( 306 ) 
On the Intellectual Character of the Esquimaux. By RICHARD 
Kine, M.D.* (Communicated by the Ethnological So- 
ciety.) 
Vitruvius states, that “the northern nations, from cold 
and moisture, have large bodies, a white skin, red hair, grey 
eyes, and much blood, and, breathing a thick and cold air, 
are dull and slow of understanding.”+ “ The frigidity of the 
North Americans,” writes Lord Kames, ‘‘ men and women, 
differing in that particular from all other savages, is to me 
evidence of a separate race.” t 
According to Herder, “‘ The blood of man, near the pole, 
circulates but slowly, the heart beats but languidly; con- 
sequently, the unmarried live chastely, the women almost 
require compulsion to take upon them the troubles of a 
married life ; and the mother suckles her infant a long time, 
with all the profound tenacious affection of animal mater- 
nity. So hard is their fate, that, in winter, they are often 
obliged to support themselves in their caves by sucking their 
own blood.” M. Lesson says of the habits of the lyperborean 
people, ‘‘ The rigour of the climate has obliged them to dig 
for themselves subterraneous abodes. They sew with nerves 
their winter garments, made of the skins of seals, and make 
their summer dresses of the intestine of the largest whales. 
The Esquimaux is skilful in the chace of foxes and sables, 
whose skin serves him for clothing and for barter. Their 
loose morality renders the men addicted to polygamy, and 
indifferent to the virtue of their wives and daughters.”§ The 
French historian, Charlevoix, asserts that the Esquimaux 
“ are the only savages known who eat raw flesh; that they 
wear their hair in great disorder ; that their beard is so thick 
that it is difficult to discover the features ; that there is some- 
thing terrifying in their face, and that their whole exterior 
shews the animal, or is very brutish ; that of all people in 
America, there is none who correspond more with our EKuro- 
pean idea of a savage, for they are ferocious, wild, defying, 
* Read before the Ethnological Society, June 19. 1844. 
t Quoted by Lord Kames, pages 51 and 52. + Kames, p. 52. 
§ Quoted by Prichard, p. 502. 
