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The Family of the Eskimos |
About 950 kilometers from the Canadian Mounted Police post in Tikiujar, there is a very small Eskimo tribe. Jo Laxiner is someone who frequently visits this tribe and is warmly welcomed by them. In December 1931, Jo Laxiner visited the tribe and felt an eerie strangeness; the entire area was eerily silent during the day. In previous visits, he had always heard loud barking from dogs, and children would rush out of wooden houses to gather around him. But this time, a chilling silence enveloped the entire tribe—there were no barking dogs, no joyful laughter from children, and not a soul in sight; the tribe felt like a ghost town.
Jo Laxiner was astonished and called out loudly into the doorway of a wooden house: “Is anyone home? Is anyone home? It’s Jo Laxiner.” There was complete silence, not a single sound. What had happened here? Where had everyone gone? Why had they left? Why was it so strange?
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Eskimos Fishing |
Jo Laxiner felt a shiver of fear and confusion. He entered a small house and discovered a pot of rice still on the stove, as if it hadn’t finished cooking, the food inside frozen. In another small room, a child’s jacket made of seal skin was carelessly thrown on the floor, unkempt. Next to the tribe, there was a large lake where the Eskimos would usually fish from three small boats, but now all three boats were left abandoned on the riverbank. What was even more astonishing was that for the Eskimos, hunting without a gun was unthinkable, yet they had left their guns behind. Similarly, the dogs, considered precious and even regarded as family members, were typically inseparable from their owners. But the sight Jo Laxiner saw was heartbreaking: Several dogs were tied to trees about 200 meters from the houses, all had starved to death.
What disaster or calamity could have caused the entire Eskimo tribe, over 40 people of all ages, to silently abandon all their clothing, food supplies, cooking pots, guns, and beloved dogs in one cold winter night?
All the officers and soldiers from the mounted police rushed out to search, but there were no clues about where the Eskimos had gone, no traces left behind. Where had they gone? To this day, no Eskimos have returned to their homeland. Their homes and gardens remain abandoned, shrouded in desolation, and the entire area is enveloped in an atmosphere of fear and mystery.
