LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE ESKIMOS 



of his tribe, alone and unarmed. By this means communica- 

 tion was at last established. 



The great meeting between the Polar Eskimos and the 

 South-Greenlander took place by a broad fissure in the ice, so 

 that they stood right opposite each other, with a natural 

 obstacle between them for safety's sake. 



Sachaeus explained, not without trouble, that a peaceful 

 people had come to them, and the Eskimos were just on the 

 point of consenting to follow him on board, when Ross, who of 

 course was eager to meet these strange men, suddenly appeared 

 on the ice in his officer's full dress uniform, as given in the 

 illustration of this scene in the Record of the Expedition. 

 This phantastic apparition of a man nearly frightened the 

 Eskimos away again ; but as the friendship with Sachosus had 

 already begun, and as he explained to the marvelling natives 

 that this peculiar dress was merely an outward sign of the fact 

 that the big man was lord of all white peoples, they let them- 

 selves be calmed down and followed him on board. 



It is highly praiseworthy of the Eskimos that they, in spite 

 of all the inexplicable things they saw, allowed themselves to 

 be coaxed on board and, in the Chief's cabin with Sachseus as 

 interpreter, to give wise and dignified answers to the many 

 questions that were put to them. Imagine the impression 

 they must have received when, presumably to amuse them, a 

 grunting Scotch pig was let loose on deck — these men who 

 were only used to wild animals ! Or when they were treated 

 to a conjurer's performance, and allowed to look at themselves 

 in a concave mirror ! 



It is interesting to note that Ross sums up his impressions 

 of them by stating that they all speak lovingly of each other 

 and their families, and on the whole seem to live happily, with- 

 out knowledge of disease and war. 



Already as a child I had in Greenland heard much about 

 the Polar Eskimos, but it was mostly vague tales of savage 

 cannibals, terrible hunters who lived with the North Wind 

 himself, right at the "end of the world," where it was always 

 night and where no summer melted the ice of the seas. 



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