S'8 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



^^> V; 



P/(oto 



r. JF. 7 1 . Gi-enfett, of the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen. 



A PARTY OF ESKIMO, WITH THEIR TENT OF SEAL-SKIN AND BEAR-SKIX. 



ivory to represent the heads of polar bears and seals. Other carrying-straps (which, by the way,. 

 are made of hide, with a loop at one end, through which the button at the other is passed)' 

 have the button or handle made in the form of an entire seal. There are also carved ivory" 

 tiaras, or coronets, representing the heads of animals, for the ladies; as well as combs of the= 

 same material. The glass and ivory buttons inserted into the lips have been already mentioned. 

 Nowadays most of the coast Eskimo manage to secure a supply of matches (as many of them 

 also do of European fire-arms), but formerly light was obtained by means of pyrites and flint, 

 or by the fire-drill; the bow of the latter being frequently made of walrus-ivory, richly 

 ornamented with figures of various kinds. 



Hitherto no mention has been made of the well-known Eskimo dogs and the sledges they 

 draw; but, in Greenland at any rate, these form a most important element in Eskimo life. 

 The dogs are handsome, albeit decidedly wolfish -looking creatures, brutally treated by their 

 masters, and generally subsisting on the refuse and offal of the encampments. The runners of 

 the sledge are made of a pair of boards about 6 feet in length, held together by cross-bars 

 forming the seats; the structure being completed by two upright poles at the hinder end, 

 used to mount by, and also to steer the sledge on occasions when the driver is following on 

 foot. Elasticity, and consequent freedom from liability to destruction by bumping against. 

 rocks or hummocks, is afforded by the whole structure being bound together with thongs of 

 reindeer-hide. For the material to build his sledge the Eskimo is indebted to the sea; large 

 quantities of drift-wood being cast up on the shores of the countries inhabited by the race. 

 Eight dogs will draw a load of about 500 Ibs., at a pace averaging four or five miles an hour; 

 but on perfectly smooth ice as much as sixteen miles an hour may be covered by a team in. 

 good condition. 



As regards dwelling-places, the Eskimo enjoy the luxury of having summer habitations 

 totally different, both in position and in structure, from those of winter. The change is, 

 however, not so much a matter of luxury as of urgent necessity; the summer thaw rendering the- 



