THE WORLD'S WONDKUS. 



f?47 



are taxed to procure a living ; always pressed for food, and jet 

 wonderful y hospitable ; true barbarians, but none the less peace- 

 able and clever. How different from other indolent and improv- 

 ident races. In the hot climates nature yields a prodigal supply 

 of nourishing fruits, and tempers the winds so generously that 

 clothing is even unnecessary, thus fulfilling all the conditions to 

 inspire effeminacy and languor. Away in the chilly North nature 

 withholds her gifts of foo'd and warmth, and then with hard and 

 pitiless niggardness, she drives such chilly blasts as if life within 

 her sphere had angered her. Under a glinting sky of frost, 



TYPES OF ESQUIMAUX. 



within an unbroken landscape of inexpressibly lonesome desola- 

 tion, the Esquimau makes his home and lives, despite the rigor 

 and barren waste of his nameless country. 



These wonderful children of eccentric creation are controlled 

 by no law, either written or traditional, and acknowledge account- 

 ability only to their own conscience, and yet they are orderly and 

 given little to crime. They have patriarchs in their tribes who 

 give advice but never assert authority. Esquimau children 

 render singular obedience to their parents, even after reaching 

 maturity, which proceeds from a remarkable fraternal devotion, 



