(\-> THK P(J1NT BARROW P:«K1M0. 



the violeiict' of the surf, Ave sa-^r one woman collect a lapftil of these 

 "claui heads," which she said she was going to eat. The "blackskin" 

 (epidermis) of the whaU' is considered a great delicacy by them, as by 

 all the other Eskimo wlio are able to procure it, and they are also very 

 foud of the tough white skin or gum round the roots of the whalebone.' 



We saw and heard nothing of the habit so generally noticed among 

 other' Eskimo and in Siberia of eating the half-digested contents of the 

 stomach of the reindeer, but we found that they were fond of the fteces 

 taken from the rectum of the deer. I find that this curious habit has 

 been noticed among Eskimo only in two other places — Greenland in 

 former times and Boothia Felix. The Greenlanders ate "the Dung of 

 the Rein-deer, taken out of the Guts when they clean them; the Entrails 

 of Partridges and the like Out-cast, pass for Dainties with them."^ The 

 dung of the musk ox and reindeer when fresh were considered a deUcacy 

 by the Boothians, according to ,T. ('. Koss.' The entrails of fowls are 

 aiso considered a great d«dicacy and are carefully c(joked as a separate 

 dish.* 



As far as our observations go tliese peojile eat little, if any, more fat 

 than civilized man, and, as a rule, not liy itself. Fat may occasionally 

 be eaten (they are fond of the fat on the inside of duck skins), but they 

 do not habitually eat the great ([uantities of l)lubber spoken of in some 

 other places 5 or drink oil, as the Hudson IJay Eskimo are said to do 

 by Hall, or use it as a sauce for dry food, like the natives of Norton 

 Sound. It is usual! \- supposed and generally .stated in the popular ac- 

 counts of the Eskimo that it is a physiological necessity for them to eat 

 enormous quantities of blubber in order to obtain a suflQcient amount ot 

 carlxni to enable them to maintain their animal heat in the cold climate 

 which they inhabit. A careful comparison, however, of the reports of 

 actual observers'- shows that an exi-essive eating of fat is not the rule, 



Eggs of all kiiuls. except, of course, the smallest, are eagerly sought 

 for, but the smaller birds are seldom eaten, as it is a waste of time and 

 ammunition to pursue them. We saw this people eat no vegetable sub- 

 stances, though they informed us that the buds of the willow were some- 

 times eaten. Of late years they have acquired a fondness for many 

 kinds of civilized food, especially bread of any kind, flour, sugar, and 

 molasses, and some of them are learning to like salt. They were very 



I Compare Hooper, Tents, etc. "This, which the Tnski call their sugar," p. 174; and Hall, Arctic 

 Eescarches, p. 132 (Baflia Land). 

 'K^'OiU', Greenland, p. 136. 

 3Aii]i"-iidis to Ross's 2d Voyage, p. sis. 



h,-Thm\ (iulf. 



»F«r iust.ance, Sohwatka says that the NgtcUIk of King William Land devour enormous quantities 

 of seal blubber, "noticeably more in summer than the other tribes," viz, those of the western shores 

 of lliidson's Bay (Science, vol. 4, p. 544). Parry speaks of the natives of the Savage Islands, Hud- 

 son's strait, eating raw blubber and sucking the oil remaining on the skins they had emptied (2d Voy- 

 agi\ p- 14). 



f-Sti- for example Egede's Oreenland. p. 134; Crantz. History of (jreenland. vol. 1, p. 144; Dall, 

 Alaska, passim; Hooper. Tents of the Tuski, p. 170; Nordenskiold, Vega, p. 110. 



