National Geographic : 1919 Dec
bA 0 --4 CfC 0 - V (CJ - O0 " o f a s.: 0, c z C) ow 14 14 cbL fs5 Ua2 ~ 1- .C)C 10 "C u0 -.- '0 C) a 420 v- -j o'-' 0c C);- -; 0i~3 0 j3 0i of Subway tourist among ticks and jig gers. The aid of government specialists is not yet available and the herder does not know how to combat this insect, whose fiendish ingenuity still baffles him. The animal tick, which is about the size of a horsefly, first lays its eggs on the fetlock of the deer, which thus be comes the Achilles' heel of the Arctic speedster. When the deer licks them off, the eggs are lodged in the animal's mouth or throat, where they hatch into worms, which work their way up along the neck and down the back of the animal, under the skin. Having thus made life miser able for their host, the worms finally gnaw or bore their way through the hide and become flies. Although not deadly, the warble fly causes much irritation among the rein deer and reduces their vitality. So sensi tive have the animals become to this pest that the buzz of a fly of any kind causes a noticeable nervousness among the en tire herd. The warble fly is a handicap to the commercial deerman because the little worms, piercing the skin to escape, leave the hide punctured with tiny holes which lessen its marketable value. THE MAKING OF AN ESKIMO PARKA To the Eskimo the reindeer hide is less seriously impaired. His principal use of the hide or pelt is to make the warm, hairy parka, a cozy coat with hood at tached. The hood and sleeves are sewn on with reindeer sinews, which do not rot like ordinary thread. The late Walter C. Shields, Superintendent of the North western District of Alaska, Bureau of Education, in his published poem, "The Ancient Ground," gave the following graphic description of the making of the sinew thread: "Behind the rest, on heaped up skins, The oldest hag crouched on her shins. Her teeth were worn down to her gums, And rawhide thongs had scarred her thumbs. She split a sinew strip in two (Back sinew from the caribou); Between her sunken, oozing lips The stringy strip of sinew slips. She mumbles it 'twixt tongue and jaws, As through her mouth each strip she draws: She rubs it with her greasy claws Until each soft and moistened shred Becomes a long and pliant thread, Rubbed round upon her cheek."