﻿358 ESKIMOS. 



boots, and other purposes where strength and du- 

 rability are required. 



Their skin kai-yaks and u-mi-aks are also peculiar 

 to the nation, and can be formed only by a people 

 who dress hides so as to be waterproof. The 

 kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, 

 used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks 

 with oars ; neither of which are employed by the 

 inland Indians, except where they have been adopted 

 from Europeans. The use of a light waterproof 

 outer dress, formed of the intestines of the whale, 

 and secured to a ledge round the aperture of the 

 kaiyak so as perfectly to exclude the water in a 

 stormy sea, is also an Eskimo invention ; and the 

 address which is acquired in the management of the 

 light, swift, but unstable kaiyak, contributes to the 

 education of a race of fearless seamen. 



The dogs of the Eskimos along their whole line 

 of coast are superior in strength to those of the 

 neighbouring nations, and are used in sledges and 

 also in the chase of rein-deer and musk-oxen. 



With respect to the religion of the Eskimos I 

 could obtain personally no satisfactory answer to 

 my inquiries ; but it is certain that belief in witch- 

 craft and the agency of evil spirits prevails 

 throughout the nation, except in Greenland and 

 Labrador, where demon worship has been com- 

 bated by Christianity. Connected with this belief 



