﻿356 ESKIMOS. 



fear that so much, scanty as the praise is, cannot 

 be justly said in favour of the fair sex on the 

 northern coast. The gestures and signs made by 

 young and old when they came off in the umiaks 

 were most indelicate, and more than once a wife was 

 proffered by her husband without circumlocution in 

 the presence of his companions and of the woman 

 herself. I understood, indeed, from Augustus, our 

 interpreter in 1826, that such an offer was con- 

 sidered by the nation as an act of generous hos- 

 pitality; and similar customs are said to exist 

 among the inhabitants of Tartary. 



Almost all savage people are excellent mimics, 

 and the Eskimos are not defective in this accom- 

 plishment. They imitated our speech and gestures 

 with success and much drollery ; and the men 

 excel the other native Americans in the art of 

 grimacing. When they wish to defy strangers 

 who intrude into their country, they use the most 

 extraordinary gestures and contortions of the body 

 and limbs, making at the same time hideous faces. 

 This was evidently practised systematically to 

 terrify invaders; for such as resorted to it on 

 their first interview with us, the moment that 

 they were made to understand our friendly inten- 

 tions, instantaneouslv relaxed their features into a 

 broad, good-natured grin, and came alongside our 

 boats without further hesitation. 



