Hudson's Strait and Bay. 



distinguish their yells "Chirno! chimo! tobaccamick! matchamick! " 

 which meant " Welcome ! give us tobacco! give us matches! " thus show- 

 ing that their welcome was not altogether disinterested. 



When they came alongside the ship, I threw a few plugs of tobacco 

 into the yelling crowd. In their frantic struggles to get the tobacco, 

 they nearly upset the old tub of a boat. 



At this point, the first officer of the ship, fearing that this wild 

 crowd would invade our floating home, jumped upon the bulwarks, 

 with a huge stick of wood in his hand. With a number of forcible 

 and violent Anglo-Saxon expressions, which a sailor always knows how 

 to use, accompanied by menacing gestures with the billet of wood, he 

 persuaded these lovely women to move away from the ship. It is the 

 only instance I have seen, where a sailor was ungallant to the fair sex. 



We saw at various times, during our cruise, considerable numbers of 

 the Eskimos. They interested me greatly, as being types of the human 

 race still pursuing a barbarous and nomadic life, and totally unim- 

 proved by civilization or Christianity. 



The Eskimos are the most northerly of the American native tribes, 

 residing chiefly above latitude 60° N. The name " Eskimo " was applied 

 to them by the Algonquins, a family of North American Indians, and 

 means literally, "eaters of raw meat." The term is well applied, for 

 I have never known them to cook their meat, except for the very old 

 people who had lost their teeth. They appear to show great kindness 

 and deference to the aged and are, in this respect, a pleasing contrast 

 to our wild Indian tribes. 



Most ethnologists class the Eskimos with the Mongolians. Their 

 physical characteristics give strong support to this theory. Their in- 

 genuity, their intelligence, far superior to that of most wild tribes, 

 their skill and cunning with their hands, all furnish reasonable grounds 

 for this theory. 



I have here a little carving made from a walrus tusk by one of these 

 savages, his only implements being a lile and an old nail. It repre- 

 sents an Eskimo in a kayak, or skin boat for hunting, with paddle, 

 harpoon, gaff, etc., complete. It is a perfect miniature of what it rep- 

 resents. The proportions are exact, there is not a line out of drawing, 

 and it shows a great degree of intelligence and of the art instinct, re- 

 markable in a savage who has lived in such an unfavorable environment. 

 It would indicate to me, quite as much as physical appearance, that 

 the origin of this people was Mongolian. 



We have all seen the ivory carvings of the Chinese, and I leave 

 you to judge if you cannot trace a resemblance between the work of 



