[Contents]CHAPTER XCHAPTER XOUR ESKIMO ARTISTKarnah is an Eskimo settlement on Whale Sound north of Thule and just inside Northumberland Island where we were wrecked. The last time we were not able to get in on account of ice. We headed for there now, to get hunters, the Whale Sound territory being fine for walrus and narwhal. Also some white whales are caught just to the north.When we were about three miles from Karnah a kayak came alongside. A man climbed out who grinned from ear to ear when he saw Rasmussen. He proved to be the missionary at Karnah, named Olsen, an old friend of Rasmussen’s. Seeing the masts he had come[110]out to meet us. We were, of course, the only vessel of the year. He showed us the way in to Karnah, where there was plenty of good water for the vessel.By the time the anchor was down there were a dozen or more men on board. Soon Rasmussen and Dad went ashore and arranged for hunters to go out after narwhal. Very soon after we got there great processions of the narwhal began to move up and down the sound in front of the village. Several times we saw a kayaker practically on top of one, ready to throw the harpoon, but something happened and he didn’t get it. Another man came in, who had got a harpoon into a narwhal, and told us his line had broken.A narwhal seems to jump just about the same as a porpoise, only he runs larger. He is very pretty, with a mottled skin like castile soap with blotches of white and lead color. The male has a big tusk sticking out of his[111]head, on the left side and straight out in front. It is ivory, with a twisting spiral surface. The biggest tusk I’ve seen is about ten feet long. They have been called “Unicorns of the Sea.” The biggest narwhal we got was fifteen feet long, and I expect they run up to twenty feet.We spent most of the night at Karnah, visiting and getting narwhal skulls, while the hunters were out. It was decided that Rasmussen would take Bob Peary and the big dory with the Johnson engine and go up the fjord to try and get a couple of narwhal.Later I learned that just after Dad had turned in at three-thirty two hunters got their narwhal near by. In the morning when I came on deck there was a fine big narwhal with a tusk. He was fifteen feet long, not counting the tusk, which was about seven or eight feet long. Later a small female was brought in, about nine feet long.All day Fred and Harry worked on these[112]narwhal. Because the narwhal were so heavy, to get them on board we had to use the two throat halyards. Fred took plaster casts of the heads and tails and fins. Photos were taken from all angles, and measurements and strips of skin were taken, so that a whole narwhal model can be constructed at the Museum. After this work was done we started in to clean the meat off the bones. Most of us wore rubber boots so as not to mind walking in the blood, but the Eskimos didn’t mind at all. They, of course, get the meat for themselves. While we would flounder around and have to cut two or three times the Eskimos would go ahead very quickly and skillfully, as they have done this sort of thing so many times. The skeletons were completely stripped in a few hours.Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on the Morrissey in Whale SoundKakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on theMorrisseyin Whale SoundFrom Karnah we took with us six hunters with their kayaks to help us get walrus. Four of them used to be with Peary and their names are Etukashuk, Pooadloona, Kudluktoo[113]and Kesingwah. The last named was one of the Eskimos who came back with Captain Bob from 87 degrees 47 minutes north, only a few miles from the North Pole when he was with Peary in 1909, who went on to the Pole itself.They are all fine looking men and although they speak very little English they catch on to things very quickly and are awfully nice people to be with.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.There are two fine boys. One is Pooadloona’s son, Matak. The other is Nils, who is sixteen. He has very light hair, about the color of mine, and blue eyes. He comes from South Greenland, and his father, I guess, is a Dane. He is awfully good in a kayak and built solid all around. While three years older than I am he doesn’t come quite to my shoulder. Of course all these people are very small. Very few of the men, I think, are over five feet five inches, but they are built like oxes usually with short legs and[114]thick bodies and a little fat although hard. This boy Nils has killed seal and narwhal all by himself.Also we took on board a nice Eskimo called Kakutia, which means something like “He of the Quiet Voice.” He is a fine artist and loves to make drawings of the weapons they use, of the animals and things like that.We gave him paper and pencils and during two days he worked along and made a fine lot of drawings. Some of them will be used as decorations in the book that will be made from this. It’s great fun to think that my little book about Greenland is to be illustrated, partly, by a real Eskimo, and that the pictures themselves actually were made in the cabin of theMorrissey, here with me and Dad, right in Whale Sound in latitude seventy-eight north.Later on I found out that Kakutia is the son of Panikpah, whom Captain Bob knows very well. He was one of the Peary men and[115]was an artist too. A number of his sketches are used in different Peary books. It’s interesting to see this being able to draw inherited by the son from the father.We are giving Kakutia a big roll of paper, some pads, pencils and a fine lot of lovely crayons, most of them Crayola given me by Grandpa Bub. He is delighted with all this and I expect will have a lot of fun this winter drawing and coloring pictures. And of course we gave him also useful things, for he has been fine to me. I hope later, by Rasmussen or in some way, to send him copies of the book, for Dad says his name is to appear on the title-page as the one who made the decorations.[116]
[Contents]CHAPTER XCHAPTER XOUR ESKIMO ARTISTKarnah is an Eskimo settlement on Whale Sound north of Thule and just inside Northumberland Island where we were wrecked. The last time we were not able to get in on account of ice. We headed for there now, to get hunters, the Whale Sound territory being fine for walrus and narwhal. Also some white whales are caught just to the north.When we were about three miles from Karnah a kayak came alongside. A man climbed out who grinned from ear to ear when he saw Rasmussen. He proved to be the missionary at Karnah, named Olsen, an old friend of Rasmussen’s. Seeing the masts he had come[110]out to meet us. We were, of course, the only vessel of the year. He showed us the way in to Karnah, where there was plenty of good water for the vessel.By the time the anchor was down there were a dozen or more men on board. Soon Rasmussen and Dad went ashore and arranged for hunters to go out after narwhal. Very soon after we got there great processions of the narwhal began to move up and down the sound in front of the village. Several times we saw a kayaker practically on top of one, ready to throw the harpoon, but something happened and he didn’t get it. Another man came in, who had got a harpoon into a narwhal, and told us his line had broken.A narwhal seems to jump just about the same as a porpoise, only he runs larger. He is very pretty, with a mottled skin like castile soap with blotches of white and lead color. The male has a big tusk sticking out of his[111]head, on the left side and straight out in front. It is ivory, with a twisting spiral surface. The biggest tusk I’ve seen is about ten feet long. They have been called “Unicorns of the Sea.” The biggest narwhal we got was fifteen feet long, and I expect they run up to twenty feet.We spent most of the night at Karnah, visiting and getting narwhal skulls, while the hunters were out. It was decided that Rasmussen would take Bob Peary and the big dory with the Johnson engine and go up the fjord to try and get a couple of narwhal.Later I learned that just after Dad had turned in at three-thirty two hunters got their narwhal near by. In the morning when I came on deck there was a fine big narwhal with a tusk. He was fifteen feet long, not counting the tusk, which was about seven or eight feet long. Later a small female was brought in, about nine feet long.All day Fred and Harry worked on these[112]narwhal. Because the narwhal were so heavy, to get them on board we had to use the two throat halyards. Fred took plaster casts of the heads and tails and fins. Photos were taken from all angles, and measurements and strips of skin were taken, so that a whole narwhal model can be constructed at the Museum. After this work was done we started in to clean the meat off the bones. Most of us wore rubber boots so as not to mind walking in the blood, but the Eskimos didn’t mind at all. They, of course, get the meat for themselves. While we would flounder around and have to cut two or three times the Eskimos would go ahead very quickly and skillfully, as they have done this sort of thing so many times. The skeletons were completely stripped in a few hours.Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on the Morrissey in Whale SoundKakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on theMorrisseyin Whale SoundFrom Karnah we took with us six hunters with their kayaks to help us get walrus. Four of them used to be with Peary and their names are Etukashuk, Pooadloona, Kudluktoo[113]and Kesingwah. The last named was one of the Eskimos who came back with Captain Bob from 87 degrees 47 minutes north, only a few miles from the North Pole when he was with Peary in 1909, who went on to the Pole itself.They are all fine looking men and although they speak very little English they catch on to things very quickly and are awfully nice people to be with.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.There are two fine boys. One is Pooadloona’s son, Matak. The other is Nils, who is sixteen. He has very light hair, about the color of mine, and blue eyes. He comes from South Greenland, and his father, I guess, is a Dane. He is awfully good in a kayak and built solid all around. While three years older than I am he doesn’t come quite to my shoulder. Of course all these people are very small. Very few of the men, I think, are over five feet five inches, but they are built like oxes usually with short legs and[114]thick bodies and a little fat although hard. This boy Nils has killed seal and narwhal all by himself.Also we took on board a nice Eskimo called Kakutia, which means something like “He of the Quiet Voice.” He is a fine artist and loves to make drawings of the weapons they use, of the animals and things like that.We gave him paper and pencils and during two days he worked along and made a fine lot of drawings. Some of them will be used as decorations in the book that will be made from this. It’s great fun to think that my little book about Greenland is to be illustrated, partly, by a real Eskimo, and that the pictures themselves actually were made in the cabin of theMorrissey, here with me and Dad, right in Whale Sound in latitude seventy-eight north.Later on I found out that Kakutia is the son of Panikpah, whom Captain Bob knows very well. He was one of the Peary men and[115]was an artist too. A number of his sketches are used in different Peary books. It’s interesting to see this being able to draw inherited by the son from the father.We are giving Kakutia a big roll of paper, some pads, pencils and a fine lot of lovely crayons, most of them Crayola given me by Grandpa Bub. He is delighted with all this and I expect will have a lot of fun this winter drawing and coloring pictures. And of course we gave him also useful things, for he has been fine to me. I hope later, by Rasmussen or in some way, to send him copies of the book, for Dad says his name is to appear on the title-page as the one who made the decorations.[116]
CHAPTER XCHAPTER XOUR ESKIMO ARTIST
CHAPTER X
Karnah is an Eskimo settlement on Whale Sound north of Thule and just inside Northumberland Island where we were wrecked. The last time we were not able to get in on account of ice. We headed for there now, to get hunters, the Whale Sound territory being fine for walrus and narwhal. Also some white whales are caught just to the north.When we were about three miles from Karnah a kayak came alongside. A man climbed out who grinned from ear to ear when he saw Rasmussen. He proved to be the missionary at Karnah, named Olsen, an old friend of Rasmussen’s. Seeing the masts he had come[110]out to meet us. We were, of course, the only vessel of the year. He showed us the way in to Karnah, where there was plenty of good water for the vessel.By the time the anchor was down there were a dozen or more men on board. Soon Rasmussen and Dad went ashore and arranged for hunters to go out after narwhal. Very soon after we got there great processions of the narwhal began to move up and down the sound in front of the village. Several times we saw a kayaker practically on top of one, ready to throw the harpoon, but something happened and he didn’t get it. Another man came in, who had got a harpoon into a narwhal, and told us his line had broken.A narwhal seems to jump just about the same as a porpoise, only he runs larger. He is very pretty, with a mottled skin like castile soap with blotches of white and lead color. The male has a big tusk sticking out of his[111]head, on the left side and straight out in front. It is ivory, with a twisting spiral surface. The biggest tusk I’ve seen is about ten feet long. They have been called “Unicorns of the Sea.” The biggest narwhal we got was fifteen feet long, and I expect they run up to twenty feet.We spent most of the night at Karnah, visiting and getting narwhal skulls, while the hunters were out. It was decided that Rasmussen would take Bob Peary and the big dory with the Johnson engine and go up the fjord to try and get a couple of narwhal.Later I learned that just after Dad had turned in at three-thirty two hunters got their narwhal near by. In the morning when I came on deck there was a fine big narwhal with a tusk. He was fifteen feet long, not counting the tusk, which was about seven or eight feet long. Later a small female was brought in, about nine feet long.All day Fred and Harry worked on these[112]narwhal. Because the narwhal were so heavy, to get them on board we had to use the two throat halyards. Fred took plaster casts of the heads and tails and fins. Photos were taken from all angles, and measurements and strips of skin were taken, so that a whole narwhal model can be constructed at the Museum. After this work was done we started in to clean the meat off the bones. Most of us wore rubber boots so as not to mind walking in the blood, but the Eskimos didn’t mind at all. They, of course, get the meat for themselves. While we would flounder around and have to cut two or three times the Eskimos would go ahead very quickly and skillfully, as they have done this sort of thing so many times. The skeletons were completely stripped in a few hours.Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on the Morrissey in Whale SoundKakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on theMorrisseyin Whale SoundFrom Karnah we took with us six hunters with their kayaks to help us get walrus. Four of them used to be with Peary and their names are Etukashuk, Pooadloona, Kudluktoo[113]and Kesingwah. The last named was one of the Eskimos who came back with Captain Bob from 87 degrees 47 minutes north, only a few miles from the North Pole when he was with Peary in 1909, who went on to the Pole itself.They are all fine looking men and although they speak very little English they catch on to things very quickly and are awfully nice people to be with.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.There are two fine boys. One is Pooadloona’s son, Matak. The other is Nils, who is sixteen. He has very light hair, about the color of mine, and blue eyes. He comes from South Greenland, and his father, I guess, is a Dane. He is awfully good in a kayak and built solid all around. While three years older than I am he doesn’t come quite to my shoulder. Of course all these people are very small. Very few of the men, I think, are over five feet five inches, but they are built like oxes usually with short legs and[114]thick bodies and a little fat although hard. This boy Nils has killed seal and narwhal all by himself.Also we took on board a nice Eskimo called Kakutia, which means something like “He of the Quiet Voice.” He is a fine artist and loves to make drawings of the weapons they use, of the animals and things like that.We gave him paper and pencils and during two days he worked along and made a fine lot of drawings. Some of them will be used as decorations in the book that will be made from this. It’s great fun to think that my little book about Greenland is to be illustrated, partly, by a real Eskimo, and that the pictures themselves actually were made in the cabin of theMorrissey, here with me and Dad, right in Whale Sound in latitude seventy-eight north.Later on I found out that Kakutia is the son of Panikpah, whom Captain Bob knows very well. He was one of the Peary men and[115]was an artist too. A number of his sketches are used in different Peary books. It’s interesting to see this being able to draw inherited by the son from the father.We are giving Kakutia a big roll of paper, some pads, pencils and a fine lot of lovely crayons, most of them Crayola given me by Grandpa Bub. He is delighted with all this and I expect will have a lot of fun this winter drawing and coloring pictures. And of course we gave him also useful things, for he has been fine to me. I hope later, by Rasmussen or in some way, to send him copies of the book, for Dad says his name is to appear on the title-page as the one who made the decorations.[116]
Karnah is an Eskimo settlement on Whale Sound north of Thule and just inside Northumberland Island where we were wrecked. The last time we were not able to get in on account of ice. We headed for there now, to get hunters, the Whale Sound territory being fine for walrus and narwhal. Also some white whales are caught just to the north.
When we were about three miles from Karnah a kayak came alongside. A man climbed out who grinned from ear to ear when he saw Rasmussen. He proved to be the missionary at Karnah, named Olsen, an old friend of Rasmussen’s. Seeing the masts he had come[110]out to meet us. We were, of course, the only vessel of the year. He showed us the way in to Karnah, where there was plenty of good water for the vessel.
By the time the anchor was down there were a dozen or more men on board. Soon Rasmussen and Dad went ashore and arranged for hunters to go out after narwhal. Very soon after we got there great processions of the narwhal began to move up and down the sound in front of the village. Several times we saw a kayaker practically on top of one, ready to throw the harpoon, but something happened and he didn’t get it. Another man came in, who had got a harpoon into a narwhal, and told us his line had broken.
A narwhal seems to jump just about the same as a porpoise, only he runs larger. He is very pretty, with a mottled skin like castile soap with blotches of white and lead color. The male has a big tusk sticking out of his[111]head, on the left side and straight out in front. It is ivory, with a twisting spiral surface. The biggest tusk I’ve seen is about ten feet long. They have been called “Unicorns of the Sea.” The biggest narwhal we got was fifteen feet long, and I expect they run up to twenty feet.
We spent most of the night at Karnah, visiting and getting narwhal skulls, while the hunters were out. It was decided that Rasmussen would take Bob Peary and the big dory with the Johnson engine and go up the fjord to try and get a couple of narwhal.
Later I learned that just after Dad had turned in at three-thirty two hunters got their narwhal near by. In the morning when I came on deck there was a fine big narwhal with a tusk. He was fifteen feet long, not counting the tusk, which was about seven or eight feet long. Later a small female was brought in, about nine feet long.
All day Fred and Harry worked on these[112]narwhal. Because the narwhal were so heavy, to get them on board we had to use the two throat halyards. Fred took plaster casts of the heads and tails and fins. Photos were taken from all angles, and measurements and strips of skin were taken, so that a whole narwhal model can be constructed at the Museum. After this work was done we started in to clean the meat off the bones. Most of us wore rubber boots so as not to mind walking in the blood, but the Eskimos didn’t mind at all. They, of course, get the meat for themselves. While we would flounder around and have to cut two or three times the Eskimos would go ahead very quickly and skillfully, as they have done this sort of thing so many times. The skeletons were completely stripped in a few hours.
Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on the Morrissey in Whale SoundKakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on theMorrisseyin Whale Sound
Kakutia of Karnah, the Eskimo Artist who Made the Sketches Used in this Book while on theMorrisseyin Whale Sound
From Karnah we took with us six hunters with their kayaks to help us get walrus. Four of them used to be with Peary and their names are Etukashuk, Pooadloona, Kudluktoo[113]and Kesingwah. The last named was one of the Eskimos who came back with Captain Bob from 87 degrees 47 minutes north, only a few miles from the North Pole when he was with Peary in 1909, who went on to the Pole itself.
They are all fine looking men and although they speak very little English they catch on to things very quickly and are awfully nice people to be with.
Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.
Two Blond Eskimos! David and Nils.
There are two fine boys. One is Pooadloona’s son, Matak. The other is Nils, who is sixteen. He has very light hair, about the color of mine, and blue eyes. He comes from South Greenland, and his father, I guess, is a Dane. He is awfully good in a kayak and built solid all around. While three years older than I am he doesn’t come quite to my shoulder. Of course all these people are very small. Very few of the men, I think, are over five feet five inches, but they are built like oxes usually with short legs and[114]thick bodies and a little fat although hard. This boy Nils has killed seal and narwhal all by himself.
Also we took on board a nice Eskimo called Kakutia, which means something like “He of the Quiet Voice.” He is a fine artist and loves to make drawings of the weapons they use, of the animals and things like that.
We gave him paper and pencils and during two days he worked along and made a fine lot of drawings. Some of them will be used as decorations in the book that will be made from this. It’s great fun to think that my little book about Greenland is to be illustrated, partly, by a real Eskimo, and that the pictures themselves actually were made in the cabin of theMorrissey, here with me and Dad, right in Whale Sound in latitude seventy-eight north.
Later on I found out that Kakutia is the son of Panikpah, whom Captain Bob knows very well. He was one of the Peary men and[115]was an artist too. A number of his sketches are used in different Peary books. It’s interesting to see this being able to draw inherited by the son from the father.
We are giving Kakutia a big roll of paper, some pads, pencils and a fine lot of lovely crayons, most of them Crayola given me by Grandpa Bub. He is delighted with all this and I expect will have a lot of fun this winter drawing and coloring pictures. And of course we gave him also useful things, for he has been fine to me. I hope later, by Rasmussen or in some way, to send him copies of the book, for Dad says his name is to appear on the title-page as the one who made the decorations.
[116]