It was during this voyage that the leader fell in with an Eskimo girl whose name should be rescued from oblivion. Igloolik added to many native graces and accomplishments a bright intelligence and so good an idea of hydrography and of the seacoasts in the neighbourhood of the “Fury’s” moorings, that the Captain utilised the charts and drawings she made for him in the further prosecution of his expedition, finding them always reliable and mainly correct. He afterwards called an island by her name.
Ten years later, Captain John Ross received the same sort of assistance during his second Arctic voyage, from another Eskimo woman named Teriksin. She revised and corrected for him the sketches of the surrounding coasts furnished by some of the men of the tribe.
The chart which illustrates Chapter XII is just such another as Igloolik and Teriksin might have drawn. [[71]]It was furnished from memory by a man called Pitsoolak, and is very fairly correct. The hunters and fishers of the Arctic are taught as children to memorise the contours of the coast, all landmarks, and every “blaze” of any sort a trail might afford. They have no unit of measurement, except the “sleep,” i.e., the length of a day’s march and its interval of rest. [[72]]
CHAPTER V
The Building of the Village
The Eskimo are a wandering folk, thus their dwellings must of necessity be capable of quick erection, demolition and easy transport. The tribe lives in tents in the summer, moving from one camp to another as the hunters decide; but winter quarters are more permanent, and the snow built house—the igloo—takes the place of the sealskin tupik on a more lasting foundation. The Eskimo tent is a wholly different affair from the Indian wigwam or lodge. It consists of a penthouse shaped framework of poles, semi-circular at the back, with overlapping strips or curtains of dressed skin for the entrance in front. The whole thing carries a covering of skins, firmly and beautifully stitched together. The back part of the tent, used as the family sleeping place, is covered with skins of the large ground seal—ogjuk—or of the ordinary grey seal, with the hair left on in order to ensure some darkness during the long, unbroken day of the arctic summer. The heavy hair also serves to throw off the rain in wet weather. But the front portion of the dwelling has a roofing of the inner membranes of the sealskins, pared from the entire pelt when fresh and [[73]]moist. These membranes are first stretched upon frames and dried, prior to being sewn together, when they become almost transparent, so that there is plenty of light in the rest of the tent. They are so beautifully and so neatly stitched as to be practically waterproof, like the fine fishing jackets made of dried and split seal gut for the kyakers. The finish of Eskimo clothing, fur “blankets” and tent coverings, is always neat and workmanlike and gives no ragged, tatterdemalion impression of nomad savagery such as might be derived from some Indian’s belongings.
An Eskimo Tupik.
A summer tent of sealskins stretched over a framework of poles made from driftwood and held down with boulders. The shaded parts show skins with hair for the purpose of excluding light and to throw off rain. The front part is made of membrane to give light. These tents, or tupiks, are used in summer camps, lighter ones being used for travelling.