THE LAMP OF THE ESKIMO. 1029 



went to sleep. At 5 tlie whole party were aroused to find that tlie 

 hiuip smoke during the uight had covered them witli soot." Hall 

 waked with a severe headache from the "excess of carbonic acid gas 

 generated by three fire lights and seventeen persons." ' 



Not the least value of the lamp to the Eskimo is the light which it 

 aftords. Simpson remarks that the Eskimo never seem to think of fire 

 as a means of imparting warmth,- and Kane observes that their lamps 

 are used for cooking, for light, for melting snow, and for drying clothes, 

 rather than to warm the air.' Nevertheless, the lamp does afford con- 

 siderable warmth, as Simpson admits in another i^lace. Light, however, 

 is highly necessary during the long darkness of winter and the dark- 

 ness of the Eskimo dwelling. Nanseu has several times remarked that 

 the Eskimo do not sleep in the dark like other people.^ Perhaps the 

 inconvenience of rubbing out fire with the fire drill to relight the lamp 

 is one reason. Likewise the feeling of companionship, security, or 

 sociability given by light is appreciated by the Eskimo in common with 

 all other human beings. These instinctive feelings determined in no 

 small degree man's first overtures to his fire ally. 



The lamp is not the sole fire of the Eskimo, for in a very few localities 

 where fuel can be obtained fires are made in the open air or in the 

 middle of the tent for cooking in summer. The fuel used is peat or 

 guano furnished by gulls in East Greenland, or the Arctic willow, drift- 

 wood, or grass in other sections. In some places, though fuel can be 

 obtained, it is not burned. However, the open fire is only an incident, 

 and the whole^ Eskimo race depend on the large lamps or oil burners 

 made of stone which form part of the furidture of every hut.'' 



Kumlein describes a curious oven used at Cumberland Gulf. " In 

 summer especially, when on hunting excursions, they very often ' fry' 

 meat by making a little fireplace of stones and laying a flat piece of stone 

 on top. The opening to receive the fuel supply is to windward. For 

 fuel, at sueh times, they use Gassiope tetragona and Ledum palustre; these 

 shrubs make a quick and very hot fire. It would be comparatively an 

 easy task for these i)eople to gather enough Gassiope tetragona during the 

 summer to burn during the coldest weather, and not rely wholly on blub- 

 ber."^ The Eskimo hut may be likened to an inhabited oven with the 

 lamp as its internal heat. The utilization of the heat is as complete as in 

 the Samovar. The lamp is placed upon its support, above it hangs the 



1 C. F. Hall, Narrative of the Second Arctic Expeditiou, Washington, 1879, p, 135. 



-John Simpson, Discoveries in North America, p. 346. 



■■' E. K. Kane, Arctic Explorations, K, p. 202. 



' F. Nausen, The First Crossing of Greenland, I, p. 341 ; II, p. 293. 



■^■F. Nansen, fdem,U, p. 293; W. E. Parry, Second Voyage, London, 1824, p. 453 ; J. 

 Murdoch, On Some Popular Errors in Regard to the Eskimo, American Naturalist, 

 January, 1888, p. 13. 



'•T. Simpson, Arctic Papers, Roy. Geog. Soc, 1875, p. 23(>. 



''L. Kumlein, Contributions to the Natural History of Arctic America, Washing- 

 ton, 1879, Smithsonian Institution, p. 20. 



