﻿242 THE ESKIMOS. August, 



necessary to elicit the real fact. The comfort, and 

 not unfrequently the lives, of parties of the timid 

 Slave or Hare Indians are sacrificed by this mi- 

 serable propensity. Thus, a young fellow often 

 originates a story of his having discovered traces 

 of an enemy for which there is no real foundation. 

 This tale, though not credited at first, makes some 

 impression on the fears of the others, and soon 

 receives confirmation from their excited imasfina- 

 tions. The story increases in importance, a panic 

 seizes the whole party, they fly with precipitation 

 from their hunting-grounds, and if they are distant 

 from a trading post, or large body of their nation, 

 many of the number often perish in their flight by 

 famine. 



The Eskimos are essentially a littoral people, 

 and inhabit nearly five thousand miles of sea-board, 

 from the Straits of Belleisle to the Peninsula of 

 Alaska ; not taking into the measurement the 

 various indentations of the coast-line, nor including 

 w^est and east Greenland, in which latter locality 

 they make their nearest approach to the western 

 coasts of the old world. Throughout the great 

 linear range here indicated, there is no material 

 change in their language, nor any variation beyond 

 what would be esteemed in England a mere pro- 

 vincialism. Albert, who was born on the East 

 Main, or western shore of James's Bay, had no 



