396 



ESQUIMAUX. 



dress of skins for one of the officers. Captain Parry remarked, that the attention she had re- 

 ceived, seemed to have turned her head, and that " Jghuk in April, and Igliuk in February, 

 were very different persons ; " he relates, however, among a great number of traits of ingrati- 

 tude, two of a contrary feeling, that are the more impressive, as they stood alone. A woman 

 had been taken on board the ship for medical aid, where she was treated with great kindness ; 

 a short time before her death, which she knew to be near, she grasped the hand of the surgeon, 

 who had been very kind to her, and pressed it to her lips with all the strength she possessed ; 

 the husband was much aflected by this last act of his wife, and, with many tears, earnestly re- 

 peated his own thanks. 



Though the Esquimaux are remarkable for affection to their children, they have not in the 

 same degree a respect for parents. To be old, is, with them, .to be without the pale of sym- 

 pathy, or assistance. Old people and widows are often left, as in Greenland, to perish, though 

 orphans are generally protected by adoption. Captain Parry remarked, that envy was a very 

 general failing with this people ; they seemed to repine as much over a gift to their neighbor, as 

 they rejoiced in one to themselves. They had, also, more than would be expected in a rude 

 state of societ}^, a taste for scandal, which was much supported by their talent for ridicule. It 

 was very common for a little company when met, to mimic some peculiarity of their neighbors, 

 or to set forth in a ludicrous manner some discreditable occurrence. There are few disputes 

 among them ; when these occur, they are sometimes settled by conventional blows ; that is, 

 one party in turn abides the blow of the other, and he is the winner, that endures the longest. 



Wars are unknown among them ; though the Indians pursue them with ferocious vindictive- 

 ness. Captain Parry related to some of them the massacre of their countrymen described by 

 Hearne : they shuddered, and the mothers pressed their children as if the danger were pres- 

 ent. The same person says of them, "war is not their trade; they are fishermen, and not 

 warriors ; but I cannot call that man a coward, who, at the age of 21, will attack a polar bear 

 single handed, or fearlessly commrt himself to floating masses of ice, which the next puff of 

 wind may drift from the shore." 



7. Amusements. It was rarely that Captain Parry or his companions visited the huts when 

 they did not find the people engaged in some sport or game. Some consist merely in grinning 

 and grimacing, in which they are so successful, that the Captain thinks they would put the most 

 skilful horse-collar grinners out of countenance. They have a game similar to blind man's 

 buff, but the most common recreation is a recitation of certain words, uttered while the parties 

 are engaged in going through a sort of dance ; they have also the skip-rope, which is held by 

 tv/o, while the third jumps over it. They are exceedingly fond of music, although their own 

 is not of a very high grade. It is chiefly vocal, though they have a sort of drum or tambo- 

 rine. Whenever the English played or sung to them the women would bend forward to catch 

 the sounds and remove the hair from their ears. Their own songs are long ; and the most 

 common have the chorus common in Greenland, Jlmna Jlya. Captain Parry did them a 

 favor much to their taste, when he instructed them in leap frog and other games ; they became 

 expert at the former, and when he walked forth, put themselves in line and position to be jumped 

 over. 



S. Government. There is no government in force among the Esquimaux, but that of fami- 

 lies ; yet in all their settlements, they act with wonderful unanimity. There is not even a 

 word in their language to express a superior in point of station. 



9. Religiov, &c. They have no conception of a Supreme Being, and their notions are very 

 confused, concerning a future state. They have hardly any belief, that may be called religious. 

 Their superstitions relate principally to spirits, with whom their Angetkooks or conjurers are 

 supposed to have communication. 



The marriages are performed with no solemnity or ceremony, and the courtships are more 

 summary than in civilized countries. The Esquimaux, upon some intimation from his future 

 father-in-law, or other friend of the bride, goes for and carries her off, as by force, to his own 

 hut. Resistance is, as in Greenland, a part of the ceremony that custom imposes on the fe- 

 male. Generally, there is little polygamy, and all are married young. The Esquimaux did 

 not credit the assertion of the English sailors, that the most of them were unmarried. They 

 use their wives kindly, and one has only to enter their hut to see that the domestic affections 

 can flourish at this extremity of the earth. In this respect, they are far superior to any tribe 

 of Indians, in which the women are slaves to the cruelty and caprice of the stronger sex 

 Even Igliuk (mentioned l)y Parry), in whom the feeling of gratitude seemed to have no exist- 



