Very strange people live in Greenland. They are called Eskimos.
Greenland is a country very far north. It is always cold there. So
the children need warm clothing. Their stockings are made of birdskin.
The soft feathers keep their little feet very warm. Their shoes are
made of sealskin.
An Eskimo girl does not wear skirts. Her clothes are like her
brother's. Her trousers are made of white bearskin. Her jacket is
made of fur. When she goes out sleigh riding, she puts on fur mittens.
Do you know what a fur boa is? This little girl wears one around her
neck. It is made of the tail of a fox. The strings to it are made of
long pieces of skin.
[Illustration: An Eskimo Girl.]
Perhaps you think the Eskimo children are white. No, they are brown.
Their faces are round and fat.
Our babies ride in carriages, but an Eskimo baby rides on its mother's
back. The mother wears a coat with a pocket on the back of it. The
pocket is lined inside with soft reindeer skin. This makes a nice warm
nest for baby.
[Illustration: Eskimo Mother and Baby.]
In Greenland all the boys and girls have sleds. The runners of the
sled are made of bone. The top is made of strips of sealskin. It has
a back for the boy or girl to lean against. Dogs draw the sled across
the snow. But the Eskimos also have sleds made of ice. I think you
would like an ice sled. Oh, how fast it runs over the snow! The boys
and girls have fine fun with these sleds!
They play a nice game in the snow with their sleds. I will tell you
about it. Do you know what a reindeer is? It is like a deer, but it
has long, branching horns. The horns are called antlers. When the
Eskimos kill a reindeer for meat, the boys and girls get the antlers.
They set these antlers up in the snow on a hillside. They leave spaces
between the antlers. Then the boys and girls get on their sleds and
slide down the hill. They must go between the antlers, but must not
touch them. Sometimes the boys and girls have bows and arrows. They
try to hit the antlers with their arrows. This is very hard, but it is
great fun. Do you think you could do this?
The boys have boats made of long, thin bones covered with skins. These
sail very well on the water. The boys use paddles to move the boats.
A paddle is like an oar. The boys sometimes go in their boats to help
their fathers catch fish.
Eskimo children cannot read or write. They do not go to school, for
the Eskimos have no schools. They are very fond of stories, but they
cannot read them in books. So their mothers tell them stories. The
mothers cannot read, either. The stories they tell are what they
heard from their mothers. Are you not happy that you can read stories
for yourself?
Perhaps you think the Eskimo children are unhappy? Oh, no! Though
they cannot read books, they play all kinds of games. There is a funny
game they play in the house. All the children get on their knees in a
ring. Then they hold their toes with their hands and move along by
jumps. The one who goes the fastest wins.
The Eskimo boys play a game like the game of "cup and ball." They have
two pieces of bone. One is flat, with holes in it. The other is long
and sharp like a pin. Both are joined by a string about a foot long.
The flat piece is tied to one end of the string, and the pin to the
other end. The pin is held in the hand, and the flat piece is thrown
into the air. The game is to catch the flat piece upon the point of
the pin, by one of the holes.
[Illustration: Eskimo Children.]
Eskimo boys play another game with a ball and a stick made of bone. It
is something like shinny, one of the games yon play. They also play a
game with a sealskin hall about as big as a baseball. They strike the
ball with their hands and try to keep it in the air all the time. The
Eskimo boys play football very well. They think it great fun. They
never touch the ball with their hands; they only kick it.
The girls have dolls made of wood, with fur clothes. The dolls look
like the little girls themselves.
Perhaps you would like to know about the houses the Eskimos live in.
They have summer houses and winter houses. The summer house is a tent
made of skins. The winter house is made of stones and earth covered
with snow. It is not much higher than a man. They have a strange way
of getting into these houses. A long, narrow passage leads from the
door on the outside. They must crawl on their hands and knees along
this passage. Then they go through a small opening into the house.
The long passage keeps out the cold.
[Illustration: A Winter House.]
There is only one room in the house. Everything is done in this room.
They sleep and eat and cook in it. The beds are of sealskins, and are
made on a bench along the wall. There are no stoves in the house. The
Eskimos use lamps to keep themselves warm and to give them light. They
cook their food, too, with lamps. The lamps give great heat, and the
houses are quite warm.
When the men kill a bear they have a party. At the party everybody
sits around the lamp The bear is cut up and every one gets a piece.
Then the children sing and dance. The Eskimos eat a great deal of
meat. They kill seals and bears and birds for their meat. They also
eat berries and seaweed.
There are no tables in Eskimo houses. A large dish is set on the
floor. The family sit round it and eat out of it. They cut their meat
with knives made of bone. Their cups are made of sealskin.
Do you know what a seal is? It is an animal with thick fur. Sometimes
it lives on the land and sometimes in the water. The people in the
North kill it and make clothes of its skin. Its fur is very warm and
makes fine jackets. The Eskimos eat the flesh of the seal. They make
knives and other things of its bones.
[Illustration: Seals.]
Eskimo boys and girls have a funny kind of candy. It is the red skin
of a bird's foot soaked in fat. You would not care for this. But the
Eskimo children eat it and like it. The cold weather makes them like
to eat fat.