M'Keevor's Voyarje to Hudson's Bay. $1 



their backs. In place of thread they make use of the sinews 

 of the rein-deer, the fibres of which they split very fine, and 

 afterwards twist them in double or triple plies, according as 

 they are required. Their needles are made either of ivory, or 

 of the very fine bones of birds and fishes. A few of them, 

 however, have got steel needles. 



For the purpose of guarding off the intense light reflected 

 from the snow, they make use of a very ingenious kind of 

 spectacles, or snow-eyes, as they call them. They are formed 

 from one solid piece of wood, and are excavated on the inside 

 for the purpose of receiving the bridge of the nose and pro- 

 jecting part of the eye-ball. Opposite to either eye is a narro\v 

 transverse slit, about an inch and a half long. In front they 

 are sloped off on either side at an oblique angle. At top there 

 is a small horizontal ledge, which projects out for about an 

 inch. They are tied beliind by means of a slip of seal-skin, 

 which is attached to either extremity of the wood.* The one 

 that I have got in my possession measures about four inches 

 in length and two in breadth. Mr. Ellis asserts, that when 

 they would observe any object at a great distance, they com- 

 monly look through them as we do through a telescope. 



Their canoes are deserving of particular attention, as welt 

 from the peculiarity of their form as for their neatness, and 

 even elegance with which they are constructed. They are in ge- 

 neral about twenty feet long, two feet broad at the widest part, 

 and of an oblong shape. The frame-work is made of pieces of 

 wood or whalebone, fastened together by means of the sinews 

 of animals; they are covered with seal-skin parchment all 

 over, with the exception of a central aperture, which is left 

 large enough to admit the body of a man ; into this the Esqui- 

 meaux thrusts himself up to the waist, his feet being stretched 

 forward. To the central opening a flat hoop is fitted, rising- 

 about a couple of inches ; to this a skin is attached, which he 

 fastens so tight about him as to exclude all wet ; the rim also 

 serves the purpose of preventing any water, which may have 

 lodged on the deck, from getting into the canoe. The paddle 

 of the Equimeatix is about ten feet long; narrow in the centre; 

 broad and flat at either extremity : when seated in his canoe 



* De Paw gives the following description of this cxirious contrivance 

 " Le danger d'etre aveugles par la neige, a encore enseigne aux Eski- 

 matix a se servir d'une espece de lunettes qn'ils portent tout 1'ete sur les 

 yeux, ces sont deux planches minces, percees en deux endroits avec une 

 alene ou une arrete de poisson de sorte qu'il n'y a qu'uue tres-petite ouver- 

 ture pour le passage de la lumiere ; cet instrument qu'on attache derriere la 

 tete avec un boyau de phocas, &c. Vid. De Paw sur les Americans. 



