ESQUIMAUX. 



395 



The runner i.. shod with a plate of hard bone, and over this, water is poured to form another 

 coating of ice, and this is renewed as often as it is worn oft'. The climate is such, that this is 

 an effectual method of shoeing for more than 6 months in 12. The dogs are harnessed by a 

 collar and a single trace, running over their backs, 'i'hey are not tied to each other, but each 

 one is attached separately to the sledge and at unequal distances, some at 20 feet and others at 

 less than half that distance. The most docile dog is the leader, and his is the longest trace. 

 The dogs do not all draw in the same direction, as the traces of some of them form an angle 

 of 40^ with the course of the sledge. The traces often become entangled, especially when a 

 dog passes from one side to the other to avoid the whip. The dog that is struck draws back 

 for an instant, then turns u])on his next neighbor, and he upon his, so that a blow upon one sel- 

 dom fails to produce a general snarling among all. A good leader is very attentive to the 

 words of the conductor, and looks back over his shoulder with great earnestness to catch the 

 word of command. The command to stop is expressed by the same words as in English, ivo 

 or woa ; though this order, like all others, depends for execution on the ability of the driver to 

 enforce it. In going homewards, he has no other way to stop the dogs, than by digging w ith 

 his heels into the ground. Ten dogs make a full team, and will draw a sledge 12 miles an 

 hoDr, and 9 of them have drawn 1,611 pounds a mile in 9 minutes. Three dogs drew Captain 

 Lyon on a sledge weighing 100 pounds, a mde in 6 minutes. On a good surface, 6 or 7 dogs 

 will perform in a day a journey of 60 miles, with nearly 1,000 weight to draw. When there 

 is no snow, the dogs are made to carry burdens in a kind of panniers, and one of them will 

 travel thus with 25 pounds. They have all names, which they answer to readily, and they are 

 more attached to their masters than gratitude alone would require, for they are never caressed, 

 and they suffer much hard usage. 



6. Character, Manners, Customs, &c. Our traits of these people are drawn rather from 

 the state in which they live, remote from European settlements ; for, in Labrador, they 

 have lost, by means of intercourse with Europeans, many of their original peculiarities. If it 

 is surprising, that, in Iceland, there should exist, not only an intelligent, but a learned people, 

 it is little less strange, that the Esquimaux, living in a climate of almost constant rigor, finding 

 shelter in rude huts of ice, and having no provision or certainty of supply for the coming day, 

 should yet be one of the most cheerful people on earth, more cheerful than even the Afri- 

 can, the native of a sunny climate, and of a country producing spontaneously the best fruits 

 of the earth. They are so fond of dancing, that it seems almost their natural gait, and they 

 are always ready to return raillery or mimicry. Captain Parry always found them playful as 

 children; he feared that some of them "would have gone into fits of delight," when they 

 heard their own names introduced into an English song. A slight present would throw the 

 females into convulsions of laughter, that were often succeeded by weeping. The ICsquimaux 

 are, far more than the Indians, a social and domestic people. This is appairent in their good 

 treatment to females, and their care and affection for their children. After a season of famine, 

 when the parents are famishing, the children are always the first supplied with food, and the 

 parents have many of the same endearments and playful ways of amusing their offspring, that 

 are common with us. An Esquimaux never punishes a child, yet the children are almost uni- 

 versally gentle, and well-disposed. In their huts these people are a picture of quiet enjoy- 

 ment, though neatness is not one of their good qualities. It is a pleasure to them to entertain 

 a stranger, and though they seldom rendered the slightest thanks for a gift, they used to thank 

 the English heartily, for eating with them. 



The principle of honesty is not, indeed, always the rule of conduct among tham, though in 

 this respect there is much difference among various tribes. Captain Franklin, in his second 

 voyage, was beset by numbers who attempted to take whatever they could lay their hands 

 upon ; though those people were said by their countrymen to be a bad tribe. Captain Parry 

 remarked the general dishonesty of the eastern tribes towards the Europeans, but had no evi- 

 dence that they did not respect the property of each other. Besides, as he remarks, to place 

 a saw, a hatchet, a knife, or a piece of iron, before an Esquimaux, is to offer a temptation as 

 irresistible as gold to an European. 



Captain Parry and his associates were as unfavorably impressed with the want of gratitude, 

 as of honesty in the people. They seldom returned thanks for any favor, and the feeling of 

 gratitude seemed to belong to them as little as the expression. A female, named Igliuk, who had 

 so great a share of sagacity, that she was called by the sailors " the wise woman," and upon 

 whom favors had been showered, was yet so deficient in gratitude, that she refused to make a 



