3-070-685 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The American Franklin Search Expedition: Kalandi play among the Netchillik Esquimaux, 1881. Engraving of a scene during '...the Arctic Region travels of Lieutenant Schwatka and his companions, in the expedition set on foot by the American Geographical Society of New York, to search for traces and relics of the fate of Sir John Franklin and the officers and crews of the Erebus and Terror, on the shores of King William's Land...One of the party, Mr. Henry W. Klutschak, of Prague, a Bohemian artist, made a series of sketches, and kept a journal, which he has placed at our disposal...[Our illustration shows] a social party of the Netchillik tribe, in the Simpson's Strait region, diverting themselves with the performance of a "Kalandi;" which is a sort of dramatic recital, a monologue entering into diverse parts successively, and telling a long story of comical and romantic personal adventures, with a degree of humorous fancy that affords much amusement to the simple audience. Dr. Henry Rink's interesting book of Esquimaux legends and traditions, which was noticed by us some time ago, would give the reader some idea of the subject-matter of this entertainment for the natives of the Arctic Region'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.