394 



THE ESQUIMAUX. 



through a window of clear ice, 4 inches in thickness and 2 feet in diameter ; this light is very 

 soft and agreeable, like that which passes through ground glass. 



A bank of ice or snow is raised nearly around the whole apartment, and this is the founda- 

 tion of the beds and fire-places. For the beds this bank is covered with stones, paddles, 

 blades of whalebone, and twigs ; over these are spread so many skins that the beds are both 

 warm and dry. The only fire used in this severe climate, is that of a lamp to each family. 

 The lamp is a shallow stone vessel with a wick of dry moss disposed round the edge. The 

 length of this is 18 inches, and when it is all lighted, produces a brilliant light without smoke 

 or scent. It is fed by the drippings of a piece of blubber suspended over it. Around the 

 lamp is suspended a frame which is covered with garments to be dried, for whenever an Es- 

 quimaux comes in he takes oft' his outward jacket and mittens, brushes off the snow, and 

 hangs them by the lamp. The only vessel for cooking is a stone pan, which is suspended over 

 the lamp, and the principal dishes for food are a wooden tray, a cup of the horn of the musk 

 ox, and a vessel made of skins, laced tightly over a frame. 



3. Food. The Esquimaux is more solicitous for the quantity than for the quality of food. 

 Generally speaking, he eats whatever he can get, though he is the better pleased with oflals. 

 He subsists almost entii'ely on animal food, as fish, the flesh of the seal, walrus, whale deer, 

 reindeer, and musk ox. His supplies are often interrupted by accident, and this makes his 

 life one of alternate gluttony and fasting. In general the Esquimaux prefer to have their food 

 cooked, though they often eat it raw. The nature of their food is oily, yet they never use oil 

 itself as a diet, nor are their flesh or garments covered with oil like those of the Greenlanders. 



At meals, the mistress of the house takes with her fingers a large lump of meat, and gives it 

 to her husband, who places no small piece of it between his teeth, cuts it off in that position 

 with a sudden jerk of the knife, and then passes the meat and the knife to his neighbor. To 

 a stranger this seems to be a perilous operation, especially for young children, yet accidents 

 seldom occur. As these people have no means of preserving provisions, they often sufler the 

 extremity of famine. They are not, however, improvident, for they waste nothing, that is to 

 say, there is nothing that they do not eat, yet the quantity consumed is so enormous that they 

 require great supplies. Captain Parry has known them after a long fast to eat diligently for 3 

 hours, and the quantity consumed was in proportion to the time ; he says, that he speaks 

 " within bounds," in stating that a htlle girl "got through 8 pounds of solids," in a day, and 

 he mentions, that a lad consumed in 20 hours the following things, and did not think the quanti- 

 ty extraordinary. Sea horse flesh frozen, 4 pounds and 4 ounces ; do. do. boiled, 4 pounds 

 and 4 ounces ; head I pound 12 ounces ; besides this he swallowed one pint and a half of rich 

 gravy soup, 3 wine glasses of raw spirits, 1 tumbler of strong grog, and 1 gallon 1 pint of 

 water. All the Esquimaux drink large quantities of water, and in winter it is one of the chief 

 employments of the women to melt the clear ice for water. 



4. Diseases. The most common maladies are consumption, rheumatism, and opthalmia. 

 The means of cure are very limited. They use a kind of spectacles of bone to shade the 

 eyes, in which they look through a narrow orifice. 



5. Traveling. As the Esquimaux have neither crops nor permanent houses, to bind them 



to one spot, their life is in some degree migra- 

 tory, and their facilities for traveling are con- 

 siderable. They possess a valuable race of 

 dogs, similar to that of the English shepherd's 

 dog, but more muscular and broad. 



Parry also saw another race of dogs, in size 

 and form so much resembling the wolf that it 

 was not easy to distinguish between them. 

 The dogs are trained to draw the rude sledges 

 that the Esquimaux are able to construct, 

 which are about 2 feet wide and 5 feet long. 

 The runners are sometimes made of the right 

 and left jaw-bone of a whale ; but generally 

 of pieces of wood and bone lashed together, 

 with the interstices stuffed with moss, and the 

 whole secured by a coating of ice, held to- 

 gether by the severity of the climate. 



Esquimaux Dog. 



