62 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



the violence of the surf, we saw one woman collect a lapful of these 

 &quot;dam-heads,&quot; which she, said she was going to eat. The &quot;blackskin&quot; 

 (epidermis) of the whale is considered a great delicacy by them, as by 

 all the other Eskimo who are able to procure it, and they are also very 

 fond of the tough white skin or gum round the roots of the whalebone. 1 



We saw and heard nothing of the habit so generally noticed among 

 other Eskimo and in Siberia of eating the half-digested contents of the 

 stomach of the reindeer, but we found that they were fond of the faeces 

 taken from the rectum of the deer. I find that this curious habit has 

 been noticed among Eskimo only in two other places Greenland in 

 former times and Boothia Felix. The Greenlauders ate &quot;the Dung of 

 the Rein-deer, taken out of the Guts when they clean them; the Entrails 

 of Partridges and the like Out-cast, pass for Dainties with them.&quot; 2 The 

 dung of the musk ox and reindeer when fresh were considered a delicacy 

 by the Boothians, according to J. 0. Ross. 3 The entrails of fowls are 

 also considered a great delicacy and are carefully cooked as a separate 

 dish. 4 



As far as our observations go these people eat little, if any, more fat 

 than civilized man, and, as a rule, not by itself. Fat may occasionally 

 be eaten (they are fond of the fat on the inside of duck skins), but they 

 do not habitually eat the great quantities of blubber spoken of in some 

 other places 5 or drink oil, as the Hudson Bay Eskimo are said to do 

 by Hall, or use it as a sauee for dry food, like the natives of Norton 

 Sound. It is usually supposed and generally stated in the popular ac 

 counts of the Eskimo that it is a physiological necessity for them to eat 

 enormous quantities of blubber in order to obtain a sufficient amount ot 

 carbon to enable them to maintain their animal heat in the cold climate 

 which they inhabit. A careful comparison, however, of the reports of 

 actual observers 6 shows that an excessive eating of fat is not the rule, 

 and is perhaps confined to the territory near Boothia Felix. 



Eggs of all kinds, except, of course, the smallest, are eagerly sought 

 for, but the smaller birds are seldom eaten, as it is a waste of time and 

 ammunition to pursue them. We saw this people eat no vegetable sub 

 stances, though they informed us that the buds of the willow were some 

 times eaten. Of late years they have acquired a fondness for many 

 kinds of civilized food, especially bread of any kind, flour, sugar, and 

 molasses, and some of them are learning to like salt. They were very 



Compare Hooper, Tents, etc. &quot;This, which the Tuski call their sugar,&quot; p. 174; and Hall, Arctic 

 Kesearches, p. 132 (Baffin Land). 



8 Egede, Greenland, p. 136. 



Appendix to Ross s 2d Voyage, p. xix. 



Compare the passage from Egede. just quoted, and also Kmnlien. Contributions, etc., p. 20, at Cum 

 berland Gulf. 



6 For instance, Schwatka says that the Nfitclllk of King William Land devour enormous quantities 

 of seal blubber, noticeably more in summer than the other tribes,&quot; viz, those of the western shores 

 of Hudson s Hay (Science, vol. 4, p. 544). Parry speaks of the natives of the Savage Islands, Hud 

 son s Strait, eating raw blubber and sucking the oil remaining on the skins they had emptied (2d Voy 

 age, p. 14). 



6 See for example Egede s Greenland, p. 134; Crantz. History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 144; Ball, 

 Alaska, passim; Hooper. Tents of the Tuski, p. 170; Nordenskiold, Vega. p. 110. 



