THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 737 



Dr. Hayes then tried to teach his barbaric pupil how to count, 

 but soon found that the Esquimau could not sound the "th " in 

 three, and was so inapt in other ways that the effort was futile. 

 These people have no conception of figures, and do not enumer- 

 ate above ten ; any number beyond that is indicated by a general 

 name, so that there is no difference in their expression of the 

 number twelve and a thousand. 



ESQUIMAU LEGEND OF THE SUN AND MOON. 



THE Esquimaux have original ideas about the sun, moon, and 

 stars ; the latter serve them as time-pieces, for so closely have 

 they studied their movements that the time of night is reckoned 

 by them with great accuracy. They regard all the bright lumi- 

 naries 01 the sky as spirits of the departed, but the sun and 

 moon are brother and sister. The story of their origin is told in 

 the following strange legend : 



In a distant country there once lived an unmarried woman who 

 had several brothers. Being once at a festive gathering, she felt 

 herself suddenly and violently seized by the shoulders. This she 

 well knew was a declaration of love, for such is the custom of 

 her people ; but who the man was she could not discover, since 

 ihe hut was quite dark. There being to her knowledge no men 

 :n the village, beside her brothers, she at once suspected that it 

 jnust be one of these. She broke from him, and, running away, 

 smeared her hand with soot and oil. Upon returning to the hut 

 she was seized again, and this time she blackened one side of the 



O 7 



face of her unknown lover. A lighted taper being brought soon 

 afterward, her suspicions were confirmed. Seizing the taper, she 

 now ran out of the hut, and bounded over the rocks with the 

 fleetness of a deer. Her brother lighted a taper and pursued 

 her, but his light soon went out, yet he still continued the chase, 

 and, without having overtaken her, they came to the end of the 

 earth. Determined not to be caught, the girl then sprang out 

 into the heavens. Her brother followed her, but he stumbled" 

 while in the act of springing, and, before he could recover him- 

 self, the object of his pursuit was far away from him. Still 

 bent upon gaining the prize, he continued the race ; and from 

 47 



