126 Dr King on the Industrial Arts of the Esquimaux. 



of wood or horn a foot long, to which it is secured by rivets 

 or thongs. A knife of this description, found by Hearne at 

 the mouth of the Coppermine River, was made of copper and 

 heart-shaped, while one discovered by Sir Edward Parry at 

 Melville Peninsula, was formed of iron and triangular. The 

 gallant officer is of opinion, that the Esquimaux are probably 

 indebted to an indirect communication with our factories in 

 Hudson Bay for this form. The fact, however, of Hearne 

 having found the same kind of knife at the Coppermine River, 

 of which Sir Edward Parry was not perhaps aware, would 

 appear to establish it as an invention of their own. The 

 woman's knife exactly resembles that used by our cheese- 

 mongers, which renders a particular description of it unne- 

 cessary. A sort of saw, used instead of a knife for cutting 

 blubber, was found on the eastern coast of Greenland, by 

 Captain Graah ; it consisted of a lance-formed piece of fir, 

 along the edges of which were inserted rows of sharks' teeth, 

 which were secured by small nails of bone. This instrument, 

 he adds, was formerly made use of on the west coast. Thus 

 much of the contents of an Esquimaux tool-chest. 



Fotherby, in 1615, was the first to make mention of the Es- 

 quimaux sledge, and that it was " shod or lined with bones," 

 and Captain Luke Fox, in 1631, was the first to describe it; 

 but we are indebted to Captain Cartwright, in 1770, for en- 

 tering minutely into its construction. " The sleds the Es- 

 quimaux make use of," says Captain Cartwright, " are made 

 of two spruce planks, each 21 feet long, 14 inches broad, and 

 2 inches thick, which are hewn out of separate trees (be- 

 cause they are not acquainted with the use of the pit-saw) ; 

 they are placed collaterally with the upper edges at the dis- 

 tance of about a foot asunder ; but the under edges are some- 

 what more, and secured in that position by a batten 2 inches 

 square, which is placed close under the upper edges. The 

 fore-ends are sloped off from the bottom upwards, that they 

 may rise over any inequality in the road. Boards of 18 inches 

 long are set at the upper edges of the sled, 3 inches asunder, 

 to place the goods upon, and to accommodate the driver and 

 others with a seat. The under edges are shod with the jaw- 

 bone of a whale, cut into lengths of 2 or 3 feet, half an inch 



