Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1891 — HARD WORK OF ARCTIC WOMEN. [ARTICLE]

HARD WORK OF ARCTIC WOMEN.

They Even Chew Their Husbands’ Boots to Make Them Soft. Ladies Home Journal. While much has been written about Esquimau men—their skill as hunters, fishermen and in the management of a kyack—little has been said about the duties and labor of the . women in these lands. A great deal of their time is occupied in sewing and in singing, but the Esquimau wife sings while she sews, and therefore no time is lost. She does not have to make bread, because there is no flour in the land; neither does she ha ve to wash and dress the baby, because the baby wears no clothes and it is never washed. Neither, for that matter, do its parents wash. The baby rests, while awake, in a loose hood, its legs spread around her waist. The Esquimau wife accompanies her husband on all journeys and on all extended hunting excursions. Her services are needed in repairing clothing, in cooking—when there is time for such luxurious fare—and to carry a share of the load in summer, when everything that can not be packed on the back of their faithful dogs must be borne on the backs of the people. When on a journey in winter the wife sits on the sled sometimes, but oftener runs along ahead of the dogs. If the sled is heavy the husband, who drives the team, may sometimes rest his weary limbs*’ on the sled, but the woman must not. When the dogs give out and the sled moves slowly the women are the first to don the harness and help pull the load. « When a halt is mq.de for the day the men build the snow hut, but as the building progresses the women close the interstices 'of the snow blocks with soft snow, and in very cold weather they pile loose snow against the sides, and, if need be, over the top, with a broad, wooden shovel called a poalderit. As soon as the hut is finished the women take in the skins and other household effects, which are very few in number and simple having first beaten off the snow from the skins with a short stick called an anowter. The woman also puts up the big stone lamp, lights it, melts snow or ice to make water for drinking or to cook with, erects a drying frame over the lamp and in many other ways makes herself generally useful. Her place in the hut is at either end of the bed, which is only a platform of snow that occupies nearly tho whole of the interior, and is just in front of the lamp, so that she can give it constant and careful attention. The man does the hunting and much of the fishing. He drives the dogs and does a great deal of other hard work; but after the hut is' built, the dogs unharnessed and fed and everything made secure for the night, he can turn in and sleep. Not so with his wife. She has to dry the fur clothing he has just taken off by placing it on the drying frame,where it has to be turned from time to time, and when dried it has to be softened.

This she does by rubbing such articles as are made of reindeer skin between her hands, and chewing the boots, which are made of seal or walrus skin. If any of these articles require mending she must do it either before she goes to sleep or vtfaken early, before her, husband has to get up, and do it then. The women are very kind-hearted creatures, though, and often sacrifice their own comfort to that of others. Often I have come into a snow hut with feet almost frozen with the cold. My hands would be so cold and stiff that I could not untie and remove my shoes Jand stockings. Some old woman, with a heart as big as her body, would notice my condition and immediately come to my relief. She would untie the strings, pull off my boots and stockings and put my frozen feet under her fur coat against her own warm body until the circulation was restored. I have frequently seen what seemed to me like imposition practiced upon them, but they never complained. The women are no drawback to a traveling ‘ party. The men do not have to wait for them. They are not very graceful walkers, and could not win a crumb at a cate walk, but they can keep up with the procession, even if their hips do appear to come unhinged at every step. The women and girls can all juggle, by throwing stones up into the air, as well as any professional juggler I ever saw—three foui* or, six stones, with one hand or both hands. They make all sorts of figures with a string —reindeer, bears, geese, musk oxen, dogs and the like—and there is one thing they can do to perfection—a woman will change her coat right in from of your eyes, and there will not be the slightes't suggestion of indelicacy in the act. It must ’ be remembered that a snow house, consists of but one room only and most of that one room is taken up by the bed, which is also of snow.' t It is not often that a woman has occasion to change her coat —once dr twice a year, perhaps—but if she does she can not go into the privacy of her bed room, for her bed room is the common bed room of the entire household, and there is no such thing as privaev So that is why, I presume, they have acquired the art of making rapid changes of costumes in public, so as not to shock those who chance to be present. #AII one ever sees is the new coat poised in space for a moment, then a little wriggle and the flash of the discarded garment flying through the air. Ths women are boot and shoemak-

ers, as well as*tailors and mantaumakers. Roots are made of sealskin throughout, or else the legs of seal skin and the soles of walrus or ookjoqk skin. Before being made up th - skins have to be tanned, the hair scraped off,and then chewed to make them soft and pliable. The chewing can be done while they are walking around, and does not confine them tq one place like sdMng does. So, when an Esquimaux woman goes visiting, instead of taking knitting with her she takes her chewing. A middle-aged woman shows the effect of this part of her work plainly, for her teeth are worn down nearly to the gums. But they are very strong nevertheless, and when any of these people have to take a long pull and a strong pull they usq their teeth.