104 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



During - the summer, when tires are built out of doors, drift-wood, which is found in great 

 abundance along the shore, is used for fuel. Fires are lighted either by means of flint and steel 

 or by friction. With the former a plant resembling wild cotton is used. This being soaked in a 

 solution of gunpowder and dried, becomes very inflammable, and readily ignites from a spark. For 

 producing fire by friction, the drill bow is used by the women and children, and the ease and 

 rapidity with which they start fires is truly surprising. Matches are highly prized, but are used 

 principally for lighting the pipes. 



Food is eaten without the slightest regard to its condition. Rancid oil, rotten eggs, putrid 

 meat, and decayed fish are staple articles of food, and are eaten from the same wooden bowl, or 

 kantag, which is used for all purposes, from the chamber to the kitchen. A spoon or ladle made 

 from the horn of the mountain sheep is also in common use and serves as a spoon and drinking 

 dish. 



Although the Innuits bolt their food much in the same manner as a hungry dog does, they dc 

 not appear to be large eaters, and I am inclined to think their reputation as such owes its origin to 

 their ravenous manner, and perhaps a few isolated cases of unusually large appetites. We tried 

 them many times, giving them all they could eat, and generally found them to be satisfied with 

 what would make an ordinary meal for a white man, and often with less. While drifting in the 

 ice pack off Cape Romauzoff, in June, 1880, a party of natives from Askenac coming on board and 

 asking for bread, a dozen biscuits were given to each with a quantity of molasses. Supposing we 

 were about to witness an exhibition of remarkable eating, we prepared to take notes for the 

 benefit of ethnologists who favor the glutton theory. But great was our disappointment when, 

 after eating four or five biscuits, they carefully put the rest away and lighted their pipes with an air 

 of entire satisfaction. Another popular error exists in the belief that the Innuits eat no vegetable 

 food. The fact is they eat large quantities of berries, willow and alder leaves, sorrel, scurvy- 

 grass, and a small bulbous root which in appearance, smell, and taste, resembles wild parsnip. 

 These articles are generally eaten raw, although they are sometimes cut up and allowed to ferment 

 before being eaten. At Hotham Inlet I was offered a small wooden dish half filled with moss 

 berries floating in oil. I was compelled to decline, much to the astonishment of the generous- 

 hearted squaw who had been to some trouble to prepare them for me. A present of a few hands 

 of tobacco, however, amply repaid her and established friendly relations with the entire family. 



While taking in a supply of fresh water at Cape Thompson we had an opportunity of 

 observing their entire disregard for the condition of their food. A small traveling party from 

 Point Hope was encamped near, having stopped over to take a supply of sea birds and their eggs 

 which abound there. 



A lively trade was soon begun between the seamen and the natives, a boiled egg being 

 equivalent to a chew of tobacco. But as some of the eggs were found to be bad from a civilized 

 point of view, they were returned by the sailors and good ones demanded in their places. This 

 fastidiousness amused the natives very much. They exchanged them, however, and ate the bad 

 ones first, taking the tobacco from the mouth and placing it carefully behind the ear, a favorite 

 place with them for carrying " old quids." 



One peculiarity of the Innuits, considering that they eat no salt, seemed to me very remark- 

 able — their constant thirst. They drink enormous quantities of water. When traveling, if 

 the weather is not too cold, they are constantly taking up haudfuls of snow to eat. I was the 

 more surprised at this, as I had heard it stated to the contrary, it being said that snow eaten in 

 this way in any quantities would make the mouth and throat very sore, and that the relief from 

 thirst was only temporary. The Innuits appear to suffer no ill effects from it. They chew tobacco 

 and smoke. Their manner of smoking is entirely original. The pipes are made of stone or metal, 

 with a stem of wood, and, as in all the other articles of Innuit manufacture, considerable ingenuity 

 is displayed. A small bag worn suspended at the neck or waist contains the pipe, tobacco, and 

 utensils for lighting it. A pointed piece of metal used for cleaning the ashes from the pipe is 

 attached to the stem by a thong on perhaps a string of bright-colored glass beads The latter is 

 often seen on the women's pipes, tastefully arranged. In using the pipe a small quantity of fur is 

 plucked from the most convenient garment and placed in the bottom of the bowl, and over this a 

 pinch of finely cut tobacco. The pipe is lighted, and the smoker takes two or three vigorous draws, 



