THE WHITE WORLD 



The Eskimo are, generally speaking, an industrious peo- 

 ple, healthy and strong, harmless, kindhearted, very mirth- 

 ful and rather good-looking, the children being always 

 pretty and some of the maidens beautiful. Each man has 

 a wife and the couple are dependent upon their offspring 

 for support in their old age. They are not a very prolific 

 race and we see some aged couples childless. Such cou- 

 ples adopt parentless children and in extreme cases induce 

 parents who have many offspring to sell them a boy or two. 

 The parents' affection for their children is very great and 

 they are very kind to them. I never heard of a parent 

 striking or speaking a cross word to a child. The children 

 are allowed to do pretty much as they please, but whenever 

 they are told to do anything they do it at once, and take 

 as much interest in it as they do in their games. They 

 never quarrel among themselves, and while at play may be 

 heard their merry and hearty laughter. They are all merri- 

 ment and a scowl or frown never shows itself upon their 

 faces. With but few exceptions, the men treated their 

 wives, while we were among them, with the greatest con- 

 sideration. 



Among the amusements of the Eskimo may be men- 

 tioned their public dances. Upon some of these occasions 

 they dress in white, and blacken their faces. Their skin 

 jackets and trousers are turned inside out and scraped and 

 whitened with chalk. A feather may adorn the hood of the 

 jacket. The dance is accompanied with monotonous croon- 

 ing and noises made on drums which may be likened to 

 our tambourines. Each and every dance has its special 

 object. The first one given during the winter of 1882 was 

 a sort of " surprise party " dance. They made presents to 

 one another. A couple took the floor and, after a short 

 dance to music, the ceremony of presenting some object 

 to the lady took place. Another couple went through with 

 the same performance, and was followed by another, and 

 so on until the presents were disposed of, and the ball 

 ended in a general dance. This dance furnished an occa- 

 sion for the natives to fulfil their promises made during the 

 year. They would feel very sorry if they could not fulfil 

 these promises. A few days before this dance took place, a 

 young native, U-gah-lu by name, came ,to our captain and 



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