The Last True Eskimos in Alaskan Northwest

you know people in the world live in the Arctic regions of North America altogether there are only about 35,000 Eskimos here in the frozen north the land is barren and food is very scarce our villages are small and far apart in its Arctic region the summers are short and cool our windows last for nearly six months and are very cold and stormy my mom is one of the snow-covered houses in a village called Point Hope it is on the shore of the Arctic Ocean in northwestern Alaska our lighthouse helps us to find our way across the flat snow-covered land even in the summer only a few ships come to point hope none at all come after the winter storms begin in November our people depend upon the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean for much of their living Alaska is a territory of the United States and the Eskimos who live near our American citizens my name is Hari Veera is my sister in the cold winter weather the fish tossed up on the shore are quickly frozen whenever we find frozen fish we pick them up we are always watching for foods from the sea whenever my father hears a sail barking he tells us to be quiet the sound of voices frightens the sea [Applause] from Sears we obtain food and clothing when father kills a sea animal he throws out a hook on the end of a long line two more the catching shore [Applause] our people hunt walrus and small whales only during the summer but seal hunting goes on all through the year sometimes we hunt them from the shore sometimes from boats and other times we catch them by cutting holes in the ice [Applause] it is too cold for us to have fun only by hunting and fishing can we get enough to eat [Applause] even the seabirds are used for food [Applause] the Loon my father has shot is brought in short in the same way as the sealer this big loon will make a fine meal for our family [Applause] it's throughout the feminist if we Eskimos were not good hunters we would all starve to death father uses a homemade harness to drag to see home promises are made of skin or from Glassport at the Trading Post father got his rifle and cartridges at the Trading Post to [Applause] like most destr more villages Point Hope is close to the ocean although in summer we have many hours of daylight from November until February we will not see the Sun at all it is already so cold they are still unknown half frozen during the short trip home but no matter how cold it is out of doors our home is always comfortable for cooking mother uses an iron stove bought from the Trading Post the stove eats the one room of our house we use driftwood when we can find it but most of our meals are cooked over a fire of seal fat this is called blubber and makes a very hot fire [Applause] we lots of raw fish when fish are frozen we let them thaw so the skin will come off easily explorers who come to the Arctic have grown to like our meals of raw fish [Applause] it is our custom to dip the fish in seal oil the combination of fish and oil gives us some of the vitamins we need most of the wood we have is found drifting in the ocean for trees cannot grow in our land of snow and ice my father uses his Omiya to bring in a floating lon the onion gives his open boat he also has a boat called the kaya which is covered some of our votes are made of skin stretched over frames of walrus bone others we make from canvas and wood for that the table [Applause] [Music] the Eskimos continually watched the shoreline always hoping that something useful will come floating in from the sea [Applause] driftwood from the ocean was used to help build our home the walls are made of wood and stones banked with earth and snow during the long evenings father makes bracelets or other trinkets from the ivory of walrus tusk it is easier for him to work when he holds the jewel in his piece my mother like all eskimo women he's very good at making boots and fur clothing she chews the edges of his skins to make them soft then she bites the places where the skins will be sewn together father wants me to be able to use his harpoon gun when we go hunting for whalers in spring mother is teaching my sister to sew the boots mother is making will be taken to the Trading Post to exchange for something the family needs she has already made us our winter clothes except for hunting and visiting our neighbors we seldom leave home during the winter once in a while we go to the trading post our village went off it's very small and there is only one store [Music] we have seen everything the storekeeper has on his shelves many times before but we enjoy looking at them again the trader knows the value of the skins first and other things we want to trade he will send them to stores in the cities of southern Alaska I found these old-fashioned Spears in an abandoned settlement perhaps some Museum we want to buy them from the trader the trader makes a fair offer for the hatchet my father helped me make many more things can be bought at the Trading Post than when my father was a boy ships and airplanes had brought us into closer contact with the rest of the world we buy the things we cannot make ourselves trading is the only way in which we can get many of the supplies we need for almost nothing grows in our cold land although we can buy many things today our life still depends on hunting unless we are successful when we hunt we will have nothing to trade at the store as winter nears everyone waits for the ocean to freeze when the salt water begins to turn to ice it is soft and is carried by the Tai the notion currency later it will become Sami and remain frozen for months the best time for hunting seals is when they come up through the ice for air before the sea ice is frozen hard father learns that there is a herd of caribou in the neighborhood we take the dog team because we need the sled to carry supplies then to bring back the caribou meat if we are lucky [Applause] [Applause] on the way we past the graveyard of an abandoned village the fence is made of whale ribs nothing but the cemetery is left on this old village for all of the people moved to Point Hope years ago our sled dogs are the only domestic animals we have we could not travel far over the winter snow without our dogs father does not know exactly where the caribou may be feeding for all we know they may have wandered miles from where they were first seen all we can do is to keep moving and hope to find them when we come to a place where the snow is soft the dogs have difficulty hauling the sled if there is no way to get around the soft snow we must stop and lighten the load this is a good place to make camp we have brought in a food and feeling for several days to build a shelter we cut blocks of snow for the horrible because we will be here on the a day or two we just play sticks of driftwood against the snow walls and use a piece of canvas for a roof canvas is very valuable here in the Arctic it is a product from the outside world that we have been able to get only in recent years now that the supplies have been stored at the camp our dogsled can travel fast even over soft snow when father thinks we are near the caribou we need this sled by turning it on its side we keep the dogs from running away with it [Music] [Applause] we try not to frighten the caribou father is a good shot we hope that the animal here shot is fast for we must eat fat meat to keep our bodies warm during the winter [Music] on our hunting trips we seldom see other Eskimos as there are very few people in our part of the world it often takes a day by dogsled to reach the nearest village which so few of us living on so much land we do not expect to meet other hunters from our own or neighboring villages even when the weather is good [Applause] our camp is just as we left it [Applause] we must any caribou before it places otherwise it would be difficult to remove the hide and cut up in me [Applause] [Music] my father teaches me to care for the hides and the meat by cutting and skinning the elbow first we make the load lighter only the useful parts of the caribou will be carried over [Applause] [Applause] this is the way our village looks ahead winter until spring the snow is become deeper and in some places the winner will pilot in drifts many feet high sometimes the thermometer will register 50 degrees below zero for months on end when the snow is deep the only sound besides the wind will be the barking of our dogs [Applause] father and I have been lucky on our hunting trip we are coming home with caribou meat to add to our winter supply of food we keep the frozen meat on a framework of ghent wood it is high enough above ground so that snow is not buried but what is more important our dogs cannot steal it my puppy has made a nest deep in the snow to protect himself from the wind we are happy to get inside the house on a cold day like this my mother is glad that we are back safely and pleased that we shot a caribou sometimes on winter nights we go to neighborhood parties at the schoolhouse the school has a gasoline engine which makes enough electricity to light the building for musicians are very proud of their ability the music is played on eskimo instruments [Applause] everyone in Tallinn seems to enjoy dancing [Music] we think our Eskimo village is a pleasant place even though it is in one of the loneliest parts of the world in order to get enough food and clothing for ourselves everyone must work hard we depend for help on our faithful dogs it is because Eskimos hunt and fish and make use of everything which nature provides that we are able to live on the cold barren shores of the

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Keywords: ancient, tribe, Culture, heritage, people, society, politics, classic, how, discovery, facts

Id: HVy6rOV1bRc

Length: 20min 3sec (1203 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 03 2014