some twit the Eskimos. The Eskimo in his " kaiak " is indeed great, for he faces the roughest seas, dodges the heavy waves, and some of the more expert " kaiak " men receive a heavy roller by capsising and receiving the blow on the bottom, righting themselves after- wards. The skilful fisher rights himself with the paddle, which is two-bladed, or with his open hand, while some can do it with the clenched hand. "I have seen," says Nansen, "a man take a stone in his clenched hand before capsising, and come up with it still in his hand." Nor must we forget that he has to tow his prey besides performing some of these feats, and a hunter will sometimes bring three or more seals to land safely. His chief weapon is the harpoon, which he throws either with his hand or the ingenious throwing-stick ; it has an easily detachable head with a line and bladder attached. Besides, these he has lances and bird- darts, all being kept in readiness under loops of leather on top of his "kaiak." Surely he must be cool and daring, for he must not miss a wounded and enraged seal, nor must the slightest hitch occur in the line when the prey rushes away with the harpoon. The greatest achievement in the hunter's art was to be able to dispense with bladders, and to let the seal tow the " kaiak " man by his waist, But men with this nerve were consummate masters of their art, and were rare. Several hunters will attack a walrus, even a single " kaiak " man will do it, and come off victorious, though, as Nansen says, the Norwegians in a large boat and strongly armed have • Eskimo Lift. By Fridtjof Nansen. Translated by William Archer. With Illustrations. London s Longtoans and Co. a wholesome fear of him. Surely it is unreasonable to amuse the Eskimo of timidity because be will not risk his life unnecessarily, or when there is no compulsion to procure food. He is not warlike, because it is unnecessary for him to be so ; his only foes are the elements, and they require all his energies. Of the lances and darts, and the ingenious contrivance with which he throws them, one can only say that generations of hunters and a hard experience have perfected them to a degree surpassing that of any other savage hunters.
As for the social life of the Eskimos, though it may not seem as finished as their method of hunting, it is a system of com- munism which experience has taught them to be best fitted to preserve the race. Indeed, we may take it for granted that whatever custom the Eskimo brought into the family or the village community, it has had to stand the hardest of all tests, that of absolute necessity. If a man captures food, the whole village share in it, his own household of course coming first; such selfishness as storing up food when others are in want is unknown to him. It is no question, forsooth, of unselfishnests, but of experience which has taught him how dependent the members of the community are on each other. If we put our- selves into the place of a people existing entirely on the chase, we can easily understand the reason ; it is indifferent whether the supply is large or small, for if the race is to exist, every member must be able to do his beat. The Eskimo's idea of common property is based on the same unanswerable reasons. His "kaiak," indeed, is his private property, and the weapons with it, but if he lends it and it is lost, he alone is responsible; if it be used without his leave, then the loss falls on the other. There is one thing only that he regards as property in the strictest sense, and that is driftwood, and he who finds drift- wood and drags it beyond high-water mark, will find it years afterwards untouched. These are the main principles of Eskimo property-laws, with a few exceptions to relieve the absence of all personal interest in captures, such as the Greenland seal, and of that he must give a portion of blubber or fat to the "kaiak" men present on the occasion. His land-laws are of the simplest description. No one pitches a tent or builds a house where others are settled, without consent, and in their summer expeditions, if the family or " woman " boat, as it is generally called, on approaching slowly the shores of a settle- ment, is received in silence, they continue their voyage ; but if greeted with cries of welcome, they land.
The position of woman in the Eskimo family is higher than our experience of savage and isolated races would lead us to expect. The Eskimo women materially assist in the work of life. The instant the " kaiak " touches the beach, the work of the hunter is over, and the women drag the prey ashore and cut it up. And when reindeer-hunting, the labour of dragging a full-grown deer is most exhausting, as may be imagined. They cut and sew all the garments, mostly skin, and cover the " kaiaks " with the dressed skin, and the pre. paragon and stretching of the skins over the framework of the " kaiak " is work that must be well done. The women row the boats that take the Eskimos on their summer wanderings up the fjords, and they pull a good oar, if travellers are to be believed. A man marries as soon as possible, and when he can afford it, takes another wife, sometimes more. The result is often jealousy, but it appears that the first wife often asks her husband to take another helpmate to assist her in the household work. A marriage is lasting, though Nansen thinks the Eskimo has no deep affection except for his children. They often exchange wives, and separate when tired of each other, in a quiet, unostentatious manner, the wife going back to her old home. It is not -thought disgraceful for un- married women to have children, though a girl is not likely to be married unless she shows herself modest. In some parts the married people allow themselves a licence that certainly appears to us somewhat disfiguring to the character of an otherwise well-conducted people. Crime is unknown among the Eskimos, and fighting and quarrelling of any description are abhorrent, to them. Their language has no words of abuse, nor do they under the greatest provocation lose their temper. The absence of all strife in the happy and contented existence of the Greenlander is strikingly illustrated by their one judicial proceeding, which is called the " song " or "drum- dance," wherein he who can raise the most laughter by his wit at the other's expense is adjudged to have the right on his side. Nansen expounds with much ease and detail the religious ideas of the Eskimos; yet no one can come to any satisfactory conclusion about them, for they are strangely confused. The depressing surroundings of the Eskimo, and the monotony of his life, must prevent anything like an original or picturesque conception. Most of his traditions and conceptions of the supernatural and religious ideas are not his own, but borrowed from those he has come into contact with. Yet some are un- doubtedly of immense antiquity, and have been. traced to Central Asia, while others compare with myths of South Africa and the Fiji Islands. But for the most part, they seem to us echoes of the legends of the Northmen con- fused into a meaningless jumble by successive story-tellers. Who can say, indeed, that certain beliefs are derived from an ancient stock, or adopted because they adapt them- selves to some custom or fancy ? For instance, the Eskimo believes that children born in secrecy, or murdered after birth, become dangerous spectres,—a very widespread notion, be it said. But the heathen Eskimo destroy motherless children from motives of mingled kindness and prudence ; therefore their fancy might easily assimilate such an idea. Sometimes a mother, from motives of the direst necessity, destroys one of her own offspring ; but the punishment whioh such a deed brings with it is very terrible, and it is not for us to add to it.
The prevailing characteristic of Nansen's Eskimo Life is its sympathy and admiration for the Greenland Eskimos. As a people they have more nearly fulfilled the maxim, "All things in common," and the commandment, "Love thy neighbour as thyself," than any other race. This is Nansen's opinion, and we are not aware that those who know the Eskimos at all differ from him. He has a great love for these "kindly people," as he calls them, and no one has attempted to contradict his account of them. The Egrides, the Greenland missionaries of last century, while they described the Eskimo as brutish and ignorant, were yet continually bearing witness to virtues that they must have felt their own countrymen to be deficient in.
How, then, do the Eskimos stand to-day ? We have come to the shady side of the picture now. Danish civilisation tias done much harm both to the physique and morals of the Eskimos. Every custom which it struck at was one that seemed necessary to the existence and physical endurance of the race. Polygamy was rightly condemned, even though the Eskimo practised. it because, as a race, they are not prolific. It was the custom to throw off their clothes entirely inside their winter houses, the numerous skins they are compelled to wear preventing the natural perspiration. This of course was objected to. He has been given guns, with which he has terribly reduced the number of reindeer and wild-fowl, and upset the balance of nature. The introduction of tobacco, spirits, and coffee, ruins the Eskimo, both in nerve and Finally, the behaviour of the Europeans has been shameful; even the Egrides flogged refractory converts ; and the Eskimo grows poorer, and therefore more demoralised, for he is debarred his summer expedition, and lives in his under- ground house, which then becomes as unsuitable as it was previously suitable when it answered its purpose of warmth. The conclusion which Nansen arrives at on his last page of this, one of the most fascinating and interesting ethnological studies we have ever met with, is that the Greenland Eskimo has a peculiar social economy, but that it is suited to his peculiar life. Nevertheless, interference with it may be quite necessary, if morality is more important than the existence of any savage race. It is no question of converting a hunting ri ato a pastoral people, because life in the greater part of Green- land can only be supported by hunting.
Previous page
