320 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [Vo.. VI. 
See how they shift and change, 
Watch them there to the south, 
How the one makes beautiful the other ; 
How they mount his southern slopes, 
Hiding him from the stormy sea, 
Each lending beauty to the other.” 
And yet the Eskimo have, very generally, been esteemed the lowest, 
perhaps, of all human races. 
Another Eskimo lyric of nature was recorded by Dr. Franz Boas, 
while with the natives of Cumberland Sound. It is a “Summer Song,” 
and was “composed by Oxaitoq, who, believing himself offended by 
some people, leit the village and went on a long hunting trip inland. In 
the solitude of the mountains he gave vent to his feelings by this song” 
~ (Journal of Amer. Folk Lore, X., p. 114): 
““ Ajaja! It is pleasant, it is pleasant at last, the great world when it is summer at last. 
Ajaja! It is pleasant, itis pleasant at last, the great world, when our caribous begin 
to come. 
Ajaja ! When the little brooks make a great noise, make a great noise, in our country 
in summer. 
Ajaja! When the great water has spread over the ice, I cannot walk to the rock 
across there. 
Ajaja ! I feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for them, the gulls, for they cannot speak. 
Ajaja! I feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for them, the ravens, for they cannot speak. 
. 
I cannot obtain that kind of food, but I got the little sculpins quickly. 
‘The old bad fox has found a smooth slope (of sand or snow), has found a smooth slope 
(in which to make his hole).” 
As Dr. G. Brinton has remarked, “ The priests were also close observers 
of nature, and were the first to discover its simple laws” (Z.C. p. 43.) 
In all lands and among all peoples, their leisure, their seclusion, their 
meditation, their dances, rites and ceremonies, their prayers and 
prophecies, their poetry and symbolism, have often brought them much 
nearer to nature than the common folk. | The worship of the dawn, the 
cult of the tree of life, “ the rain-making ” of the medicine man, the care 
of plant and animal oracles, the promotion of agriculture, hunting and 
fishing, and other duties that fell to the lot of the primitive priest, to say 
nothing of the determination of the feasts and festivals of the year, as 
social and religious institutions began to develop, demanded no mean 
acquaintance with the animate and inanimate phenomena of nature. 
Many of the names by which “ medicine men” and priests are known 
among the lower race evidence the wisdom and the nature-lore they 
were supposed to possess. The Delaware Indians termed them “Snakes,” 
and the natives of Chiapas gave the name of “serpents ” to “ one of their 
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