BOAS.] SOCIAL LIFE — GAMES. 573 



piece of agility wliicli they iierform with tolerable quickness, considering the hulky 

 and awkward nature of their dress. * * * Then the same woman came for- 

 ward, and letting lier arms hang down loosely and bending her body very much for- 

 ward, shook lierself with extreme violence, as if her whole frame had been sti-ongly 

 convulsed, uttering at the same time, in a wild tone of voice, some of the unnatural 

 sounds before mentioned. 



This being at an end, a new exhibition was commenced in which ten or twelve 

 women took a part, and wliich om- gentlemen comjjared to lilind man's bufif. A circle 

 being formed, and a boy dispatched to look out at the door of the but, a woman 

 placed herself in the center, and, after making a viiriety of guttural noises for about 

 half .a minute, shut her eyes, and ran iilmut till she had taken hold of one of the 

 others, whose busmess it then became I., ink.- lui si at ion in the center, so that almost 

 every woman in her turn occupied this post, ami in her own pecuhar way, either 

 by distortion of countenance or other gestures, performed her part in the game. 

 This continued three-quarters of an horn-, and, from the precaution of placing a 

 lookout who was withdrawn when it was over, a-s well as from some very expressive 

 signs wliich need not here be mentioned, there is reason to beUeve that it is usually 

 followed by cei-tain indecencies, with which their husbands are not to be ac- 

 quainted.. * * * 



The most common amusement however, and to which their husbands made no 

 objection, they performed at Winter Island expressly for our gratification. The 

 females, being collected to the number of ten or twelve, stood in as laj-ge a chcle as 

 the hut would admit, with a man in the center. He began by a sort of half howl- 

 mg, half singing noise, which appeared as if designed to call the attention of the 

 women, the lattersoon commencuig the Amna Aya som;. This they continued with- 

 out variety, remaining qiiite still while the man walkiil nniii.l within tin' lin-le; his 

 hoily was rather bent forward, liis eyes sometime^ cIipm.!. his arms . ..ustanlly mov- 

 ing up and down, and now and then hoarsely vocilViatii)^ a wonl ..r i\\,i as if to 

 increase the animation of the singers, who, whenever he did this, (initial thr chorus 

 and rose into the words of the song. At the end of ten minutes tla y all Ktt off at 

 once, and after one minute's interval commenced a second act preeisLly .similar and 

 of equal duration, the man continuing to invoke their muse as before. A tl.ird act 

 which followed this, varied frequently towards the close only in his tlu-owing his feet 

 up before and clapping his hands together, by which exertion he was thrown into a 

 violent perspiration. He then retu-ed, desiring a young man (who as we were in- 

 formed was the only individual of several then present thus qualified) to take his 

 place in the center as master of the ceremonies, when the same antics as before were 

 again gone through. After this description it will scarcely be necessary to remark 

 that nothing can be poorer in its way than tins tedious singing recreation, which, as 

 well as in every tiling Ln which dancing is concerned, they express by the word mumi- 

 poq. They seem, however, to take great dt light in it; and even a number of the men 

 as well as all the children crept into the hut by degrees to peep at the performance. 



The Eskimo women and children often amuse themselves vWth a game not unUke 

 our " skip-rope." Tliis is performed by two women holding the ends of a Uiie and 

 whirling it regularly round and round, while a third jumps over it in the middle ac- 

 cording to the following order. She commences by jumping twice on both feet, then 

 alternately with the right and left, and next four times with the feet slipped one be- 

 hind the other, the rope passmg once round at each jump. After this she performs 

 a circle on the ground, jumping about half a dozen times m the course of it, which 

 bringing her to her original position, the same thing is repeated as often as it can 

 be done without entangling the line. One or two of the women performed this 

 with considerable agility and adroitness, considering the clumsiness of their boots 

 and jackets, and seemed to pride themselves in some degree On the qualitication. A 



