GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



THE FIGHT FOR FOOD 



The harsh conditions of nature which force the Eskimos into 

 an unending fight for existence, quickly teach him to take hold 

 of life with a practical grip — i.e., in order to live I must first of 

 all have food ! And as he finds himself in the happy position 

 that his form of livelihood — hunting — is also his supreme 

 passion, one is justified in saying that he leads a happy life, 

 content with the portion that fate has allotted to him. He is 

 born with the qualities necessary for the winning of his liveli- 

 hood, and the skill in handling the tools, which later on makes 

 a master of him, he acquires through play while he grows up. 

 On the day when he can measure his strength with that of the 

 men, he takes a wife and enters the ranks of the hunters. 



The sledge and the kayak now become the main factors on 

 which his subsistence depends. But whereas the sledge is used 

 for all kinds of hunting during the ten months of the year, the 

 severity of the climate makes the use of the kayak possible only 

 during a very short period ; for the summer only lasts from the 

 end of July until the first days of September. 



As a rower of the kayak the Polar Eskimo cannot compete 

 with his kinsman from South Greenland. His kayak is large 

 and clumsy, and cannot stand a rough sea, for in its equipment 

 it lacks both the half -jacket and the whole-jacket which covers 

 the manhole ; it is therefore unable to set out in all kinds of 

 weather without danger of foundering. 



The ocean is, however, generally full of ice-floes which 

 calm the waves, and there is not very often a chance of rowing 

 in a high sea. 



The chief weapon of the kayak is the harpoon with its line 

 and bladder. What the craft lacks in seaworthiness is com- 

 pensated for by the astounding skill with which the Polar 

 Eskimo gets near to his prey, so that with ease and without the 

 aid of a throwing-stick he harpoons his prey at quite close range. 



The animals hunted from a kayak are walrus, narwhal, white- 

 whale, bearded-seal (Phoca barbata), and ordinary fjord-seal. 

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