My Life With the Eskimo

by Vilhjálmur Stefánsson

Who are the Eskimo peoples? And how do they survive in the freezing conditions of the far north? Vilhjálmur Stefánsson left New York in April 1908 to begin his journey northwards and into the Arctic Circle. For the next two years he made his way northwards to Victoria Island to study an isolated group of Inuit who still used primitive tools and had strong Caucasian features, and whom some believed were descended from Vikings. The journey into these remote areas was incredibly tough and being delayed by blizzards Stefánsson, along with his companions, were forced to eat the tongue of a beached whale that had been dead for at least four years...

Stefánsson, who learnt how to communicate with the Inuit, provides fascinating insight into the beliefs and every day life of these people.

This book is essential reading for anyone interested in this remarkable expedition and for people who want to find out more about life of people in the far north prior to the advent of modern technology.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Adventure, Anthropology, Memoir, Health

668 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1913

About the author

Vilhjálmur Stefánsson (1879-1962) was a Canadian Arctic explorer and ethnologist.

Reviews

[Tasos Manouras · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this book was written today I am sure the author would have made it into a trilogy.
1) How to survive in Alaska
2) Balls of steel, absolute motivation
3) All you need to know about the Eskimo

The guy made the Lewis and Clark expedition seem like a picnic

Really well written, he did a great job describing the life, culture and beliefs of the Eskimo.

Great read highly recommend it.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever since I took a history class in college, I have always been interested in the fact that different cultures have different ways of seeing the world--and that Indians and Mesopotamians and Egyptians and the like may have been as logical and rational as us (which isn't very if you think about it too hard). I also really got into a Leviticus class at one point which showed how there is a lot more behind the Levitical regulations than we imagine.

At any rate, this book was on my bucket list of books about this topic. The author, Stefansson, went into the north and lived with the Eskimo for several years and wrote about his experiences. He ended up writing more than I liked about hunting caribou than I cared for, so to be perfectly honest I can only recommend chapter 26 "On the Religion of the Eskimo." He has some notes on this earlier in the book, but it's only here that he really was thinking hard about a topic that interests me. He points out that, basically, the Eskimo still believed in spirits everywhere and so when Christian missionaries came, they assumed that the Sabbath and cleanliness, for instance, were other examples of taboos, much like what they already believed in. By the 1800s, they had a large number of taboos and they attributed a great deal to them. Stefansson can only attribute it to superstition, but recently I am more inclined to believe that a lot of this stuff is the result of demonic activity. Macbeth is a good example of the kind of thing I am thinking of: "And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense;
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope."
In other words, demons display their power, so that they can trick people to believe them and to sin. This is what happened in the Old Testament, and it was only fully exorcised in the New Testament, and that exorcism continued across Europe and has now gone to America, India, and some parts of Asia.

One of the more interesting anecdotes is how some Eskimos believe in a weird form of reincarnation, so that when a child is born they summon an ancestral spirit to be the child's guardian and so the child is treated with deference and obeyed until it comes of age. And yes, this spoiled some children, and one child "graduates" when her parents get irritated at her tobacco chewing. Conversely, they expect someone who is disabled to have tragically lost their guardian spirit.

The shamans would also "sell" their spirits to someone else, and if that someone else felt he hadn't got the spirit, then he would have to continue playing the role of shaman.

Also, Stefansson points out how little government there is: killings can easily become blood feuds because of the Eskimo's refusal to do the kinds of things commanded in Numbers.

At the time of this book, the Eskimo were being converted. They would usually continue to believe in the old spirits and to act as if they were real, but in some cases they did not engage in syncretism, but renounced their old devils and assumed their old masters were angry with them. They assumed that technology was because Christ directly taught white men, and they were confused by Christ plucking grain on the Sabbath. They have a completely different perspective. Some Eskimo would refuse to listen to teaching about righteousness, sin, and so forth unless they first saw that Christ was more powerful than their spirits and could save them from them.

Stefansson at the very tail end of the book describes one minister who said that we should not expect God to respond to prayer by changing the laws of nature. I do not know whether this is deism or just a way of not making God your prayer vending-machine, but one of the things I took away from this book is that there's a lot more in the Old Testament and Gospels about God's sovereignty because that's where a lot of the battles will take place before you can share the Gospel of sin, forgiveness, and new life. This is a topic that deserves more attention, particularly from Christian anthropologists, who have every reason to be more curious than most academics.

Thanks to Brad Belschner for recommending this book, and for the comparison with Leviticus. His review can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Brad Belschner · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the beginning of the 20th century many of the Eskimo were still living in stone-age or bronze-age tribes. Steffanson was a Harvard anthropologist who lived among them and basically 'went native' for years. His writing is primarily his personal narrative, with anthropological insights along the way. It's one of those books you can open up randomly to any page and be virtually guaranteed to find something fascinating.

This was the first book to make me realize the vast gulf between my 'worldview' and that of primitive tribes. It's interesting to try and get inside the head of men who truly believed that e.g. the world is flat, children are possessed by the souls of deceased elders until puberty, alphabets are divine in origin, a nice way to spend an evening is to casually visit the Moon during a seance, etc. Their cultural taboos and dietary customs make Leviticus sound like a tea party. The Eskimo acceptance of Christianity is especially interesting: they embraced new religious beliefs and customs easily and uncritically because they considered them to be additive, not contradictory...which is also why syncretism became such a big problem for them.

The book is impossible to summarize. I've only provided random tidbits. You can get me talking at a party for hours about crazy anecdotes and observations from this book.

[Robert Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made for extremely tough rating... is it five stars bc I'd recommend it to anyone. Absolutely not. 5 stars bc of its harrowing escape from certain death a la Shackleton? Also no.

Frankly it is a five star book because it is the most readable exploration book I've ever read. 95% of the books I've read in the general genre a retellings by accomplished authors that arrange the details of an expedition into a narrative flow with contextual/necessary information added. This book is by the explorer himself, Stefansson, and tells about his adventure in such a way that it is interesting and accessible.

[Misha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first few pages to "check it out" and kept trekking along. Despite a few lulls, I really liked the Arctic adventure and found most of Stefánsson's journal entries fascinating. Should I happen to come across any more of his books or articles, both of which are numerous, I’d be inclined to read them as well.

Stefánsson's hazardous expedition (1908-1912) was the longest at the time and little was known about the Arctic or its inhabitants. He traveled over 10,000 miles with a sled and was one of the last dog-team explorers. After two years of delays due to others, "sickness with its consequences of delay, starvation, and the growth of discontent and worry for the future of our Eskimo", the group was finally able to start east in search of the "Blond Eskimo", around whom there were many speculations.

The scientific adventure gets monotonous at times. Aside from the journey, he writes about ethnology, whaling, regions and topography, the game animals, historic and current events, and even linguistics. It’s full of facts and more facts, many of which are really interesting.

"We seldom have occasion, if we are stay-at-homes, unless we happen to live in tourist centers, to explain to any one our nationality, while the nationality of every foreigner who comes within our sphere of observation is a matter of interest and is continually on the tip of our tongue."

[Liz Henry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stefansson's travel journal from around 1909-1910 as he goes from the Mackenzie River to Barrow to Victoria Island. He meets up with some Inuit people who hadn't had much contact with white traders. This book is mostly Stefansson boasting about living like the Inuit, speaking their language fluently, and shooting quite a lot of caribou.

One of the members of the expedition, Pannigakuk, was actually his wife and they had a baby during the trip. Stefansson doesn't mention that though he talks about "Pan" and what she's doing, and records some of their conversations about babies, pregnancy, and fatherhood which take on some new light when you consider he is hiding that she's having their baby as well as providing ethnographic details and sewing his parkas and guiding the sled. Read more about it in "Traveling Passions: The Hidden Life of Vilhjalmur STefansson".

The last third of the book is quite boring as Stefansson re-tells stories he already told. y u no have editor, "vilhjalmur"?

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard this book mentioned on the television show 'meat eater' by Steven Rinella and decided to read it. For a book if it's age it's actually quite readable and interesting. It's quite a lengthy read and the author seems to retell a few stories. It kind of ends abruptly I thought and then includes a couple of appendices by the author and one by one of his travelling companions. It's actually a really good book if not a bit hard to find. No doubt it could have been much shorter due to how detailed it is, but the author definitely had a passion for the north. Would have been amazing to travel alongside him to see what it was like first hand. Due to it being a reprint the quality of pictures is quite poor. The book would have definitely benefited from maps as the author makes mention of many place names. Definitely recommend this book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

my volume was published in 1940? i am writting this review 8 years after reading the book and i still remember how much i enjoyed its reading. as a matter of fact, i am going to go back and read it again.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good with so many things i did not know about that area of the earth and how hard itis to survive there. Originaly published in 1913

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed and interesting story of his adventures with the people of the Eskimos and the Great North.

[Daven Prashar-Savoie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It made winter in montreal seem chill. It made everything ive dealt with seem pretty easy. Inuits hold secrets to thriving in the toughest climates!

Great book!

[L.C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not an “easy” read as it was a detailed account of VS’s life and travels with the Inupiaq of Alaska and Canada; however, it was an incredible account of Alaska in the early 1900s. Christianity had just been adopted by many Natives—and plenty had been lost in translation as VS inquires as to why they do certain things and they reply it is for salvation. Before the 1918 Spanish flu. Life was tough living life on the go and in the snow but it’s clear that the ingenuity and genius of the inupiaqs made life quite comfortable. It made me yearn for my years teaching in Western villages in AK at the beginning of my teaching career.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a handful of reasons it took me longer to read this book than it took Stefansson to explore a good part of Arctic Canada and Alaska. It’s not a “keep you on the edge of your seat book” by any means.
But it is amazing how these explorers as well as the indigenous people were able to survive such a harsh climate in a time with absolutely no luxury.

[shari lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and though account of turn of the 20th century Eskimo

A somewhat tedious however complete account of nearly four years with the various communities of the Arctic circle Eskimos including vast amounts of information on the flower and fauna of the region.

[Lachlan Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the great books I have read. Long but with large pockets of golden insights into Eskimo life and human nature as a whole. Not to mention plenty of basic survival skills, especially in the cold

[Alexander J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little slow going, but still an interesting read.

[? · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man who voluntarily chose to be assimilated into the collective in order to gain understanding, of life spent, in a challenging environment.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda boring and meandery.

The editing on the Audible version was dogshit.

[Grace Lents · Rating 3 out of 5]

DESPERATELY NEEDED A MAP.

[Rye Thomasdatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good. I intend to read more of his books.

[Heath · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should give this book 5 stars. For what it is, it's excellent.

But I did not give it 5 stars because I found it entirely tedious to get through. I had to work to finish this book, even though there are some gems here.