508 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [ciiap. 



putting to a hard test the patience, not only of the scientific 

 men and officers, but also of the crew. The good nature with 

 which our sailors met their demands was above all praise. 



There was never any trace of disagreement between the 

 natives and us, and I have every reason to suppose that our 

 wintering will long be held in grateful remembrance by them, 

 especially as, in order not to spoil their seal-hunting, I strictly 

 forbade all unnecessary interference with it. 



It is probably impossible for a Chukch to take the place of a 

 European workman. It has, however, happened that Chukches 

 have gone with whalers to the Sandwich Islands, and have 

 become serviceable seamen. During our wintering two young 

 men got accustomed to come on board and there to take a hand, 

 in quite a leisurely way, at work of various kinds, as sawing 

 wood, shovelling snow, getting ice on board, &c. In return they 

 got food that had been left over, and thus, for the most part, 

 maintained not only themselves, but also their families, during 

 the time we remained in their neighbourhood. 



If what I have here stated be comjDared with Sir Edward 

 Parrv's masterly sketches of the Eskimo at Winter Island and 

 Iglolik, and Dr. Simpson's of the Eskimo in North-western 

 America, or with the numerous accounts we possess of the 

 Eskimo in Danish Greenland, a great resemblance will be 

 found to exist between the natural disposition, mode of life, 

 failings and good qualities of the Chukches, the savage Eskimo, 

 and the Greenlanders. This resemblance is so much more 

 striking, as the Chukch and the Eskimo belong to different 

 races, and speak quite different languages, and, as the former, to 

 judge by old accounts of this people, did not, until the most 

 recent generations, sink to the unwarlike, peace-loving, harmless, 

 anarchic, and non-religious standpoint which they have now 

 reached. It ought to be observed, however, that in the Eskimo 

 of Danish Greenland no considerable alteration has been brought 

 about by their all having learned to read and write and profess 

 the Christian religion — although with an indifference to the 

 consequences of original sin, the mysteries of redemption, and 

 the punishments of hell, which all imaginable missionary zeal 

 ,has not succeeded in overcoming. Their innocent natural state 

 has not been altered in any considerable degree by being 

 subjected to these conditions of culture. It is certain besides, 

 that the blood which flows in the veins of the Greenlander is 

 not pure Eskimo blood, but is mingled with the blood of some of 

 the proudest martial races in the world. When we consider how 

 rapidly, even now, when Greenland is in constant communica- 

 tion with the European mother-country, all descendants of 

 mixed blood become complete Eskimo in language and mode of 

 life, how difficult it often is, even for parents of pure European 



