( 492 ) 



CHAPTEE XIV. 



MODERN SAVAGES continued. 



Esquimaux. 



THE Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux alone among savage 

 races, occupy both the Old and the New World. They 

 inhabit the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Green- 

 land; and throughout this great extent of country the language, 

 appearance, habits, occupations, and weapons of the natives 

 are very similar, and it must be added that the latter are 

 most ingenious. The language of the Innuit, or Esquimaux, 

 is akin to that of the North American Indians in structure, 

 while their appearance has a decided likeness, particularly 

 about the eyes, to the Chinese and Tartars. 



Their dwellings are of two kinds. The summer they pass 

 in tents or wigwams, with the entrance to the south or south- 

 east. In those observed by Captain Parry, the tent-poles 

 were, in the absence of wood, formed of stags' horns, or bones 

 lashed together. The lower borders of the skins were held 

 down by large stones. These were sometimes built up into 

 regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter, and four or five 

 feet high.* These circles were at first supposed to be the 

 remains of winter-houses ; but it was subsequently ascertained 

 that they were exclusively used for extending the skins of the 

 summer-tents. Near these " hut circles," long rows of stand- 

 ing stones were several times observed.-)* The winter-houses 



* Parry's Voyage, 1821-23, pp. 17, 51. 

 t 1. c. pp. 62, 285, 363. 



