[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic
text is surrounded by _underscores_.]
Our Little Eskimo Cousin
The Little Cousin Series
_ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration]
BY MARY HAZELTON WADE
=Our Little Japanese Cousin=
=Our Little Brown Cousin=
=Our Little Indian Cousin=
=Our Little Russian Cousin=
=Our Little African Cousin=
=Our Little Cuban Cousin=
=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
=Our Little Philippine Cousin=
=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
=Our Little Swiss Cousin=
=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
=Our Little Siamese Cousin=
=Our Little Italian Cousin=
=Our Little Irish Cousin=
=Our Little Turkish Cousin=
=Our Little German Cousin=
=Our Little Jewish Cousin=
BY ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND
=Our Little Chinese Cousin=
BY ELIZABETH ROBERTS MACDONALD
=Our Little Canadian Cousin=
[Illustration]
Each volume illustrated with six full-page plates
in tint, from drawings by L. J. Bridgman.
Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover, per volume,
60 cents.
[Illustration]
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.
[Illustration: ETU]
Our Little Eskimo Cousin
By
Mary Hazelton Wade
_Illustrated by_
L. J. Bridgman
[Illustration]
Boston
L. C. Page & Company
_MDCCCCII_
_Copyright, 1902_
By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)
_All rights reserved_
Published, June 1902
Colonial Press
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.
Preface
IT is a very wonderful thing, when we stop to think of it, that no
matter where we are placed in this great round world of ours, it seems
just right to us.
Far away in the frozen north, where the lovely aurora borealis dances
in the sky, where the long sunless winter night stretches halfway
across the year, live a people who cannot keep themselves alive without
working very hard. Yet they are happy and fun-loving. They _make_
pleasures for themselves. They are patient and joyous in the midst of
darkness and storm. They do not think of complaining at their hard lot,
or that they do not live where Nature is kinder and more generous.
We call them Eskimos. They belong to another race than ours,--a
different branch of the great human family. They are yellow and we are
white, to be sure. But we know that, no matter how far away any race of
people lives, and no matter how different these people may be from us
in looks and habits, they and we belong to the same great family. It
includes every race and every colour, for we are the children of one
Father.
What a pleasure it is, therefore, to travel from place to place and
see more of the life of others! But suppose we cannot journey with our
bodies; we need not stay at home on that account. Let us use the wings
of the mind, and without trouble or expense visit the hot lands and the
cold, the yellow children and the red. Let us know them and learn what
they can teach us.
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
I. BABY DAYS 9
II. MOTHER AND CHILD 18
III. PLAY-DAYS 28
IV. DOG TEAM AND SLEDGE 38
V. KAYAK AND HARPOON 49
VI. THE SEAL HUNT 63
VII. FEAST AND FUN 74
VIII. HARD TIMES 80
IX. AN ESKIMO CHRISTMAS 91
X. SUMMER TRAVELS 97
List of Illustrations
PAGE
ETU _Frontispiece_
"HE WHO HITS THE GREATEST NUMBER WINS THE GAME" 31
"ETU HAD BECOME QUITE SKILFUL" 41
"WHIZZ! SOUNDS THE HARPOON AS IT SPEEDS FROM ETU'S SHOULDER" 67
"ETU STOPPED MOVING AND LAY QUITE STILL" 89
"THE BLOCKS OF SNOW WERE HANDED TO THEM" 98
Our Little Eskimo Cousin
CHAPTER I.
BABY DAYS.
A PAIR of very bright black eyes peered out from the mother's hood that
winter morning. The thermometer, if there had been one, would have
shown the temperature to be seventy degrees below the freezing point.
Yet baby Etu did not seem to care. He was nestled so warmly in the
heavy furs, and felt so safe on his mother's broad back, that he
laughed and crowed in pure delight.
It was his first ride since he was born, and there was so much to look
at! At least he thought so, though great sheets of snow stretched
outward to the frozen ocean, and covered the land in every direction.
The twinkling stars gave the only light for Etu to see by, yet it was
daytime. It was that part of the twenty-four hours when the baby's
people did their work; and that must be called day in Etu's far
northern country, even though darkness covers all the land.
For Etu lives in the frozen zone, on the shores of northern Alaska,
and during the long winter of eight months the sun shows his face very
little above the horizon.
Here and there the snow looked as if it had been raised into low
mounds. Near these mounds holes could be seen in the ground, and
pathways dug out between them. There were no trees, no fences, no roads.
Where was the village, and where was the baby's home? Those holes
marked the entrances to the winter houses built by Etu's father and
his neighbours. The mounds were the coverings of the houses. Great pits
had been dug in the earth, and lined with driftwood which had floated
on to the shore. Jaws of whales made the framework of the roofs, these
being covered with sods cut out of the marshy plains in summer. Mother
Nature did the rest by protecting all with a warm close blanket of snow.
At first it makes one shudder to think of living in such homes during
the long Arctic winter. But the Eskimos are satisfied, and feel so
comfortable that they remove a great part of their clothing while they
are indoors. The houses are made so snug that the sharpest winds cannot
enter, and they cost nothing but the labour of making them.
Etu's mother allowed him to stay out only a few minutes this first
time. She soon turned toward home, and coming to her own doorway
crawled down through a long slanting tunnel in the ground, eight or
ten feet long. When she reached the end, she was obliged to stoop even
lower, for now she must pass upwards through another passage. Lifting a
trap-door, she stepped at once into the middle of her own home.
Why was there such a queer entrance? Because the wind must be kept out
at all hazards. After all, it seemed easy and natural enough to this
woman who had never known other and pleasanter hallways.
How close it seemed after the fresh cold air outdoors! There was a
strong odour of smoking oil. It was noisy, too, as other women and
children were moving around inside, for the house was shared in common
by several families who were friendly to each other, and enjoyed living
together.
Etu's mother quickly took off her outer coat of sealskin, and, lifting
her baby out of his warm nest, placed him on a platform which
stretched along one side of the room. What a round, smiling dumpling
he was! His face was broad and flat, while his little nose looked as
though it had been punched inwards. His bright eyes were quite narrow.
He wore a curious skin cap drawn tightly over the top of his head. He
must keep this on night and day for a year, at least. It would make his
forehead taper upward, and that is a mark of beauty among his people.
As soon as he was born, the top of his head was pressed between his
nurse's hands, and the cap fitted on at once so that his head might
grow in the proper shape. After that operation he was taken outdoors,
and rolled in the snow. I suppose that was to get him used to the cold
climate of his birthplace. Don't you?
Baby Etu's skin was much whiter than his mother's,--very nearly as
white, in fact, as your own little brother's. Why has he changed so
much since he has grown to be a big boy? Listen to the strange reason.
When our Eskimo cousin was born, there was a small dark spot on his
back. Day by day it grew larger; the change came very slowly, so slowly
it could scarcely be noticed. But at last the darker colour had spread
over the boy's whole body, till his skin was nearly like that of his
father and mother.
In course of time it would grow darker still, because he did not
wash himself. Please don't be shocked. It is _so_ hard to get water
in that frozen land. Snow must first be melted, and to do this heat
is required. Heating requires the burning of oil, and oil is very
precious. It is scarcely any wonder, therefore, that Etu has not been
taught to be cleanly in all ways.
The smoky air of the home during the long winter months also made
the boy's skin grow darker. Sometimes during his babyhood his mother
would wash him as a mother cat washes her kittens, but that was all
he has ever known of the delights of a bath. The mother-love made that
pleasant, perhaps, but we cannot envy him.
It was quite surprising to an Arctic explorer some years ago, when he
discovered the difference soap and warm water would make in an Eskimo's
appearance.
"Why, you are almost a white man," he exclaimed, "your friends will
think you have been changed into another being by some magical spell."
And he laughed heartily when he thought of the only magic being soap
and water.
Etu tumbled about on the sealskins which covered the platform, watching
his mother while she trimmed the wick of the lamp. What an odd-looking
lamp it was! It was made of a crescent-shaped stone hollowed out. Think
of the labour of making it! It must have taken days, and even weeks,
before the cavity was hollowed enough to hold the oil. But Etu's
people are such patient workers they do not worry over the time they
spend.
Moss was built up around the sides of the lamp; it served for the wick
which spluttered away as the oil burned and warmed the room. A lump of
seal fat, or blubber as it is called, hung over the lamp. As it melted
slowly in the heat, it dripped down into the cavity and furnished a
steady supply of oil.
There were two other lamps burning in Etu's home, for you must remember
there was a very large family living here. And these queer lamps not
only gave light and warmth to all these people, but the cooking must
also be done over them.
Etu watched the light with blinking eyes for a few moments, and then
fell fast asleep. Only think of it, he was nearly naked! There was no
covering on his tiny body except a short skirt of fur,--his arms and
legs were quite bare, yet his loving mother did not hurry to cover him
over. He must get used to cold while he was still small, so that when
he grew older he could bear exposure better.