366 24 22MB
English Pages 200 Year 1994
PEOPLE Of THE ICE AND
£g i
SNOW
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
mn
PEOPLE or
THE ICE AND SNOW
TIME
am BOOKS
Other Publications:
WEIGHT WATCHERS* SMART CHOICE RECIPE COLLECTION TRUE CRIME THE ART OF WOODWORKING LOST CIVILIZATIONS ECHOES OF GLORY THE NEW FACE OF WAR
HOW THINGS WORK WINGS OF WAR CREATIVE EVERYDAY COOKING COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE UNKNOWN CLASSICS OF WORLD WAR II TIME-LIFE LIBRARY OF CURIOUS AND UNUSUAL FACTS
AMERICAN COUNTRY VOYAGE THROUGH THE UNIVERSE THE THIRD REICH THE TIME-LIFE GARDENER'S GUIDE MYSTERIES OF THE UNKNOWN TIME FRAME YOURSELF HEALTH & NUTRITION SUCCESSFUL PARENTING HEALTHY HOME COOKING UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS LIBRARY OF NATIONS THE ENCHANTED WORLD THE KODAK LIBRARY OF CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY GREAT MEALS IN MINUTES THE CIVIL WAR PLANET EARTH COLLECTOR'S LIBRARY OF THE CIVIL WAR THE EPIC OF FLIGHT THE GOOD COOK FIX IT
FITNESS,
WORLD WAR HOME REPAIR AND IMPROVEMENT II
THE OLD WEST For information on and a full description of any of the Time-Life Books series listed above, please call 1-800-62 1-7026 or write:
Reader Information Time-Life Customer Service
P.OBoxC-32068 Richmond, Virginia 23261-2068
This volume ry
is one of a series that chronicles the histoand culture of the Native Americans. Other books in
the series include:
THE FIRST AMERICANS THE SPIRIT WORLD THE EUROPEAN CHALLENGE PEOPLE OF THE DESERT THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR THE BUFFALO HUNTERS REALM OF THE IROQUOIS
THE MIGHTY CHIEFTAINS KEEPERS OF THE TOTEM CYCLES OF LIFE WAR FOR THE PLAINS TRIBES OF THE SOUTHERN WOODLANDS THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA
The Cover; Clad in a sealskin parka and armed with a rifle, an Eskimo from the town of Resolute on Cornwallis Island in the Northwest Territories prepares to set out for the hunt. Until recent times, the Eskimos had to rely on their skills as hunters and fishermen for survival in the cruel environment at the top of the world.
THE AMERICAN INDIANS
b
PEOPLE or
THE ICE AND SNOW
by
THE EDITORS of
TIME-LIFE
BOOKS
(;
;>
BAFFINLAND ESKIMO -FROBISHER
FOXE
my
LABRADOR COAST
\
BASIN
KING %U. JAM ISLAM) I
ESKIMO K /•'/*/ LSEBA\
-
NEWFOUNDLAND
NETSILIK
ESKIMO
x
]#>
VICTORIA STRAIT
SALLIRMIUT
INUIT
OF QUEBEC
v.^ CHESTERFIELD
CARIBOU ESKIMO
«
INLET
lll'DSON
D
BAY
only a bleak, barren desert of cold, the Eskimos
They knew where to
saw a
rich hunting ground.
to find animals in trackless landscapes.
gauge wind direction and velocity with a simple
staff
They knew how
draped with bun-
dled shavings. They studied the sea ice ceaselessly, learning to interpret
warning signs that enabled them drift
away. They learned
how
to judge
when
a floe might fracture
to navigate in the thickest fog
and
and darkest
night by the feel of the ocean currents beneath their skin-covered boats.
And
they applied these lifesaving lessons with special qualities of tem-
perament—courage,
tenacity, self-discipline,
essential to survival as
and humor— that were just as
know-how.
Like other original Americans, the Eskimos
and Aleuts can
trace their
PEOPLE OF THE ICE AMD SHOW 26
ancestry to ancient migrations from Asia. The
through what
is
now Alaska at least
1
first
wave
1,000 years ago.
of people passed
They crossed
at the
Bering Strait via a land bridge from Siberia created by widespread glaciation that locked
up moisture from the oceans during the
last Ice
Age. Most
of the people that Christopher Columbus subsequently dubbed Indians
were descended from
this first
Aleuts, however, probably first
migrants— most
likely
had been submerged by
made
the journey
some
6,000 years after the
by boat because by that time the land bridge
rising seas as the
kimos and Aleuts are thus cans; genetically, they
exodus. The progenitors of Eskimos and
massive
ice sheets melted. Es-
biologically distinct from other Native
more
closely resemble Asians.
Ameri-
THE HUNTING WAY OF LITE 27
These peoples
settled along the coasts of
nearby islands, eventually diversifying
in
mainland Alaska and the
language and culture. By
at least
5,000 years ago, one group occupied the Aleutian Islands off the south-
west
tip
of the Alaska Peninsula. Relatively isolated there in friendlier tem-
peratures, the Aleuts started evolving their
but similar in
many
own
culture— separate from
respects to the Eskimo variety. Then, perhaps 3,000
years ago, Aleut diverged from the
common ancestral tongue and became
same time, hunters of seal and caribou— foreEskimos— migrated from Alaska across Canada and
a separate language. At the
runners of today's
Greenland, to sites less than 500 miles from the North Pole. The Eskimo language, having separated from Aleut, in turn branched into two tongues, Inupiaq and Yupik. The ly
understandable
all
coast of Greenland.
in
when tive
the North Slope of Alaska to the east
for the
language
situated in northwestern
when referring to themselves.
Inupi-
Greenland prefer to be called Greenlanders. But most
use that language suffix -miut,
way from
the
A group of Inupiaq speakers
Alaska use the word
aq speakers
numerous dialects of Inupiaq are mutual-
call
themselves
meaning "people
referring to a specific
peoples living
in
of,"
Inuit,
meaning
to the
name
"persons."
who
They add the
of a geographical location
community (such as Tigara—Tigaramiut). Na-
southwestern Alaska, south of Norton Sound, speak
dialects of Yupik, a language that relates to Inupiaq
word "Eskimo"
to English. Ironically, the
exists in
much as German does neither tongue. It may
have derived from a term used by Algonquian-speaking Indians of eastern
Canada
to
mean "eater of raw meat," or it may have come from another In-
dian word meaning "snowshoe netter."
As the Inupiaq speakers dispersed from the Bering land, a
new and
distinct culture
evolved about
AD
Strait to
Green-
1000. Migrants appar-
new ways, which would later be known culture— named after an arctic research station
ently helped carry eastward these Pinned up
to dry, in-
flated walrus stom-
achs hangfrom a on Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska. These stomach skins were used in the creation of musical drums. line
to science as the Thule
and trading post
in
northwest Greenland established
in
1910 by the part-
Eskimo, part-Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen. From Thule, Ras-
mussen launched the Thule expeditions, a series of studies conducted between 1912 and 1935 that have contributed much to an understanding of the history of the Inuit. The Thule culture was marked by such key developments as the skin-covered umiaks and kayaks, dog-drawn sleds, and toggle-headed harpoons, which were established across the top of the
New World by the The impetus whale.
A
climatic
13th century. for this
eastward thrust
warming nibbled
may have been
at the polar
pack
ice,
the
bowhead
allowing whales
28
lankctcd with snow. coat offur, the dogs I car round -although during the >orst weather, they arc permitted to shclu i the entrance tunnel of the home. J
»lc
idr
In the Far North,
dogs
r*f\MT}l\ lVIf^ IV C
more than 4,000
years Several -
vA/1 ll/li llUl lO
\
people have traine.
to pull sleds for
legends link
according to one
story,
Inuit creatioi
man and dog;
humans de-
scended from a creature that was part woman and part dog. These remarkab animals, in
fact,
trace their ancestry di-
and in the past, ownrenewed the bloodline by staking k male dogs on the tundra to crossbreed with their wild cousins. Over time, specific types of sled dog evolved, all bred for strength and endurance. During the 19th century, these legendary dogs came to be known as "huskies"— an English slang word originally applied tc the Eskimos themselves. Sled dogs are the progenitors of sucl popular modern breeds as the Siberian Husky, Samoyed, and Alaskan malarectly to the wolf,
ers
mute. Across the Arctic, however, the people always considered them work ing partners, not pets. Sled dogs are
a
medium
given as wedding
gifts.
Above
all,
dogs have enabled the Eskimos vail in the
ment. Inuit
The
An
it
Inuit
sled
to pre
world's harshest environ arctic explorer
once askec
how far was to a distant
long way.
still
of exchange, and often
ri(
answered: "No good do
Good
dogs,
cl
a
w
who took charge of the catch after her husband
pyi^
Membership was
,#•
relative.
As a
result,
i^v
d
*W
quite flex-
people
tf-
j
related
person could join any band in
for a
which he or she had a
fre-
A
^
m 3
^i 1 1
m*jfi l|V^\ 5^
more than one band during the course of a lifetime. Although each band claimed huntquently traveled with
'.-
/
ifcfc^
? **. '
l» W MM*
|lf
»M
> « MS
|f •
>••,«•...
»*«•»« *•»
r« M«m*r*( »***>« n ,Jui*i*l'i«.N*{.
f*m* fk buiwf
|||MIM4WIIIIIM" VKrMroaulrHrAllW r.***. [TlMbit.t>H«ill—»thir |ft\I«i»«(>inll
lTl>«ut»ni»»Jibw,i'
»—£«»— ruU« tl1«attb*af tit*
n iifc
l
Uf fir*Ml>« r>lffrliu .
i
uf«ut»|Mt«U4w-mf ArmutRaifV HI |br>|ria «fc«T crtranra |b t>« YVctWt . »«m ItftplfMfTtflfkvrAfMlMMrHT m«fe«Vifc,
taaaflii »;>
>**4k%
4-4a>MavaflB
Graceful curvilinear
markings— which
may symbolize spirit helpers— embellish this 1,000-year-old spearpoint from the Bering Sea region.
o
Used by a hunter to gain speed and distance as he hurled his spear, this wooden throwing stick is ornamented with small ivory seals in honor of this important game animal.
^»
Images of the legendary Thunderbird are used to decorate this
bear-shaped ar-
row straightener, which worked as a lever to align bent
wooden
shafts.
Affixed to the prow of a kayak as a cradle for a hunter's weapon, this har-
poon
rest
branches
into twin polar bear heads. Engravings
of Th underbirds clutching whales in their talons also decorate the tool,
perhaps to imbue the harpoon with the power of the great winged hunter.
•
TOOLS FOR WOMEN'S WORK
*j*
as-
*>
&
-Sfc"
*W
Two ivory thread spools reflect the imagination of individual craftsmen: The top spool is carved in the likeness of a seal; the bottom features a legendary mermaid creature, with the head and arms of a woman joined to the flippers of a walrus.
Topped by a bear's head, this sinuous ivory rod is a boot sole creaser—a com-
mon household implement employed to maintain the shape of the heels and toes of boots.
Used to crush lice removed during routine
grooming,
this
utilitarian device is
whimsically shaped as a four-toed foot.
~^
Slim and elongated, an ivory polar bear forms the handle of this utility knife.
Knives such as these
were usedfor skinning and cutting up fish
and game.
Flanked by seals, a frowning woman
and a smiling mansymbols of balance
and harmony when depicted together— decorate opposite
bagfasThe device is
sides of a tener.
used to secure the small skin bag, known as a "housewife," in
which Eski-
mo women store their tools.
CREAT
R THE OUTSIDE MARKET
-
-
• •
•••••
•
»
* *
?S
-=£
Embellished with
many real and fanciful creatures, this exquisitely crafted
cribbage boardused for scorekeeping in a popular card game— retains the curve of the walrus tusk from
M The mottled core of the walrus tusk is evident in this pair
which it was carved.
m '•'•
of salt and pepper shakers shaped like bears. Shakers that were modeled after animals became popular souvenirs during the 1930s.
.*,