Transcriber's Notes
1. Typographical errors and hyphenation inconsistencies were
silently corrected.
2. The text version is coded for italics and other mark-ups i.e.,
(a) Italics are indicated thus _italic_; =bold=;
(b) Smallcaps thus +CAPS+; and
(c) Images are indicated as [Illustration: (with narration...)];
* * * * *
[Illustration: The bear greeted Eiseeyou with an angry snarl.
--_Page 53_]
The White Czar
_A Story of a Polar Bear_
BY
CLARENCE HAWKES
Author of "+PEP, THE STORY OF A BRAVE DOG+"
ILLUSTRATED BY
CHARLES LIVINGSTON BULL
1923
MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
Copyright, 1923
By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY
Springfield, Massachusetts
All Rights Reserved
Bradley Quality Books
Printed in United States of America
+DEDICATED TO
THE MEMORY OF THAT DAUNTLESS AMERICAN
WHO FIRST PLANTED THE STARS AND STRIPES
AT THE NORTH POLE, REAR ADMIRAL PEARY.+
THE LASH OF THE NORTHLAND
Where the rafters of the world-roof fade beneath the Northern Light,
And the icy air smites shivering o'er the floes;
Where the bleak half-year of sun flees the black half-year of night,
And the stars eternal stab the lifeless snows:
There lies the land that's God's own land--the land of frozen sea,
The land that lures the heart that brooks no sway
And the lubber has no portion in its heritage with me;
For it's men, red-blooded men, that tread the way.
And it's, Lash your team of huskies!
And it's, Lift the sled along!
And it's, Climb the frozen hummocks where the wind is biting strong!
And it's, Fight your way through blizzard
With the cold a-grip your gizzard!
And it's, Push for the top of the world, boys!
Oh, the cliffs frown bleak and sullen on the tide of Melville Sound,
Where the glaciers topple roaring to the deep;
And the stately castled bergs in procession sail around,
And the howling wind swings wider in its sweep.
And the dogs' heads now are drooping at the telling, killing pace,
And our breath comes hard and frozen on the gale.
Lord! it's never stop or listen but it's buckle to the race!
For we're men, red-blooded men, who break the trail.
There's a white bear at the headland; there's a walrus on the floe;
And the seals lie shining sleek beneath the sun.
There's a monster blubber whale--God! you see him slosh and blow!--
And there's hunger at the trigger of your gun.
And the death-bolt, through the silence of the still, ghost-sheeted air,
Leaps forth in sudden burst of lurid flame.
Ho! there's meat for them that take it--for dog and you a share.
Ye are men, red-blooded men, who play the game.
And it's, Lash your team of huskies!
And it's, Lift the sled along!
And it's, Climb the frozen hummocks where the wind is biting strong!
And it's, Fight your way through blizzard
With the cold a-grip your gizzard!
And it's, Push for the top of the world, boys!
Andrew F. Underhill. By permission of the _Outing Magazine_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
+PREFACE+ 7
I. +THE START+ 21
II. +A WILD MUSK OX HUNT+ 29
III. +EISEEYOU MEETS THE WHITE CZAR+ 48
IV. +RETURN OF THE HUNTING PARTY+ 58
V. +I-WOK, THE MIGHTY+ 69
VI. +THE CZARINA+ 73
VII. +WHITIE+ 84
VIII. +WHITIE AND LITTLE OUMAUK+ 96
IX. +THE WHITE CZAR+ 112
X. +THE BETRAYAL+ 129
XI. +THE WRECK+ 141
XII. +TWO CAPTIVES+ 161
XIII. +THE FLIGHT NORTHWARD+ 177
XIV. +THE LAST MEETING+ 192
PREFACE
The land of the Eskimo is the most inhospitable desolate portion
of Mother Earth, inhabited by man. Well has the Eskimo need of his
cheerful watch word, or salutation, of Aksuse, which means be strong.
The wind, the cold, the ice, the snow, the sterility of the land, and
a hundred other forbidding conditions under which he lives, all call
for strength. And strength he has both of body and soul and he fights
the battle of life against the elements where any other race placed
in his environment would surely perish. In one of Harry Whitney's
hunting stories he tells of a hunting party of Eskimos who set out on
a reindeer hunt. They encountered a blizzard of great intensity and
all of the party but one grizzled hunter turned back. The white hunter
was much worried about the missing man, who happened to be one of his
particular friends, but when he mentioned his fears to the Eskimos
they only laughed. "He is all right," they said. "He take care of
himself."
The hunter found later that his fears were groundless.
When the Eskimo found himself overtaken by the blizzard, he simply dug
a good-sized house in a snow bank and the dogs also dug in and he slept
as comfortably as he would have at home in his own igloo.
The Eskimos are nominally Christian, those on the East coast of North
America having come under the influence of the Moravian church in 1771.
The Eskimos of the Alaskan peninsula probably felt the influence of the
Greek church at about the same time as some of the most beautiful bells
used upon the Greek churches in Asia were cast in Alaska, one hundred
and fifty years ago.
The heathen conception that the Eskimo had of creation was much like
that of most other primitive people. They believed that the earth was
flat and supported by four pillars. But we believed that it was flat
until about four hundred years ago. They believed that the sky was the
floor of another world where some of the good people went after death.
They also thought that there was another world under our world where
some of the spirits of the dead went. They were fatalists and believed
they were ruled by external powers and these powers were usually bad.
Much of this fatalism still clings to them.
A missionary who was working among them tried to keep them from
visiting among themselves during an epidemic. But they laughed at him,
saying that if God intended that they would catch the disease they
would get it. If he wanted them to die they would die, so what was the
use of being careful.
Eskimo Land extends from lower Labrador along the coast to Greenland,
most of that cold island being inhabited by this strange people. In
the north of Greenland is found the only pagan tribe of Eskimos. These
savage men never mingle with the civilized Eskimo and are very hardy
and skillful hunters.
Along the northern coast of British America this desolate land extends
to the Alaskan peninsula and down on the west coast to the Aleutian
Islands, the Eskimo being closely related to the Aleutian Indians in
customs and habits.
The Eskimo is a Mongol and some time came across the Behring Straits,
just as many of the species of large game did. Then he gradually worked
along the northern coast of British America until he came as far south
as Labrador.
He is of medium height averaging about five feet five or six inches.
He is rather stocky in build and often fat. His face is moon shaped
and flat; his hair, black. Sometimes he has a small mustache, but
never a beard. His eyes are small, black, and very keen. His habitual
expression is a pleasant grin, by which you will know that he is
usually good natured. His hands and feet are small, and his arms retain
the roundness of the child until he is fully grown. In fact the Eskimos
look very much like grown up children. Their mental equipment is also
that of the child.
They have no chiefs as do other half civilized races, but the tribe is
ruled over by a wise man called the Headman.
Their laws relate largely to hunting and to the possession of their
utensils, but real estate they do not possess as they are constantly on
the move following the good hunting and fishing.
The regulation Eskimo house is called an Igloo and it is usually made
by using plank and small timbers for a frame which are obtained as
drift wood and then covering the whole with sods and stone. This house
is usually built on a side hill and is approached by a tunnel, perhaps
fifty feet in length. So if you wish to enter an Eskimo house you must
get down on all fours and crawl along a dark dirty hole. When you enter
the house you pop up through the floor like a jack-in-the-box.
What light there is comes in through a window made of seal membrane.
The sleeping bench usually occupies the side of the room opposite the
entrance. This is covered with musk ox robes on which the hair is a
foot in length. These robes together with many kinds of furs and skins
insure a warm bed. This bed and the lamp are about the only furniture
in the room. The lamp is a stone bowl from six to fifteen inches in
diameter which is filled with seal oil. It is called Nan-uh. A moss
wick is laid along one of the sloping sides of the bowl. The flame is
white and, if properly tended, the light is even and fairly bright. All
the cooking that the family do is done on this lamp and this accounts
for the fact that the Eskimo eats most of his food raw.
The floor of the Eskimo house is strewn with pieces of raw meat, skins,
garments and sometimes hunting utensils, although these are usually
hung on the walls.
The families are large, consisting of eight and ten children, but the
great mortality among the children keeps their numbers down. The adults
also succumb easily to contagious diseases and die off like flies. That
is why the entire Eskimo population of both North America and Asia is
probably not more than forty thousand souls.
In the igloo the children are supreme. They are never punished and,
considering that fact, are models of behavior. The parents seem almost
to reverence the children just as the Chinese do their ancestors.
The ambition of the boy is to grow up and become a great hunter, and
the girl to make good reindeer skin boots and bird skin shirts.
The young man seeks a mate when he arrives at the age of twenty. In
the olden days before most of the Eskimos became Christian the young
man bought his wife, but now he is more civilized. If he is very
bashful, his parents will interview the parents of the girl upon whom
his heart is set. If there is acquiescence all around, they at once
set off to find a missionary or some teacher who is a notary public
to marry them. If such officials are not available, the marriage is
celebrated according to Eskimo customs, or not at all. As soon as they
are married, the man marches away to his igloo if he is lucky enough
to have one. His new wife follows obediently behind, walking in his
footsteps. He never looks back until they reach the house.
The principal accomplishment that the Eskimo wants in his wife is that
she be a good boot maker. The reindeer boots are a most important
article of apparel with this strange people and a good boot maker is a
prize. The wife also will be expected to skin most of the small animals
such as foxes, martins and wolverines and to prepare their skins for
market. In fact, this and sewing make up almost her entire life.
As soon as the baby comes, there will be a new idol in the igloo for
the Eskimos are very fond of their children. This little snow baby will
be tucked away in the mother's hood whenever she goes outside. When in
the house, the baby will occupy a small bag made of reindeer skin and
warmly lined. No white man will make more sacrifices for his family
than will the untutored Eskimo. It really takes a deal of labor on his
part to provide for the wants of a large family and a team of dogs, for
every well-to-do Eskimo supports a dog team.
It would astonish a white man to know how much this Eskimo family will
eat. An adult Eskimo will eat ten pounds of raw meat per day. So a
family of twelve with ten dogs would want about a hundred pounds of
meat and fish each day. It is quite important to feed the dogs enough
so that they will not tear down the reindeer skin tent and eat that, or
chew up the traces of their own harnesses. They often try to do this
when in harness. To cure them the driver pounds a dog's teeth until
they are so sore he cannot chew the leather. They are very cruel with
their dogs and never pet them or show them any extra kindness. The
Eskimo says that kindness spoils the dogs and makes them soft.
The Eskimo medicine man is still somewhat in evidence, but for the most
part they rely on the medicine furnished by the missionaries, or by the
government teachers. Eskimo musicians who play loudly on drums furnish
the music for the crude dances of this simple people. About the only
relaxation of the Eskimo is visiting. He is very sociable and as the
tribes intermarry, every one is every one else's cousin.
The women are beautiful garment makers. Their stitches are so even that
one would think they had been made by machinery. The garments always
fit well, although no patterns are used. Nearly all the garments are
made from skins sewed together with sinews from the reindeer or the
narwal.
The Eskimo shirt is especially beautiful, being made of about a hundred
skins of the auk, one of the most useful birds in the arctic. The coat
made of reindeer skin is called a parka and is very warm. Not even the
arctic weather can penetrate this wonderful clothing.
The Eskimo men are skillful sledge makers and also carve ivory
ornaments from the walrus and the narwal tusks. In making the sledge no
nails are used, but the crosspieces are lashed to the runners by means
of thongs. The Eskimo despises nails and screws which he says break too
soon.
The Eskimo is a hunter and a fisherman. His skill in each of these
professions will discount that of any white man who tries to hunt in
his territory. Hunting the walrus is perhaps his most exciting and
dangerous sport. He harpoons this huge beast and then the handle of the
harpoon comes out and the walrus is allowed to drag the line with a
float attached. Finally the hunter creeps up and drives more harpoons
into the wounded beast or dispatches him with a rifle. They are very
successful in lifting these great carcasses upon the ice. Two men by
means of a rude pulley will walk a walrus out of the water on to the
ice, although his weight is about a ton. This is a feat that would
severely tax the resources of a white man.
The narwal, which is also called the unicorn of the sea, likewise
affords lively sea fishing. This creature is also harpooned and
dispatched as is the walrus.
The seal is also indispensable to the Eskimo. He gets oil for his lamp,
and food and clothing from that much-hunted creature.
The Eskimo hunts the musk ox and the reindeer, as well as bears. The
musk ox is hunted by the help of the dog teams. The dogs are cut
loose when the game is finally sighted and they soon bring it to bay.
Reindeer are hunted by means of the still hunt and they often lead the
hunter many miles before he gets a shot.
All of this hunting is of the most strenuous kind. It is done on the
ice, or in the open sea, and over the roughest country imaginable. Cold
that would freeze the white man's blood in his veins is cheerfully
endured. Large and dangerous animals are encountered. The Eskimo's only
desire is that he may make a good kill for the woman and the little
ones at home in the igloo.
The Eskimo's fishing is not as strenuous as the hunting, so the women
often help about that. A painted float or colored hooks are used,
but no bait. Dried fish is the chief article of food for the dogs on
long hunting trips. The eider ducks also furnish good eating, while
thousands of eggs are cached each summer by the provident families. It
will not matter if they are half rotten when eaten.
The Eskimo's igloo is always very untidy. Vermin abound and the white
man stopping for a day in an Eskimo village is infected.
The Eskimos count to twenty on their fingers and toes, but this is the
limit of their figuring. After that they shake their heads.
One cannot become acquainted with these simple children of the snow,
for they are really but grown up children and not admire their pluck,
their skill, and their good nature. Hardship they expect as much as
the white man expects good fortune. Cold they laugh at, and they make
Mother Nature give up for their daily needs where she is most niggardly
in some particulars. But birds abound in these cold regions as they do
not in warmer climes.
So here is wishing you luck, Mr. and Mrs. Eskimo and all the little
Eskimos, be there ten or twenty. You certainly make a good fight
against hard conditions. You always grin, even when things go hard, and
by that token we know your heart is all right. You never swear, and,
although you are rather quick-tempered, you soon forgive, and that also
is commendable.
You love your children and you have many of them, both of which are
virtues the white man might emulate.
You live up to all the good you know, and that is more than the rest
of us do. If your lives are cramped and narrow and your lot hard, you
cannot help that. You make the best of your lives where fate has placed
you, and we take off our hats to you and wish you longer summers and
shorter winters, and plenty of good hunting and fishing, so there will
be joy in the igloo and happiness in your brave hearts.
The White Czar
CHAPTER I
THE START
Eskimo Town nestled under the lea of a jagged rockstrewn hillside.
This was to escape the winds as much as possible. But there is no nook
nor cranny in these northern latitudes where the biting wind will not
penetrate in certain times of the year. The Eskimo huts called igloos
were partly buried by the drifting snow since they were built partially
underground. These facts helped to keep them warm.
When the thermometer creeps down to fifty and sixty below zero and
finally refuses to register the cold, there is need of every possible
protection.
The Eskimo Village contained only about a score of igloos and perhaps
two hundred souls. This was about twenty families, for the Eskimo has
many children.
The frames of these strange houses were made of drift wood or trunks of
small trees, filled in with sod and dirt. The whole was finally covered
with a thick layer of sods. The front door of the igloo was a very
strange one, consisting of an underground tunnel perhaps fifty feet in
length. This is to keep out the wind and the cold. The dogs sleep in
the tunnel during very cold nights so it is usually rather filthy, but
that does not trouble an Eskimo. Dirt and vermin are his usual daily
companions. The chief thing with him is to keep warm.
There was much excitement on this dark cold winter morning in Eskimo
town. Men might be seen running about from igloo to igloo. Occasionally
they stopped and pointed to the north and cried, "Omingmong,"
excitedly. This is the Eskimo name for the musk ox. A musk ox hunting
party was to set out that morning and many of the men and women were
going to see them off.
In the igloo of Eiseeyou there was much excitement. But excitement
probably ran higher in other igloos, for Eiseeyou's family was a small
one and he was a young man. But he was a great hunter although still
in his twenties. When he was thirty-five, he would have a family of ten
children like the other older men, if he was lucky.
In Eiseeyou's igloo his kooner (wife) was bustling about laying out
his clothing and selecting some of the best meat for the journey. This
consisted of walrus meat and hide--the latter so tough that a white man
never could have chewed it, also reindeer meat and a couple of eider
ducks left over from the cache of last summer. There must also be a
generous supply of dried fish for the dog teams.
* * * * *
On this morning Eiseeyou dressed even more warmly than usual. His
garments were made of skins; bear, reindeer, wolverine, and seal skin
being the favorites.
First Eiseeyou donned two auk-skin shirts. These shirts were
close-fitting. Over that he put his parka made of reindeer skin and
lined with a fine warm fur. Then he pulled on some reindeer skin pants,
also lined, and lastly his famous reindeer boots. These were as soft
and pliable as though they had been oiled that very morning.
Finally Eiseeyou slipped on a heavy pair of reindeer skin gloves and he
was dressed and ready for the trip as far as warm furs could make him.
His rifle, his hunting knife, his matches, and all such things that he
might need on the hunt were carefully inspected.
Outside the igloo eight half starved Eskimo dogs were fighting and
snarling over their dried fish. They were but one generation removed
from the wolf and wolfish in looks and disposition. The Eskimo drives
them relentlessly with his short-handled whip, on which is a long
black sinister lash. This lash is often inadequate to express his
displeasure, so he sometimes gets off the sledge, called a Komatik, and
clubs a dog to death with the bone handle of his whip. Life in this
wild, fierce country matches the clime, so it is often very brutal.
Although the snow blew and the wind howled outside, yet inside the
igloo it was fairly warm. The body heat of Eiseeyou's little family
together with the heat of the nanuk or stone lamp tempered the Arctic
cold.
The young hunter ate ravenously on this cold morning. He must have much
raw meat inside him to keep out the cold. So he devoured over three
pounds before he was satisfied. This he occasionally seasoned with seal
oil, which is the Eskimos' only salt and pepper.
Little Oumauk, a boy of three, watched these preparations with eager
black eyes. Even at that age he had begun to dream of the day when he
might also be a hunter.
His sister, who was only ten months old, was sleeping peacefully in her
queer little reindeer pouch or pocket, which looked like a large watch
pocket. It was resting against the wall and also on the sleeping bench.
Finally when Eiseeyou was ready, he crawled with his rifle through the
long tunnel to the outside world. The dogs had finished their fish
and were leaping and whining, eager to be off. They had sensed the
long hard trip and were as eager as the men. Eiseeyou dragged out his
Komatik. It was long and narrow, perhaps fourteen feet long and two
and a half feet wide. The runners flared out slightly so that they
would not skid. This sledge was Eskimo-made and a wonderful piece of
work. Not a nail or a screw had been used in its construction. The
cross pieces were lashed to the runners by means of thongs. These
thongs were as tough as steel.
The Eskimo dog team is harnessed quite differently from that of the
white man. The white man's team travels tandem, each dog behind
his fellow and all strung out in a long line. The Eskimo's team is
fan-shaped, and each dog has his separate set of traces running back to
the sledge.
The dogs were so eager that Eiseeyou experienced some difficulty in
harnessing, but soon other men came running to help and the team was
made ready. His weapons and supplies were firmly lashed to the sledge.
Then two other teams came creaking up to Eiseeyou's igloo. These
sledges were also drawn by eager, yelping, straining dogs, their eyes
gleaming like wolves'. Often they showed their fangs and snapped
savagely at each other. Then the long black lash would come hissing
about their faces and they would subside.
At last everything was in readiness. Nearly half the inhabitants of
Eskimo Town were there to see them off. The three sledges led the
way to the top of the hill, the drivers restraining their teams with
difficulty that those on foot might be at the top of the hill to see
them off. Finally the crest was reached. Here the wind and the cold
smote them like a scourge from the very pole, but they did not mind.
The waiting men and women huddled together for warmth while the sledges
made the start. Then the drivers unloosed their ugly whips and cried,
"Hoo, hoo!" which means mush, and the straining teams sprang into
their traces. The Komatiks creaked and groaned, and the ghostly little
caravan passed rapidly down the hillside and over the frozen barrens.
Faster and faster they went. Eagerly the inhabitants of Eskimo Town
strained after them until finally the snow hid them from sight. Then
they went quickly back to their warm igloos to wait for the return of
the hunting party.
It was that same old story of the women, the old men, and the children,
waiting for the return of the hunter or the fisherman. The head of
the house gone upon a hard and dangerous expedition to wrest a meagre
living from the treasury of Mother Nature. Many cold dark days would
pass before they saw the three komatiks and the brave hunters again.