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National Geographic : 1964 May
Contents
Eskimo Hunter, Rifle on His Back, Keeps Eyes Peeled for Quarry Peter Esau can hit a ptarmigan from more than 100 yards, blowing off its head without mangling the edible portions. Wolverine fur keeps wind from his face and sheds frost. Ptarmigan explode from snowy camou flage almost under the feet of Corporal Kearley. These plump grouse make excel lent eating. Ranging the barren lands below the North Pole, they turn white in winter and gray, brown, or black in summer. KODACHROMESBY CLYDE HARE © N.G.S. mainland but not found on Banks Island. Sachs Harbour has only metal stoves that burn fuel oil, buckets of galvanized iron, and dishes from Canadian markets. Women are not subservient in Eskimo so ciety; they are often the real force behind the scene. Yet the theme of male supremacy is dominant. The division of labor is con spicuous. Eskimo women do the customary housework, and they do it with joy. They al so perform many less pleasant tasks, such as dressing and cleaning white fox fur. White fox are trapped in the winter months and after skinning are put in a pit, where they stay frozen until summer. Incisions are cut from the base of the tail down the rear legs and the skin peeled off whole. Women share this work or do all of it; and then they take the pelts and "flesh" them. That is a scraping operation, done with an ulu. Careless Eater May Lose a Nose The ulu on Banks Island was once made of slate. It is now made from a section of a cross cut saw, ground to a sharp edge. A piece of copper is riveted onto the crescent-shaped blade, and a bone handle is affixed to the cop per. The product would be familiar to every housewife who has used a chopper to cut cabbage or other vegetables in a bowl. The ulu also can be used in eating. Meat placed in the mouth is cut off by one down ward stroke. "It's a safer stroke than the ones the In dians use," Angus Sherwood said. "Indians use an upward stroke, and an Indian friend of mine once lost a piece of his nose as a re sult of a careless movement." Only one side of the ulu blade is honed. The sharp edge is drawn over a knife blade 716
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