Expedition of the Alert to 



this rude barbarian and that of their more cultured and enlightened 

 relatives of the Orient. 



I have also a model of their kayak, made of seal-skin, the same ma- 

 terial which they use in their large boats. Except for its size, it is 

 exactly what they would use in going out hunting for seals or walrus. 

 You will observe that there is not a particle of metal in it. Its com- 

 ponents are seal-skin, wood and sinews probably of the cariboo. 



The Eskimos are very reticent about their religious beliefs. They 

 seem to believe in a future existence, after death. Formerly, in bury- 

 ing the dead, if the deceased had been a hunter, their custom was to 

 bury with the body, a gun, knife and other implements of the chase, 

 for use in the happy hunting grounds. Now they do not do so. When 

 asked why, they said, it is no longer necessary, that the Great Spirit has 

 restocked the hunting grounds of the spirit world with game, and that 

 the latter is now so plentiful and so devoid of pugnacity, that all which 

 is needed to kill it is a club. The truth probably is, that guns are more 

 valuable now than formerly and they do not wish to waste them. 



In this respect they modify their religious views to suit circumstances 

 with as much ingenuity as some of their more enlightened fellow- 

 beings of civilized countries. A sliding-scale in religion is sometimes 

 as convenient as it is in trade. 



I spoke of their burying the dead. Of course in that region, where 

 what little soil there is, is permanently frozen a little below the sur- 

 face, they cannot dig graves. The dead are laid out on the rocks, and 

 boulders and stones piled around and over them. 



The Eskimos are rather well versed in astronomy. They have 

 grouped the stars into constellations and have named the latter after 

 objects with which they are familiar. They know the peculiarities of 

 the pole-star and call it Nicky-chew-e-too, " the star which does not 

 move." The Pleiades they call Secky-e-cha, "the breast-bone of the 

 reindeer." The Dipper, or Ursa Major, they call Took-took-dew, "the 



The limits of this paper will not permit me to say more about these 

 people. With their manner of living, their ordinary habits and physi- 

 cal characteristics, you are probably already familiar, from what you 

 have read in books on arctic travel. 



From Stupart's Bay, we went to the westward to Nottingham and 

 Diir.uvs Islands, and relieved the men in charge of those stations. 



In addition to the difficulties arising from the ice in the Strait, the 

 total lack of light-houses and reliable charts, there are other obstacles 

 to navigation, chief of which is the unreliability of the ordinary mag- 



