34 CRUISE_,OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
but act as a valuable antiscorbutic. These berries, and a kind of kelp, which I have seen Eskimo 
eating at Tapkan, Siberia, seem to be the only vegetable food they have. The large quantities 
of eggs easily procurable, but in most cases doubtful, also constitute a standard article of diet 
among these people, who have no scruples about eating them partly hatched. They seemed never 
to comprehend our fastidiousness in the matter and why our tastes differed so much from theirs 
in this respect. They will break an egg containing an embryonic duck or goose, extract the bird 
by one leg and devour it with all the relish of an epicure. Gull’s eggs, however, are in disrepute 
among them, for the women—who, by the way, have the same frailties and weakness as their more 
civilized sisters—believe that eating gulls’ eggs causes loss of beauty and brings on early decrepi- 
tude. The men, on the other hand, are fond of seal eyes, a tid-bit which the women believe 
increases their amorousness, and feed to their lords after the manner of ““Open your mouth and 
shut your eyes.” 
Game is as a rule very tame, and during the moulting season, when the geese are unable to 
tly, it is quite possible to kill them with a stick. At one place, Cape Thompson, Eskimo were seen 
catching birds from a high cliff with a kind of scoop-net, and I saw birds at Herald Island refuse 
to move when pelted with stones, so unaccustomed were they to the presence of man. In addi- 
tion to being very tame, game is plentiful, and not an uncommon sight, off the Siberian coast, were 
flocks of eider-ducks darkening the air and occupying several hours in passing overhead. It was 
novel sport to see the natives throw a projectile known as an “‘apluketat” into one of these 
flocks with astonishing range and accuracy, bringing down the game with the effectiveness of a 
shotgun. 
Game keeps so well in the Arctic that an instance is known of its being perfectly sweet and 
sound on an English ship after two years’ keeping, and whalemen kill a number of pigs, which 
they hang in the rigging and keep for use during the cruise. It is also noticeable that leather 
articles do not mildew as they generally do at sea, some shoes kept in a locker on board the 
Corwin having retained their polish during the entire cruise. 
The food of the Eskimo satisfies their instinctive craving for a hydrocarbon, but they do not 
allow themselves to be much disturbed or distracted in its preparation, as most of it is eaten raw. 
They occasionally boil their food, however, and some of them have learned the use of flour and 
molasses, of which they are very fond. 
Their aversion to salt is a very marked peculiarity, and they will not eat either corned beef or 
pork on this account. It may be that physiological reasons exist for this dislike. 
SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 
Omitting other ethnographic facts relative to the Eskimo, which might be treated in a system- 
atic way except for their triteness, we pass from the means of the renewal of the animal economy 
to its reproduction. Courtship and marriage, which, it is said, are conducted in the most unsenti- 
mental manner possible, are for that reason not to be discussed; and for obvious reasons many of 
the prenatal conditions cannot here be dwelt upon. Having never witnessed the act of parturition 
in an Eskimo my knowledge of the subject is merely second-hand, and consequently not worth 
detailing. It appears, though, that parturition is a function easily performed among them, and 
that it is unattended by the post-partem accidents common to civilization. As a rule the women 
are unprolific,it being uncommon to find a family numbering over three children, and the mortality 
among the new born is excessive,'owing to the ignorance and neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene. 
_ They seem, however, to be kind to their children, who in respect to crying do not show the same 
peevishness as seen in our nurseries ; indeed, the social and demonstrative good nature of the race 
seems to crop out even in babyhood, as I have often witnessed under such circumstances as a baby 
enveloped in furs in a skin canoe which lay along side the ship during a snow storm; its tiny 
hands protruding held a piece of blubber, which it sucked with apparent relish, the unique picture 
of happy contentment. It was quick to feel itself an object of attraction, and its chubby face 
returned any number of smiles of recognition. 
The manner of carrying the infant is contrary to that of civilized custom. It is borne on the 
back under the clothes of the mother, which form a pouch, and from whieh its tiny head is gen- 
erally visible over one or the other shoulder, but on being observed by strangers it shrinks like a 
