566 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



CHAPTEE XXXVII. 



INNUIT OR ESQUIMAUX CHARACTER, CUSTOMS, ETC. 



The Innuit Name. — Character of the People. — Their domestic Life. — Peculiar Cus- 

 toms concerning Women. — Social and political Life. — Theological Ideas. — Be- 

 lief in a God. — The Angekos. — Mingumailo and his two Wives. — His Rage 

 against Koojesse. — Superstitious Customs of the Innuits. — Customs connected 

 with Hunting. — Innuit Christmas and New Year. — Innuit Language. — Innuit Cos- 

 tume. — Native Sagacity in studying Natural History. — Anecdotes of the Seal — 

 of the Polar Bear. — Innuit Ingenuity. — Always ready in Emergencies. — Con- 

 clusion. 



The race of people whom we denominate Esquimaux are, in 

 their own language, called In-nu-it — that is, " the people." In-nu, 

 in the singular number, signifies "man;" in the plural, In-nu-it, 

 "people," "the people," or (as they understand it) "our people," 

 as distinguished from foreigners. The name Esquimaux is entire- 

 ly foreign, and not to be interpreted from any elements hitherto 

 found in their language. In illustration of its origin, a friend, 

 who is philologically devoted, has favored the author with the fol- 

 lowing suggestions : 



The appellation "Esquimaux" — of which the traders' term 

 11 Husky" is a mere corruption — is obviously derived from some 

 Algic dialect, doubtless from the Chippeway or the Cree. The 

 Cree language is very nearly the same as the Chippeway, the dif- 

 ference being merely dialectic. 



In the Chippeway, ush-he signifies "raw." In the same lan- 

 guage, um-wau signifies " he eats." From these elements we read- 

 ily form the word ush-he-um-wau, "raw he eats." And a noun 

 derived from this verb, as a national denomination, must be some 

 such form as Aish-7ce-um-oog, "raw-flesh-eaters;" the double o be- 

 ing long, like oa in boat. Use has softened this name into Es-ke- 

 moog (pronounced Es-he-moag) ; the sh of the Chippeway becom- 

 ing simple s, it would seem, in the Cree. All that remains is the 

 consideration that the French traders, of course, used the French 

 orthography. 



According to Innuit mythology, the first man was a failure — 

 that is, was imperfect, though made by the Great Being ; there- 

 fore he was cast aside and called 7coh-lu-na, or kod-Iu-na, as pro- 

 nounced by the modern Innuits, which means white man. A sec- 



