HALLOS ESQUIMAUX. 177 



maux, to live among them, and to share their hardships and dangers, 

 hoping, in this manner, to obtain the wished for information. In 

 this, the main object of his voyage, he has, unfortunately, been un- 

 successful ; but he has accumulated a number of interesting facts, 

 and has produced a work which, although far from faultless, will be 

 read with pleasure, and is deserving of warm commendation. The 

 manners and customs of the Esquimaux, and their extraordinary 

 peculiarities, have already been well described by previous travellers 

 in the Arctic regions ; but there are few who have so completely 

 identified themselves with this remarkable people, and have enjoyed 

 such favourable opportunities of making friends with them, as 

 appears to have been the case with Capt. Hall. 



It is impossible not to admire the determination and energy of a 

 man who could conceive and carry out such a scheme. Certainly 

 the dangers of Arctic travel are not in reality so great as they are 

 generally supposed to be. After the great storm of 1830, a thou- 

 sand shipwrecked sailors had to make their way over the ice, from 

 Baffin's Bay to the Danish settlement, a distance of 600 miles, and 

 yet they all arrived safely at their destination, except two, who died 

 from drinking. Still the hardships and discomforts are very great, 

 though Capt. Hall, with the true spirit of a traveller, makes light of 

 them, and dwells rather on the bright side of affairs. " Becording," 

 he says, " my own experience of igloo life at this time, I may here say 

 " that, ha^dng then spent twenty nights in a snow-house, I enjoyed 

 *' it exceedingly. JSow, as I look back at the past, I find no reason 

 " to utter anything different. I was as happy as circumstances 

 -' permitted, even though with Innuits only for my companions. 

 " Life has charms everywhere, and I must confess that Innuit life 

 " possesses those charms, to a great degree, for me." 



The foundation, if we may so say, of life in the far north, appears 

 to consist, on the one hand of seaweed, and on the other of moss. 

 The seaweed supports an infinite number of minute Crustacea and 

 mollusca, which in their turn afford abundant nourishment to fish, 

 which again are preyed upon by seals. The fish, the seals, and the 

 walrus, supply the principal part of their nourishment to the Es- 

 quimaux. On land, the most important vegetables appear to be the 

 reindeer moss, and a small species of Andromeda ; the latter of 

 which serves as bedding, while the former supports numerous herds 

 of reindeer, the prey of the wolves, the bears, and the Esquimaux. 

 Thus both series culminate in the Esquimaux ; but although this 

 voracious people make up for the almost entire absence of vegetable 



