392 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



struck us in the boat upon the open seas, they were 

 by no means cowards. They are as brave and fear- 

 less as any people in the world. Their fear in this 

 instance was born of helplessness, not of cowardice. 

 They have not been trained in the handling of sail- 

 boats, and as novices know nothing of the manage- 

 ment of boats under conditions such as were ex- 

 perienced by us on this occasion. They had never 

 been in just that predicament before and they did 

 not know of their own knowledge what to do under 

 the circumstances. This utter lack of knowledge was 

 the cause of the panic which paralyzed them so that 

 they were unable to act in response to my commands. 

 For Eskimos, like all wilderness-dwellers, are accus- 

 tomed to act upon personal initiative and not under 

 the direction of others. It is a psychological axiom 

 that man will become so accustomed to dangers with 

 which his daily life brings him in constant contact 

 that he will not recognize them as dangers at all. 

 While this is true, panic will strike him when he finds 

 himself suddenly in positions infinitely less danger- 

 ous, but with which he is wholly unfamiliar and which 

 he does not know instinctively how to combat. Thus 

 Eskimos will cross flimsy ice that a white man would 

 not dare venture upon; they will take chances in the 

 hunt that to the uninitiated would seem suicidal, and 

 they will risk their life in a thousand other ways 

 where their training and knowledge gives them con- 

 fidence that in emergency they will act to the best 

 advantage; but set one down suddenly, unattended, 

 in a big city, and he would be paralyzed with fear. 



