644 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



is first t(j mai'k some i^oiuts the relative positious of which are well 

 known. They like to stand on a hill and to look around in order to 

 place these correctly. This done, the details are inserted. It is 

 remarkable that their ideas of the relative position and direction of 

 coasts far distant one from another are so very clear. Copies of some 

 charts drawn by Eskimo of Cumberland Sound and Davis Strait are 

 here introduced (Plate IV, p. 643,- and Figs. 543-546). A comparison 

 between the maps and these charts will prove their correctness. Fre- 



vTi by Itii. a Nugriiniio. (Oripimxl iu the Mu- 



queutly the draftsman makes his own country, with which he is best 

 acquainted, too large; if some principal points are marked first, he 

 will avoid this mistake. The distance between the extreme points 

 represented in the first chart (Fig. 543) is about five hundred miles. 



The Eskimo have a sort of calendar. They divide the year into 

 thirteen months, the names of which vary a great deal, according to 

 the tribes and according to the latitude of the place. The surplus is 



