OS, PLAIN TEACHING. 



51 



which thaws only in the summer- 

 time. The appearance of the 

 coast and fiords is one of impres- 

 sive desolation ; icebergs in vast 

 numbers surround it, and make 

 the air exceedingly cold even in 

 summer. The inhabitants are a 

 tribe of diminutive Esquimaux 

 (or Eskimos, eaters of raw flesh) ; 

 the women, 2, and the men, 3, 

 are attired in a similar costume. 

 Their dress is a complete covering 

 of seal-skins. In summer they 

 live in tents, covered with the 

 skins of the rein and fallow-deer ; 

 in winter they erect square huts, 

 4, and some of them burrow in 

 the ground beneath the snow. 

 The rein-deer, the fox, the eider- 

 duck, and the seal are among the 

 most valuable animals of Green- 

 land, and whales abound in the 

 waters that surround its shores. 

 Whale and seal fishers, 5, are here 

 frequently attacked by Polar 

 hears, 6, which, during the sum- 



mer, inhabit the ice islands, and 

 live chiefly upon seals. 



A portion of the great conti- 

 nent of North America extends 

 into the arctic regions, and its 



northernmost borders are inha- 

 bited by tribes of Esquimaux 

 Indians, 7. These are a very dif- 

 ferent peo- 

 ple from the 

 Indians of 

 North Ame- 

 rica, being 

 almostwhite 

 like Euro- 

 peans. Their 

 houses are 

 either ca- 

 verns in the 

 mountains, 

 or huts of 

 turf above 

 the ground. 

 They never 

 sow or plant 

 vegetables, living chiefly on the 

 fat of whales, seals, and walruses. 

 They eat most of their meat raw. 

 The clothes of a male, 8, and of a 

 female, 9, are similar, the latter 

 being distinguished by a kind of 

 apron. These garments are made 

 of the skins of seals, dried, and 

 sewn together by the nerves of 

 whales, which are twisted and 

 made into threads. — Quitting the 

 northern extremity of this great 

 continent, and travelling towards 

 the south, we enter the countries 

 inhabited by numerous tribes of 

 JSTorth American Indians, and 

 meet with sandy deserts, treeless 

 steppes, boundless marshes, ver- 

 dant prairies, savannahs, and enor- 

 mous forests. Here the Indian 

 hunts the wild huffalo, 10, which 

 supplies the native tribes with 

 their chief subsistence, its flesh 

 being eaten, the skin, horns, hoofs, 

 and bones converted into dresses, 

 shields, bows, etc. . 



