THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 



255 



liae of any length. It is rare to see an Eskimo carrying anything, ex- 

 cept a mother bearing around a baby in her ample hood. It is a beau- 

 tiful illustration of the play between environment and the iudustry to 

 mark the absence of all carrying devices, and at the same time the great- 

 est expenditure of invention and energy upon traction apparatus where 

 the safety of the carrier would be endangered by the very medium which 

 offers the greatest facility in the world to the draft-man. Nothing 

 but this perfect harmony could have induced the Eskimo to expend so 

 much time and energy. Parry, in his second voyage, gives a figure 

 (plate opp. p. 274) of a man carrying a kyak by placing his head in the 

 manhole and resting the gunwale on his shoulders. This is indeed the 

 first step to the portages in the biren-bark country farther south. 



In the study of the human burden-animal we must not forget that 

 material had to be moved in very early times vertically as well as hori- 

 zontally. For instance, a great walrus is killed out at sea or near the 

 shore, and the carcass must be lifted out of the water. It has dawned 

 on the mind of the Alaskan Eskimo that by cutting slits in the hide of 

 the animal and placing paddles or other wooden bars between the rocks 

 above, a very respectable tackle may be improvised with the aid of the 

 ever present rawhide line (Fig. 1). Friction is overcome by means of 



Fig. 1. 



The Primitive Pulley. Eskimo landing a walrus by means of a rawhide line (after a 



drawing by henry w. elliott). 



abundant grease, and five or six sturdy fellows, by dint of surging and 

 pulling, succeed in landing the monster, weighing many times as much 



