THE ESQUIMAUX. 121 



for the least noise awakens the watchful animals. Sometimes he 

 has recourse to stratagem, covers himself with a seal skin, and, 

 imitating the movements and gestures of the deceived phocse, 

 introduces himself into the midst of the unsuspecting troop. 



We read in the Odyssey how the " dark-featured hero," Mene- 

 laus, deigned to conceal his royal limbs under a fresh seal-skin, 

 in order to surprise Proteus, the infallible seer ; and what suffer- 

 ings his olfactory organs underwent from the 



" Unsavoury stench of oil and brackish ooze," 



until the fair sea-nymph Eidothea, whom the gallant chief 

 implored in his distress, 



" With nectar'd drops the sickening sense restor'd." 



Fortunately for the Esquimaux, his nose is less sensitive than 

 that of the son of Atreus, and without ambrosia, he willingly 

 dons a disguise which affords his unsophisticated taste the 

 pleasure of a theatrical entertainment, combined with the profit 

 of a savoury prize. Physical strength, dexterity, caution, 

 quickness of eye, and acuteness of hearing, are the indispens- 

 able qualities of the Esquimaux, and require to be exercised and 

 developed from his tenderest years. The boy of fifteen must 

 be as perfect a seal-catcher as his father, and be able to make 

 all the instruments necessary for the chase. In these inhospit- 

 able regions, every one is obliged to rely upon himself alone ; 

 there, where all the powers of the body and mind are tasked to 

 the utmost for the mere sustenance of life, weakness and want 

 of dexterity must inevitably succumb. 



Besides the savages of the north, the civilised nations also 

 give chase to the seals, or rather wage a barbarous war of exter- 

 mination against these helpless creatures. Thus, from the year 

 1786 to 1833, more than 3,000,000 sea-bears were killed on 

 the Pribilow Islands, in Behring's Sea. At Unalaschkaj the chief 

 staple-place of the Bussian Fur Company, 700,000 skins were 

 cast into the water in the year 1803, on the same principle as 

 that which induced the Dutch to burn their superfluous nutmegs, 

 viz. "not to glut the market." As a well-merited punishment 

 for this stupid slaughter, the products of the chase diminished 

 rapidly from that time until within the last few years, when a 

 better husbandry has again increased the number of the sea-bears. 



