ESQUIMAUX. 



471 



mities are small, especially the hands and feet, and 

 the fingers very short. The face is broad and flat, 

 and the nose small, and sunk very deep : this would 

 appear to be caused by the muscles of the face 

 being drawn in from intense cold. The females 

 have a fresh and good-natured expression of coun- 

 tenance. Their dress is very simple. That of the 

 men is of a double coat of deer skin, with the hair 

 inwards ; at one end a hood is formed, and raised 

 over the head ; trovvsers of the same, also double, 

 falling over the boots which extend to the knee, 

 which are of deer-skin or of the hide of the wal- 

 rus or seal. The dress of the females is very simi- 

 lar ; they are, however, distinguished by their 

 boots, so capacious, as to make each leg appear 

 as large as the body, and to give them a waddling 

 gait ; these boots form a receptacle for all the nick- 

 nacks that may come into the possession of these 

 fair orders of the north; and, in fact, answer the 

 purpose of a "reticule." Captain Parry states, 

 that they were originally used for a receptacle for 

 children, but that of late a new fashioned hood has 

 been introduced. 



Their clothes are sewn together with the thread 

 consisting of the sinews of animals; they arrange 

 their dress with some taste; and, from the rich 

 variety of furs, the most showy of which the la- 

 dies turn into borders, they, on gala days, make a 

 splendid appearance. But the taste of some was 

 not so good ; in lieu of beads they sometimes form 

 ornamental girdles of the teeth of the fox, wolf, 

 or musk ox ; and one, to be finer than the rest, had 

 fringed her jacket with a long row of foxes' noses: 

 these were however suspected to be regarded as 

 amulets or charms. To complete their beauty, 

 *he women paint their skin by drawing a needle 

 under the epidermis, with a thread dipped in lamp- 

 black and oil; and after sewing and drawing out 

 the needle, and pressing the part, it leaves a per- 

 manent olive tint. 



Hunting is the only resource of these poor peo- 

 ple ; they pass their whole lives in adventure, 

 which forms a determined character. When not 

 able to procure wood or iron, their ingenuity turns 

 t.he bones of animals into their implements ; and 

 their cord or line is formed by cutting the toughest 

 and most elastic skins into long strips. The short 

 period of summer is employed in shooting the deer 

 with bow and arrow, the flesh of which for eating, 

 and the hide for clothing, they highly esteem. The 

 eider and other wild ducks also furnish them with 

 food, and their skins, with feathers inwards, are 

 used as clothing also. Winter drives all the ani- 

 mals to the south, and then these people are forced 

 to subsist from the products of the river the seal, 

 the walrus, and the whale which are obliged to 

 ascend to the surface for respiration. In a soli- 

 tary snow shed, erected on purpose, they watch, 

 and immediately the animal is visible, strike a dart 

 or harpoon with a line attached. When struck, it 

 plunges into the water, but forced to return at in- 

 tervals, is again attacked, till, by loss of blood and 

 fatigue, it becomes an easy prey. With a band of 

 dogs, a single Esquimaux will attack a polar bear ; 

 the dogs keep him at bay, while the master, advan- 

 cing with a spear, and avoiding with incredible 

 agility the springs of the bear, pierces him repeat- 

 edly, till, exhausted, he falls and dies. Nooses, 

 springs, and traps are also used to catch birds and 

 foxes. Immediately a walrus or other sea monster 

 is taken, shouts are raised throughout the village 

 of huts, when they all come out, and immediately 



it is brought before them, slices are cut out, and 

 every lamp has a fresh supply of oil ; the huts are 

 in a blaze of light; all the pots are filled with the 

 flesh, and the women begin cooking, occasionally 

 picking out a dainty morsel for themselves ; the 

 feast is now prepared, when, seated round, one man 

 takes up a larger piece, and severs, with his teeth, 

 as much as he can get into his mouth, and then 

 passes it to his neighbour, and so on all round till 

 it is consumed, and a fresh piece is supplied : they 

 will sometimes devour the whole of the animal at 

 one sitting. A youth, named Toolooak, is said to 

 have eaten in the Fury, within twenty-four hours, 

 ten pounds four ounces of solid food, a gallon and 

 a pint of water, with more than a pint of soup. 

 Captain Lyon, however, thought Kunzara, another 

 native, possessed more capacity of stomach; in nine- 

 teen hours he finished nine pounds fifteen ounces 

 of solid, and a gallon and a half of fluid. Such are 

 the appetites of those people, and so improvident 

 are they, that the most ample stores soon disap- 

 pear; one day they are labouring under all the evils 

 of repletion, and a few days after they are without 

 food. 



Their intellectual faculties are not, of course, 

 much developed; they cannot count beyond ten, 

 and can form no abstract ideas ; but in the mechani- 

 cal structure of their huts and implements, they 

 display great skill; from constantly migrating, they 

 have a good notion of delineating geography ; they 

 are very humorous, and fond of mimicking. The 

 first winter they appeared to be honest in the 

 extreme; but, after two or three winters, being 

 accustomed to see pieces of iron, tin pots, and 

 pieces of wood and planks, lying about, all to them, 

 as gold and jewels to the people of the south, they, 

 by degrees, yielded to the temptation of pilfering; 

 this may, however, in some degree be excused, 

 after they discovered that in their early intercourse 

 with the strangers, skins and furs of great value 

 had been exchanged by them for beads and other 

 articles of little value; for among themselves the 

 greatest integrity appeared to be observed, their 

 sledges and implements of hunting being left out- 

 side their huts without any suspicion of their los- 

 ing anything. Hospitality was a virtue they also 

 possessed ; the strangers from the south were ad- 

 mitted freely into their huts, and the women waited 

 upon them with the greatest attention, setting the 

 best food they had before them, as well as mending 

 and drying their clothes. " The women working 

 and singing, their husbands quietly mending their 

 lines, the children playing before the door, and the 

 pot boiling over the blaze of a cheerful lamp," pre- 

 sents a scene of civilized happiness little imagined 

 to exist in such desolate regions, and cheering in 

 the highest degree to the wandering voyager. 



Their religious customs are curious; their princi- 

 pal deity is called Aywillaiyoo, being the figure of a 

 female of gigantic stature, having only one eye 

 (the left), and a. pigtail reaching to the knees, and 

 so large that both hands can scarcely grasp it. 

 Captain Lyon was present when Toolemak, their 

 chief magician, summoned Aywillaiyoo to the upper 

 world to utter her oracles. They were all assem- 

 bled in a hut, and light after light was extinguished 

 till total darkness prevailed. Toolemak, with in- 

 cantations, then pretended to descend to the world 

 of spirits to bring up the oracle. Shortly after, 

 wards a low chaunt was heard, supposed to be the 

 voice of Aywillaiyoo. For half an hour, screams 

 and questions were uttered by her votaries, and 



