CHAPTER I 



FROM THE LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE 

 ESKIMOS 



THE FIRST DISCOVERY 



NORTH of everyone on our earth live the Polar Eskimos, 

 whose simple and ingenious ways of hunting have made 

 of their harsh and barren country one of those oases in the 

 world where live genuinely happy people. 



The first historical information we possess about their 

 country dates from the year 1616, when Baffin discovered it. 

 He, however, did not see any people, and it was only in 1818 

 that John Ross came into touch with Eskimo people of whom 

 one had never heard before. 



A memory still remains amongst the tribe of a woman 

 named Maage (Gull), who prophesied that a big boat with tall 

 poles would come into view from the ocean. And sure 

 enough, one summer's day, just as the winter-ice broke and 

 steep Cape York lay separated from the sea merely by a narrow 

 strip of ice, the ship arrived and lay to by the edge of the ice. 

 It was a marvel of ingenuity — a whole island of wood which 

 moved along the sea on wings, and in its depths had many 

 houses and rooms full of noisy people. Little boats hung 

 along the rail, and these, filled with men, were lowered on the 

 water, and as they surrounded the ship it looked as if the monster 

 gave birth to living young. 



This visit at first caused great anxiety and fear among the 

 Eskimos, but later much joy. They did not believe that the 

 white men were real human beings, but looked upon them as 

 spirits of the air who had come down to the Inuits. The ship 

 remained only for a short time, then turned towards the sea 

 A 1 



