.he r
following is an article by Dr. Neu
man which is reprinted by permission
fiom tli. monthly magazine Eskimo
published by the bureau of education:
The necessity of warmth and light
without question was one of the
greatest primitive needs of the Stone
Age of the Eskimo. Without tht
lamp there was no possible chance to
combat the rigor and darkness of the
Arctic winter. What wonder that
upon this household utensil, in fact
its most precious possession .all do
mestic and social life was focused!
And, yet the necessity of light and
heat was really of secondary import
ance. Without the lamp the drinking
water would have been impossible to
obtain from ice or snow. Besides
th?t it was indispensable for drying
the clothing, (an Eskimo would freeze
in wet appanl.) This was done by
hang.ng the clothes on a frame built
over it. It was also very useful in
making implements such as snow
shoes, sleds and many others. The
making of those implements was
greatly aided by dipping the wood in
water or urine and slowly steaming it
over the lamp until the material be
came flexible. The bone, ivory and
deer horn weie also similarly treated.
A lamp burning brightly was the
sign of prosperity. On the othci
hand, as the lamp consumed a good
deal of fat, and fat was an important
aiticle of diet among the natives, the
dim, flickering light was an indication
of starvation and hunger.
It is not surprising that the lamp
figured largely in ail religious and
festive gather.ngs. Oral history stil!
preserves a good many "■’mej of tue
ancient native women who won fame
for their skill in procuring a maxi
mum amount of light and heat from
a minimum amount of oil.
The lamp was always the personal
property of the woman. In a good
many villages the marriage was sanc
tified by a young girl moving her
lamp to her future husbands igloo.
Until but a very few years ago the
removal of the lamp from an igloo by
a woman, constituted and was re
spected as a divorce by villagers, hus- i
band, relatives and chiefs. It was
woman's woik to obtain oil from seal j
and walrus fat, although a very in- !
fetior substitute was some times oh- j
tained from deer or bear fat. This
fat usually rendered by chewing out
the oil in a small wooden vessel.
The lamp wick was constructed
from finely powdered moss. The
moss was placed in a long ridge in
the lower part of the lamp and a piece
of bone shaped like a long narrow
speon was used for trimming it.
A lamp of a good house-wife, ac
cording to the • Eskimo idea, never
3moked.
In size the lamps varied from very
small travelling lamps, measuring
from four to five Inches in diameter,
to very large ones. I have one in my
collection which is forty eight inches
long and twelve and one-half Inches
wide. The size of the lamp varied
with the locality. Where seal was
plentiful and easy to obtain the lamp3
as a rule were very large. The great
er number are flat and semi-oval and
have a small ridge in the upper third
for a reserve supply of oil. They vary
in shape, according to the great pri
mitive Individual Ingenuity of the na
tive.
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19th, Chapter
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These lamps were made from soap
stone, pottery or wood. Soapstone
was preferred, but wa3 not always
used. It was found in only a few
localities in Alaska and sometimes it
took years to make the Journey to
the quarries to obtain it. At one time
soapstone was a medium of exchange
between the different tribes.
It was customary to place the lamp
in burial places ever the body of its
owner.
The very old lamps show signs of
■done hammers and jade chissels. The
•loupstone i3 well adapted for this
purpose as it is easily worked and it
has the property of absorbing oil in
ts porous substance. Besides it is
he only material which in a lamp
never becomes overheated, and at tho
iame time it retains the heat long r
tun any other material known to the
Eskimo. For special occasions lamps
made from whalebone were U3id by
Eskimo doctors In connection with
.heir ceremonies in healing the sick.
These lamps were always destroyed
at either the recovery or death of the
pat'ent. The soot collected from the
burning of these ceremonial lamps
was highly valued by the women for
tatooing.
These 3eal oil lamps are still used
by very old natives and wherever
there is a scarcity of fire wood. It is
interesting to watch the old men
grouped around the dim light enthus
iatt'cally telling their folk-lore to the
young r generation. The Eskimo girls
'ake great delight in playing with
miniature models of these lamps.
For various reasons the natives
prefer to live two or three families in
the same igloo. At the same time it
was a mark of etiquette for each
woman to have her own lamp in her
oorner of the house.
The old men and women still carry
loi.v slender pieces of wood which are
used for obtaining light from the
lamps for their pipes. In the pictorial
writings of the natives I have often
seen the lamp turned bottom up. This
.neant starvation.
A broken lamp was mended by
drilling holes and wedging with
whalebone. Broken pottery lamps
were cemented with compound made
of seal blood and dog hair.
There is a very interesting legend
of an old man who, although very rich,
was much disliked by the villagers.
For years he had been chiseling a
piece of jade into a lamp. When it
was completed he called villagers to
gether and bragged greatly about his
new wealth.
To demonstrate the great beauty
and utility of his new lamp he tilled
it with seal oil and lighted it for
delectation and envy of his guests.
Wtit n his guests had departed, the
rich man still left the lamp burning
and retired contentedly to his lux
uiious fur couch. But while he slept,
evil spirits from Icebergs and hunt
mocks, who hated the Eskimos, en
tond the igloo, overheated the Jade,
and set fire to the house. The cabin
and its miserly owner were burned
to cinders.
Since that time, according to my
native Informant, no Eskimo has ever
tied to make a lamp from jade.
Without the lamp there Is no ques
? ion but wh.it the Eskimo would now
be extinct. And yet, strange as it
may seem, it was, in my opinion, not
invented by them. It was apparently
borrowed from a more advanced tribe,
and in another land, during 3ome of
the many migrations of the long
"Stone Age."
By Dr. Daniel S. Neuman.
EXPLOSIVE MANUFACTURE
IK THE UNITED STATES
GROWS SMALLER
Pacific News Service. Wash. Bureau.
WASHINGTON.—The amount of
cotton fibre used in the manufacture
of explosives for the three months
ending September 35 showed a sharp
decease as compared with the three
month periods end March 31 and June
30, the United States Census Bureau
has announced.
The quantity consumed for this
purpose during the quarter just ended
totalled 133,98’ tales of 500 pounds
each as compared with 141,5S8 bales
fur the quarter ending with Marc» and
142,725 for the quarter ending with
June. The quantity of bleach cotton
fibre held in establishments engaged
in the manufacture of explosives on
September 30 amounted to 24,686 bales.
During the first three quarters of
1916 there were 421,695 bales consum
ed in the manufacture of explosives,
and for the calendar year 1915, 244,
003 bales, the statement says.
WHY FLOUR IS HIGH
There's a reason for the high price
of flour, aside from the great expor
tation of wheat to suffering Europe.
The crop this year in the United
States was the poorest since 1904.
The Department of Agriculture es
timates that winter wheat fell oft by
200,000,000 bushels from last year's
huge crop, and spring wheat was much
more. The Department thinks that
after American wants are supplied
there will be a surplus of only 100,000
000 bushels for export.
IMPORTANT NEW CANAL
After seven years of labor, a canal
has just been opened connecting
Wcnner Lake, in Swecden, with the
Noith Ser. This great lake lies north
of Copenhagen and west of Stockholm.
The canal gives the interior of south
ern Sweden a convenient outlet to the
sea.
COMPARATIVE
TEMPERATURES
Following ire the lowest reoorded
temperatures for this year and last
on the days leslgnated. The minus
ign before a dumber maaoui below
aero.
U. 3. Weather Bureau.
1916 1917
Jan. 1. —12 - 20
Jun. 2. —25 -28
Jan. 3 . —18 —28
Jan. 4. —17 - 34
Jan. 5. —20 -40
Jan 6. •• —0 -**40
Jun. 7. —17 —22
Jan 8 . 20 - ?0
Jan. 9. 22 —28
Jan. 10 . 19 -50
Jan. 11." 22 0
Jan. 12. 80 12
a.In. 13. 28 10
an. 14 12 —12
Jrn. 15. .. 10 —10
Jan. 22 . 22 —12
Jan. 17 . 0 —10
Jrn. 18. —IS -2
Jan. 19. —25 - TO
Jan. 20 . —22 —18
Janl 21 . —20 —20
Jap. 22 —18 -37
Jan. 23. —28 - 57
Jun. 24. —17 —IB
ALASKA
JIOTES
T. O. Feather, a carpenter In the
employ of the Alaskan Engineering
Commission at Anchorage, was ap
prehended while st1 aling lumln r
fiom the commission, and was sen
tenced to serve six months in the fed
eral jail at that place.
Ilonan and James will install a mill
on their propi rtj in .Moose l’ass in
the spring. They have been operat
ing with an nrastra, and have assur
ances of ample oie for a mill of fair
capacity. They are now doing tun
nel work on the hundred foot level.
The launch Pacific was caught un
der the wharf at Douglas recently
ati'f when the tide came in she was
swamped. Capt. C. E. Tibbetts Was
awakened by the water hissing on a
hot stove and made his escape from
his bunk in his n.gat clothes just in
tim< to escape drown.ng. She can be
rt.ised.
- I
A man wearing a parka and with
a mask over his face who had been
30en on the Valdez-Fairbanks trail
8f\cral times, and for whom the
Fairbanks uncials were keeping a
shaip lookout, gave himself up to
tie marshal locenily. lie refused to
givi his name, but was later id mi
lled as a man nain d lluebner, who
had world d on the steamer Reliance
dr.ring the suinm r. lie curried a
rifle when he wished to be .willHHfll
rifle when lie surrendered and stated
that he wished 10 bo incarcerated for
fear he would hurt somebody. He Is
temporarily unbalanced mentally.
STABS AND
STRIPES AFFECTED
BY ERE WAR
acific News Service, Wash. Bureau.
WASHINGTON It costs more to bn
patriotic by buy.ng 1 American flag
now than it did befoie the war in
Europe started, necoi mg to llug deal
ers in the nation's capitol.
The secretary of wool and dyes, as
1 well as their increased cost, added to
recent Increases in wages at cotton
mills, has call; d a jump in the prices
| of "Old Glory.” Wool bunting was
! foimerly the principle material of
which the “Stars and Stripes" were
j manufactured, but it ha3 fallen into
disuse because of the increased cost
of wool. Cotton has supplanted wool
bunting to a considerable extent, but
cotton is now also jumping in price.
NAMES OF ARMORED
CRUISERS CHANGED.
WASHINGTON, Acting Secretary
of the Navy Roosevelt to-day changed
the names of the armored cruisers
Washington. Wrst Virginia and Colo
rado to Seattle, Huntington and
Pueblo.
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