4G0 THE POLAR WORLD. 



is, the substance in wliicli whalebone is set, is a special Innuit delicacy; it looks 

 like cocoa-nut meat, and tastes like unripe chestnuts. Hall coidd not fidly ap- 

 ju'eciate this ; but he adds savingly, "If the struggle was for life, and its jires- 

 ervation di'])ended upon the act, I would undoubtedly eat whale's gum mitil I 

 got sometliing better to my liking." Once a substance which looked like a 

 choice bit from a lurkey\s breast was handed to him. He thought he had 

 stumbled upon a delicacy, but after vainly trying to masticate it for half an 

 hour, he found it as solid as when he began. Tliis substance was tha ligament 

 lying between the vertebra3 of the whale. He had made a mistake in the way 

 of disposing of it. The Innuit mode is to take a huge piece into the mouth, 

 lubricate it thoroughly, and then bolt it whole, as the boa constrictor swallows 

 a deer. Hall tiiinks well of the Innuit practice of eating their meat raw, in a 

 sanitary point of view ; but he never quite liked it. He never fully came up to 

 the opinion of Mansfield Parkyns, the Abyssinian traveller, who assures us that 

 no man knows what a good beef-steak is until he has eaten it raw, before it has 

 had time to get cold. 



The costume of the Tnnuits is admirably adapted to the climate. The win- 

 ter dress, commencing with the feet, is thus composed : Long stockings of rein- 

 deer skin, with the hairy side next to the person ; socks of eider-duck skin, with 

 the feathers on both sides, and of seal-skin with the hair outside ; boots, the 

 legs of reindeer skin with the hair outside, the soles of seal-skin. The jacket 

 is of reindeer skin, fitting rather loosely ; those of the women have long tails 

 reaching almost to the ground. The ornamentation of the female dress de- 

 pends on the means and taste of the wearer. One "very pretty style, ' men 

 tioned by Mr. Hall, had a fringe of colored beads across the neck, bowls of 

 Britannic-metal tea-spoons down the front flap, and a double row of copper 

 cents, surmounted by a small bell, down the tail, Avhich was bordered by a 

 beading of leaden shot. The jacket has no opening before or behind, but is 

 slipiKMl on over the head. The women's jacket has a hood whicli serves a 

 variety of purposes, among others, that of carrying the children. The breeches 

 reach below the knee, and are fastened by a string drawn about the waist 

 Finger-rings and a head-band of bright brass, complete the fashionable cosr 

 tume. 



The religious ideas of the Tnnuits are A'ery vague. They believe that there 

 is one Supreme Being who created tho earth, sea, and stars ; and also a second- 

 ary divinity, his daughter, who created all things having life, whether animal 

 or vegetable. She is the tutelary deity of the Imiuits. They believe in a heavr 

 en and a hell, but have no very well defined ideas about them. According ty K 

 Tookoolito, heaven was upward ; it is light there all the time, and there are 119 K, 

 ice or storms. Hell is downward; no sun there, but storms and snows all thp 

 while; it is cold, and tliere is a great deal of ice there. x\ny one Avho has beep 

 killed by accident goes straight to heaven. They have a kind of priests, qr 

 lather conjurers, called Angekos, whose business is to charm away sickness, Hu 

 and secure good hunting-seasons, with an abundance of seals, walrus, and dee% Ml 

 and an early disappearance of the ice. When his services are called for, he jpHii 

 always, like a wise man, careful to get his pay in advance, and it is generally B^'. 



