646 THE WORLD *S WONDERS. 



up." Capt. Hall relates the following as illustrative of Esquimau 

 cruelty and superstition : 



"The old woman, E-vit-shung, gave a specimen of her treat- 

 ment of her own dogs, which was amusing though severe. She 

 found them one day asleep when tied up to the rocks, as was 

 often necessary to prevent their cutting with their teeth into the 

 oil-drugs and meat ; a valuable drug had just been almost entirely 

 ruined. This, however, was not the cause of E-vit-shung's 

 fearful pounding. When she arrived where some of the dogs 

 were constantly kept fast to the rocks by long thongs, she stopped 

 and commenced pelting one of the largest with stones. Every 

 time she made a throw she spoke to the dog as though he could 

 comprehend Innuit speech. What she did say amounted simply 

 to this : 



" ' Here you are, old dog, and all the rest of you, sleeping and 

 basking in the hot sun's rays all day, and at night wide awake, 

 howling, barking, and crying, keeping me and all others about 

 from getting aiw quiet sleep ; and now, old fellow, I am giving 

 you these stones for pay. As for the rest of you brutes, I will 

 give you some another time.' Her throws were of some account 

 so far as this goes : she hit every time, and made the dog cry 

 wofully. Each time she picked up a stone and held it in her 

 hand the dog watched her closely. Several false-throw motions 

 were first made by the old woman, and when the dog ceased 

 dodging out would fly the huge stone from her hand, hitting him 

 on the head, nose, or other parts of the body. My laughing so 

 heartily was from the business-like manner in which the old lady 

 addressed the dog during the severe castigation she was adminis- 

 tering to it. If E-vit-shung can whip Innuit dogs a long time 

 after they have done their evil work, and make them understand 

 just what their chastisement is for, then either she has a super- 

 natural power or the Innuit dogs are intelligent beings, moral 

 agents, so to call them." 



LIFE AND HABITS OF THE ESQUIMAUX. 



THERE is not a more singular people on the earth than those 

 living within the arctic belt ; nomadic, and yet all their resources 



