INTELLIGENCE OF ESKIMOS. 251 



or to shed human blood without a strong motive, yet we would be 

 unwilling to trust to the humanity of a people whose cupidity is 

 easily excited, and who are accustomed to no restraint save their 

 own free will. When murder is committed, as it sometimes is. it is 

 in retaliation for injury, real or fancied ; and then the victim is 

 stolen upon while asleep and overpowered by numbers, or he receives 

 his death-wound unawares from some one behind him. 



In point of intelligence, some exhibit considerable capacity, and 

 in general they are observant and shrewd. As a people, they are 

 very communicative, those of most consideration being generally 

 most silent; and wisdom is commonly imputed to those who talk 

 least. They possess great curiosity, and are chiefly attracted by 

 whatever might be useful to themselves. In this way a gun would 

 be a study they seemed never to tire of, particularly the lock ; and 

 the blacksmith when working at the forge was, perhaps, as great 

 an attraction as there was on board the ship. They soon began to 

 appreciate prints and drawings, and latterly often borrowed books 

 of plates to amuse them at home, always taking great care of them 

 and returning them in good order. When shown the construction 

 of a pair of bellows, a few appeared to perceive and admire the 

 mechanism at once, whilst to many it remained quite a mystery to 

 the end. They were totally unable to comprehend how the sounds 

 were produced from a flute, and it was highly amusing to see one 

 of the most intelligent amongst them, who fancied there was some 

 trick practised, examine the fingers and lips of the musician to find 

 out the deceit. Every article that fell under their notice became 

 the subject of inquiry as to what were its uses, the material it was 

 made from, how it was manufactured, and if it pleased them much, 

 the name of the maker. At first they exhibited some caution in 

 receiving information, and went slyly from one to another asking 

 the same questions ; but latterly they ceased to do so. A perfect 

 stranger, especially if young, and allowed to roam at large abort 

 tho ship, would in a short time be able to name almost every one 

 on board, but in a way hardly recognisable. One boy at the end of 

 six months could count on his fingers as far as ten, mastering tho 

 letter /in four and five tolerably, but still with great effort ; and 

 learned a few other words. A number of others tried at first to 

 follow his example, without success; and it was remarked that 

 k ' pease-soup " was tho only English word generally known and 

 distinctly pronounced. Tho majority have a strong sense of the 

 ludicrous, and readily observe personal peculiarities, which they 

 will afterwards describe with great /.est. Some of them arc tolerable 

 mimics, and their efforts are sure to meet with applause, especially 



