ETHNOLOGY OF TUE PRESENT DAY. 251 



reach from the chin to the middle of the thigh. A hood is attached to the 

 back part, capable of being drawn over the head ; the flap hangs down in 

 the manner of an apron, as far as the calves, and the sleeves cover the 

 fingers. Two pairs of boots are worn, with the hairy sides of the skins 

 turned inwardly. Over the boots the Esquimaux wear trowsers of reindeer 

 skin that reach far down on the legs. Many wear shoes over their bocfls, 

 and breeches of seal skin. In these clothes they appear stouter than they 

 really are. The dresses are, however, neatly made, and sometimes adorned 

 with fringes of sinew, or with strings of small bones. 



The Esquimaux are cheerful and lively, and in spite of the small size of 

 their bodies, capable of enduring the greatest fatigues. They possess some 

 skill in the arts, but also all the faults of a people of nature. Upon the 

 west coast of Greenland, and in Labrador, the greater portion have become 

 Christians. Among those that are still heathens, the infinitely good Being 

 is called Ukkowma, the bad Being, Wittike. Others call the former Toro- 

 garesook, and imagine the latter as a female without a name. {PL I, 

 Jig. 13, an Esquimaux.) 



Among the eastern Esquimaux, at least three dialects, or languages, 

 allied to each other, may be distinguished : the dialect of the inhabitants 

 of the north and west shores of Hudson's Bay, and which extends to 

 beyond Mackenzie's River ; the dialect of Greenland, which may embrace 

 two different sub-dialects, as the inhabitants of the west coast maintain no 

 intercourse with those of the east coast, and hence speak, perhaps, a differ- 

 ent dialect ; the dialect of the coast of Labrador, probably allied to the 

 language of the Esquimaux on Hudson's Bay. The Esquimaux constitut- 

 ing the western division extend along the shore of the Pacific Ocean, from 

 Behring's Strait southward as far as the end of the Peninsula of Alaska, in 

 latitude 57° north, where they may be traced towards the west, over the 

 Aleutian series of isla'nds, and eastwardly as far as the vicinity of Behring's 

 Bay and Mount St. Elias, in latitude 60° north, and longitude 140° west 

 (of Paris), where they entirely disappear. According to Captain Franklin, 

 the division line between the eastern and western Esquimaux is found on 

 the Arctic Sea at the northern extremity of the Rocky Mountains, in longi- 

 tude about 142° west ; a place where the western Esquimaux annually 

 meet those of the east, in order to barter iron or other w'ares of Russian 

 manufacture, for seal skins, train oil, and furs. This intercourse, which 

 has not been established until recently, has shown, however, that the 

 western Esquimaux speak a dialect so diflferent from that of the eastern 

 tribes, that in the beginning they had great difficulty in talking to each 

 other. The dialects of the various western tribes differ also from one 

 another, more than is the case with those of the eastern. To the western 

 tribes belong the Aleutians; the Kadiacks {Koniages) ; the Chongaches, 

 on the shores of Prince William's Land, westwardly as far as the 

 entrance of ('ook's Inlet; the Agolegmetes, at the mouths of the Rivers 

 Nushagac and Nackneck, by whom' the former inhabitants, the Uga- 

 shenzes and Sewernowzes, were driven away to the eastern part of the 

 peninsula of Alaska ; the Kiates and Kuskokwimers, the Quichpacs, Ma- 



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