. Alaska, its history and resources, gold fields, routes and scenery . d in the ice, had occasionto pass within sight of a little island in North BeringSea, about forty miles from the coast, known as KingsIsland. The man on the lookout noticed a boat loadedwith Eskimos put off from the island and paddle towardthe vessel. As soon as it came alongside, the occupantsmade known to the captain that they were in a starvingcondition. An officer was at once sent ashore, and soonreturning he reported that the people were so reducedfor food that they had been living for some weeks ontheir Eskimo dogs. T
. Alaska, its history and resources, gold fields, routes and scenery . d in the ice, had occasionto pass within sight of a little island in North BeringSea, about forty miles from the coast, known as KingsIsland. The man on the lookout noticed a boat loadedwith Eskimos put off from the island and paddle towardthe vessel. As soon as it came alongside, the occupantsmade known to the captain that they were in a starvingcondition. An officer was at once sent ashore, and soonreturning he reported that the people were so reducedfor food that they had been living for some weeks ontheir Eskimo dogs. There are about three hundredEskimos on this island, and they live in huts dug intothe side of a mountain, gaining an entrance and passingfrom one to another by means of pole ladders. Thoughdifficult of access, the location of the huts affords protec-tion from the severe winds and cold of the long eight months in the year the ice absolutely preventsthe natives from having any communication with thoseon shore, and they only come in contact with them when 84. ESKIMO VILLAGE ON KINGS ISLAND, NORTH BERING SEA. REINDEER 85 they venture across the water in their skin boats duringthe brief summer. A few years ago the walrus existed in large numbersthroughout all this region. The whalers on their waynorth have hunted them so closely that they have prac-tically exterminated them. The walrus travel in herds,hauling out on the ice, sleeping and basking in the sun^and in this condition become an easy prey to the whiteman with his breech-loading rifle. They are hunted bythe whalers simply for their ivory tusks, a pair of themweighing from two to twenty pounds, and having avalue of only about fifty cents per pound. The nativesuse the ivory of the walrus in the manufacture of manyof their implements of the hunt and chase, the skin fortents and coverings for their boats and canoes, and eatthe flesh and oil, which they consider a delicacy. Five or six years ago it was not an uncommon
Size: 1440px × 1735px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyorkputnam
