216 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITI'TE. 



the winter months when other food is scarce, and this I am inclined 

 to think was the cause of the illness of several children, all of whom 

 were suffering gi-eat pain when little else was being eaten. 



Cooked food is only partaken of as a change, though it might 

 became more generally used if fuel was i)lentiful. It was very 

 amusing to see them with old fruit cans boiling small j)ieces of seal 

 or other meat over a fire of small weeds. It was usually eaten half 

 cooked and thickly coated with ashes. 



Apparently only two regular meals are eaten, one upon fii-st rising 

 in the morning and one just before retiring. At these meals they 

 might be seen each with a knife of some kind sitting round a .seal 

 with their share, taking first a piece of lean and then a ))iece of fiit as 

 we would eat bread and cheese, and, as might be supposed, their faces 

 did not present a very pretty appearance after these meals. 



Much has been said of the Eskimo's improvidence and undoubtedly, 

 like most civilized beings, when food is plentiful they do eat more 

 than usual thereby becoming lazier and less inclined to hunt ; but it 

 may be said for the credit of those in Hud.son's Strait, excepting a 

 few, they would hunt and kill at almost any time, and not so much as 

 a handful of food was ever wasted. 



Of original genius they seemed to possess little for although many 

 of their appliances for hunting and trapping are ingeniously made, 

 these have all been copied from those used by the same race, we may 

 say, centuries ago, and in proof of this statement it may be added that 

 where simple i-epairs were needed in traps and other implements, and 

 where parts of these had been lost they were quite incapable of em- 

 ploying other means to make them of i^ervice until shown by my men 

 or myself. 



A marked difference is noticed in the quality of all mechanical 

 work done by the Eskimo of the north and south shores of the Strait, 

 especially in clothes by the women, and hunting implements and 

 carved work made by the men, those on the north shore doing far the 

 neatest and best work. This may be owing to the great demand for 

 these articles by the men of the whalers who are constantly barterinif 

 with them ; while those to the southwai'd never have a chance of do- 

 ing so, and are content with more roughly made articles for their own 

 use. 



