THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MlBAKDA. 



delight in coffee and tobacco, both of which are deleterious to 

 them. The coffee they drink very strong, and they revel in 

 the brief exhilaration that it affords them. But they are aware 

 of its injurious effects, and young men who are destined to be 

 good seal-catchers are 

 allowed little or none. 

 It is apt to produce a 

 giddiness fatal to a kay- 

 aker, who needs to have 

 always a clear head. 

 They both chew and 

 smoke tobacco, and even 

 the little children will run 

 after you girls as well as 

 boys begging for some 

 of the precious weed. 

 Spirits are not allowed by 

 the Danish governors to 

 be sold or exchanged 

 among them ; but if by 

 any means they can pro- 

 cure any, they delight in 

 the effects produced. 

 Nansen, the Arctic ex- 

 plorer, says, in speaking 

 of these West Greenland 

 Eskimos: " They are 

 passionately fond of spirits, men and women alike not 

 because they like the taste, as I was often told, but because 

 it is so delightful to be drunk. And drunk they become 

 at every possible opportunity. Somewhat incongruously, too, 

 the women, as a rule, like their husbands best when they are 

 in a state of intoxication/' 



Living ou the verge of existence, these people have need of all 



MOTHER AND BABE. 



