The only Eskimo family in Etah.
One may think them unintelligent and mentally deficient, but they have keen intellects and they use some very clever devices, in one instance utilizing advanced engineering principles. In the building of their circular rock igloos they employ the cantilever principle—an engineering method used in some of our greatest bridges. One would not expect an Eskimo to know a principle which our greatest engineers employ.
Altogether these children of the ice are a group of people from whom we may learn much. Though they are one of the world’s most primitive peoples, they are in some respects the peers of those who are generally considered to be the most highly civilized.
CHAPTER XI
MY FARTHEST NORTH
WHILE we were in Etah, Dr. Koelz, the expedition’s naturalist, decided that he would like to travel a few miles up the Greenland shore to collect specimens. As he needed someone to help him row the dory and run the outboard motor which he intended to use, I volunteered to go with him. This arrangement being approved by the Commander, we cast off from the ship at about ten o’clock on the night of August 15th. With us journeyed two Eskimos, Panikpa and Kanga, who wished to reach the Eskimo settlement of Anoritok which is just beyond Refuge Harbor, the Commander’s headquarters in 1923-24.
We made our way down Etah Fiord in the calm of the Arctic night, with scarcely a breath of wind ruffling the surface of the water. Soon we were off Sunrise Point where Hayes and his men used to walk from their ship to observe the sunrise after the long, five-month, winter night.
We now emerged from the shelter of the cliffs. As we did so we were hit by a savage squall. It was too late to retreat into the fiord as turning about was a maneuver fraught with danger. All we could do was to plug ahead off the lee shore under the shelter of an iceberg and then square away for the north. This I did and in a few moments we were clear of the berg and then away we went before wind and sea. A very steep, choppy sea, probably fourteen or fifteen feet high, was running in from the southward. Under ordinary conditions a sea of that height would not be cause for any great concern, but these waves had nearly vertical faces and the crests were breaking continually. The only thing to do was to keep the dory running off before the sea as she would be capsized or swamped if she turned broadside on for even the briefest interval. I held the tiller stick in both hands and kept our little vessel’s head pointing straight to leeward in spite of incessant attempts on the part of the waves to “broach her to.”
The Eskimos were quite frightened when they saw those big seas. Old Panikpa kept waving for us to go closer to the shore. But even one glance at that unbroken line of jagged rocks and leaping surf convinced both Koelz and myself that it would be suicidal to attempt a landing on that stretch of shore-line.
All went well for about ten minutes. Then as I glanced aft over my shoulder I saw a tremendous comber seemingly hang directly over my head. I thought to myself that if we ever came out of that one with the boat still floating we would be lucky. The water mounted higher and higher on the stern as the dory’s tail cocked skyward until it was just level with the top of the coaming. Then with a swish the crest of the wave came crashing down over the counter. The engine was drenched and immediately stopped. I was soaked through and through and there were several inches of water in the boat. We started to swing broadside on, in the trough of the sea. One more wave would have finished us for good, and with a dead engine this was all too probable, in fact inevitable if the boat should swing enough to present her side to the sea. I yelled to Koelz to grab the oars and keep her off side before it until I got the engine going. Koelz with great presence of mind fitted the thole pins and soon had the oars shipped. In a few seconds we were again slowly moving along on our course, owing to skillful handling by the Doctor. In a few moments the engine was in running order and we were bowling along as merrily as before.