Eskimo Hunters Northwestern Alaska (1949)

35,000 Eskimos here in the frozen north the land is barren and food is very scarce our villages are smart in this Arctic region the summers are short and cool our winters last for nearly six months and are very cold and stormy my mom is one of the snow-covered houses in the 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 home none at all come after the winter storms begin in November our people dependable 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 food from the sea whenever my father hears a seal barking he tells us to be quiet the sound of voices frightens the sea otters [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 to warn the catch ashore [Applause] our people hunt walrus and small whales only doing as we hunt them from the shore sometimes from boats and other times we catch them by cutting holes in the ice it is too cold for us to have ponds 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 to shore in the same way as the sealer this big loon will make a fine meal for our family we could see what the panelists if we Eskimos were not good hunters we would all starve to death father uses a homemade harness to drag to see him home promises are made of skin or from cloth bought at the Trading Post father got his rifle and cartridges at the Trading Post to [Applause] like most eskimo 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 that our seal unknown have 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 heats 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 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 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 wing in a floating law the omiyage is his open boat he also has a boat called a kayak which is covered some of our boats are made of skin stretched over frames of Warner's bone others we make from canvas and wood bought at the Trading Post [Applause] 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 tusks it is easier for him to work when he holds the jewel in his teeth my mother liked all Eskimo women he's very good at making boots and fur clothing she chews the edges of the 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 the 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 clothing 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 point hope is very small and there is only one store [Music] [Applause] 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 furs 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 a museum we want to buy them from the trader [Applause] 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 have 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 saltwater begins to turn to ice it is soft and is carried by the tide and ocean currents later it will become solid 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 and to bring back the caribou meat if we are lucky [Applause] [Applause] on the way we passed the graveyard of an abandoned village the fence is made of whale ribs nothing but the cemetery is left of 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 whoever 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 it 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 fuel for several days to build a shelter we cut blocks of snow for the wall 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 leave the sled by turning it on its side we keep the dogs from running away with it we try not to frighten the caribou father is a good shot we hope that the animal here shot is fat for we must eat back meat to keep our bodies warm during the winter on our hunting trips we seldom see other Eskimos Ezard in our part of the world it often takes a day by dogsled to reach the nearest village our camp is just as we left it [Applause] we must skin the caribou before it freezes otherwise it would be difficult to remove the hide and cut up the meat [Music] my father teaches me to care for the hides and the meat by cutting and skinning the animal first we make the load lighter only the useful parts of the caribou will be carried home [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this is the way our village looks in midwinter until spring the snow will become deeper and in some places the wind will pilot in germs 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 driftwood it is high enough above ground so that snow in not bury it 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 sometimes on winter nights we go to neighborhood parties at the schoolhouse [Music] the school has a gasoline engine which makes enough electricity to light the building our musicians are very proud of their ability the music is played on eskimo instruments [Applause] everyone in Tallinn seems to enjoy dancing we think our Eskimo village is a pleasantest 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 Arctic Ocean