PALEOLITHIC RACES 33 



rubbed very small, which they lay on one Side of the Lamp, 

 which, being lighted, burns softly, and does not cause any 

 Smoak, if they do not lay it on too thick, or in Lumps. This 

 P^ire gives such a Heat, that it not only serves to boil their 

 Victuals, but also heats their Rooms to that Degree, that it is 

 as hot as a Bagnio. But for those who are not used to this 

 Way of firing, the Smell is very disagreeable, as well by the 

 Number of burning Lamps, all fed with Train-Oil, as on account 

 of divers Sorts of raw Meat, Fishes and Fat, which they heap 

 up in their Habitations ; but especially their Urine-Tubs smell 

 most insufferably, and strikes one, that is not accustomed to it, 

 to the very Heart." 1 



On entering into winter quarters the Eskimo begins to 

 reward himself for the labours of the year : reindeer meat, seal's 

 blubber, and dried salmon furnish forth a long succession of 

 Gargantuan feasts, which continue as long as the provisions 

 last. When they give out — and in good times this will not be 

 till the darkest days are past — hunting must perforce begin 

 again. By this time the ground has long been frozen hard ; 

 rivers, lakes, and the sea are covered with a continuous sheet 

 of smooth winter ice. Hares may now be trapped ; the musk-ox, 

 which never leaves the tundra, is an easy prey, but never eaten, 

 except as a last resort ; the arctic bear may be engaged in fight, 

 and this calls for all the skill and courage shared by the two 

 men who undertake the combat. But the main food of many 

 Eskimo tribes, both now and all through the greater part of the 

 year, is provided by the seal. There are four kinds of seal in 

 the Arctic Ocean, and two of them extend northwards beyond 

 the Arctic Circle, as far as Grinnell Land. One or other species 

 is fairly plentiful up to lat. 6o° N. ; its favourite haunts are deep 

 fjords, covered for nine months of the year with smooth ice. 

 It makes holes in the ice in order to obtain air to breathe, and 

 in summer it crawls up through larger holes on to the ice to 

 bask in the sun. In spring it feeds its young in a hole under 

 the snow, and when the snow has melted away it returns to 

 the ice. The walrus, which affords a favourite food, is far less 

 widely distributed. It is most dainty in its choice of a dwelling- 

 place ; the sea must not be too deep, the bottom must be covered 

 with abundant shellfish, and certain relations must exist between 

 the sea-currents and the ice. 



1 Hans Egede, A Description of Greenland, London, 1745, P- 11 7- 



3 



