The Eskimo lamp which serves as a light, and to some extent as a stove, is a crescent-shaped stone utensil with a shallow trough scooped out; this is a receptacle for the whale-oil, the wick being some native moss laid along the edge of the lamp and trimmed from time to time, the supply of oil being kept up by a lump of blubber suspended over the lamp. The light being indifferent, candles are welcomed as a great improvement and a marked relief to the over-taxed eyes of the men and women during the long nights of the Arctic winter.
During our stay at Point Hope we found much of interest in connection with the Eskimos living there. Their long winters give them an opportunity to keep alive their traditions in their daily meetings in the council-house, and they give an account of their early days in this wise: In the beginning the people had heads like ravens, with eyes in the upper part of their breasts. All the world at this time was wrapt in gloom, with no change of day and night. At that time there lived a powerful chieftain on top of the highest peak. In his hut were suspended two balls that were considered very precious and were therefore carefully guarded. One day, the chief being absent and the guards asleep, some children who had long admired the beautiful balls knocked them down with a stick and they rolled across the floor of the hut and down the side of the mountain. The noise awakened the guards, who hurried after them, while their extraordinary beauty attracted the attention of the people, who also rushed after them, a wild struggle ensuing for their possession; this ended in the breaking of the balls. Light sprang from one and darkness from the other; these spirits of light and darkness claimed sole dominion, but, neither yielding, a compromise was made by which they agreed to an alternate rule. The violent struggle for the mastery so disturbed the world that the anatomy of the people and the surface of the earth were both changed. Light being upon the earth, men began to catch whales in the sea and to carry the flesh and bones to their mountain-homes. One family wandering over the country recently risen from the sea came down upon Point Hope: finding vegetation springing up and whales abundant, they built a hut and made it their home. From this originated the settlement at Point Hope. Their modern history goes on in this wise: Point Hope being favorably situated for whaling and hunting the seal and walrus and for obtaining the reindeer, it naturally became a center of power and population. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, as well as can be determined, the village upon Point Hope, known by the natives as Tigara, had a population of 2,000 souls, with six council-houses. At that time the Eskimos residing upon the Noatok, or Inland river, began to encroach upon the territory of the Tigaramutes until matters came to the pass that about the beginning of this century a great land- and boat-fight took place between the Tigaramutes and the Noatokmutes near Cape Seppings, in which the Tigaramutes were defeated and forced to yield a large portion of the territory formerly controlled by them. So crushed were the Tigaramutes that they lost one-half of their population, which led to the gradual abandonment of all the out-standing villages. Since this time the population has gradually decreased, the diminution being materially aided by the contact of whites, who are principally represented here by the crews of the whaling ships, rendezvousing during the early summer.
As a rule the Arctic coast Eskimos are short in stature, the average height of ten men measured at Point Hope being 5 feet 5.8 inches, and of ten women, 5 feet 2.4 inches. The legs are short in comparison to the length of the body and are always much bowed, this being due to the manner in which they are carried in infancy upon their mother's back, the legs being brought tightly around under the mother's arms. The feet and hands of the women are generally well shapen and small.
All of the Eskimos have good teeth, but as they are subjected to severe usage they deteriorate in every way. They are used as substitutes for pincers, carpenter's vices, and fluting machines. They are used in drawing bolts, untying knots, holding the mouth-piece of a drill, shaping boot-soles, and stretching skins. When they become uneven from constant use in this way, the unevenness is corrected by a levelling down by means of a file or a whetstone, until they finally reach a level too low for mechanical purposes.
Between sixteen and twenty-two years of age the male natives have their lips pierced under each corner of the mouth for labrets.1 The incision is made and at first sharp-pointed pieces of ivory are put in; when the wound heals the hole is gradually stretched by inserting larger labrets until half an inch in diameter is reached. The poorer natives wear labrets made of coal, walrus ivory, common gravel, and glass stoppers which they obtain from ships and adapt to this use. The stopper of a Worcestershire sauce bottle is very useful for the purpose. The richer ones have agate labrets, the most valued one, however, consisting of a white porcelain-like disk 1½ inches wide, in the center of which is mounted a turquoise nut, hemispherical in shape, nearly an inch wide, fastened with a spruce gum obtained from the interior. We could not ascertain where the turquoise or porcelain-like disk was obtained. The Eskimos say they have always been in the country, and sell them only with the greatest reluctance.
1 Labrets is the name used along the coast for the lip-ornaments worn by the natives.
Tattooing is general among the women, and is apparently a custom of great antiquity. At the age of six one narrow line is drawn down the center of the chin from the lower lip downward, powdered charcoal being used as coloring matter. At twelve years the line is broadened to half an inch, and a narrow line made parallel to it on each side. But I will not detain you by giving other particulars.
On the 20th of September the Thetis left Point Hope for the south, the rugged season of the Arctic ocean having fully set in. Strong winds and gales from the northeast had compelled us to move from the northern to the southern side of Point Hope, where better protection and anchorage had been found. On the 21st of September we passed out of the Arctic ocean and through Bering Strait, reaching Ounalaska again on the 26th of September. After remaining there until the beginning of October the ship returned to Sitka, and after a prolonged stay in the waters of southeastern Alaska we finally reached the Golden gate of San Francisco, shortly after midnight on the 7th of December.
The cruise of the Thetis was remarkable in several respects, among others in that, thanks to the open season, her stanch build, and successful battling with the ice-pack, she was enabled to reach Mackenzie bay, in British North America, the first government vessel to carry the American flag in those waters. She also made the long stretch from Mackenzie bay to Herald island and Wrangel land in one season, never before done, and she had the honor of being the first vessel of any kind to follow the entire main coast line of Alaska from Port Tongass, in extreme southeastern Alaska, to Demarcation point, in the Arctic ocean.