20 A rctic and A nt arctic Exploration [part i 
These Eskimos are described as cheerful and good- 
humoured, quick-tempered but placable, and with strong 
conjugal and parental affections. They are shrewd and 
observant and some exhibit considerable capacity. Far 
to the eastward, in Boothia, the Eskimos live in snow 
houses instead of wooden huts. These snow houses are 
built of large blocks of snow carefully laid and made in 
the shape of a dome with a square hole for light. The 
dog sledges of the Boothians are rude, and the runners 
made of folded seal-skin carefully coated with ice. 
Still further east, in Melville Peninsula at the head 
of Hudson's Bay, the Eskimos average an inch or two 
more in height. Instead of lip ornaments, they tattoo 
the face, arms, and hands, and as with the Boothians their 
winter habitations are snow huts. Besides dog sledges 
they have kayaks 25 feet long, with a width of 21 and 
depth of io\ inches, but no umiaks or women's boats. 
Their dog sledges are heavy, with runners of bone scarped 
and lashed together. Their weapons are spears, bows 
and arrows, and bird darts used with a thro wing-stick. 
Thus the Eskimos spread themselves over a vast extent 
of country, wandering from Bering Strait to Labrador, 
a distance of 2000 miles. They adapted themselves to 
their environment alike in the construction of their 
dwellings and in their contrivances for fishing and 
hunting. They are equally at home whether the building 
material is plank, drift wood, stone or snow; and with 
the same versatility they adapt their weapons and sledges 
to the materials within their reach. These Eskimos, by 
reason of their vigour and courage, of their shrewdness 
and intelligence, have been among the greatest and most 
successful wanderers on the face of the earth. 
The problem of the peopling of Greenland has been 
more difficult to solve. It is now clear that the Eskimos, 
as we call them, who established themselves in Greenland, 
originally came from the north. We therefore seek for 
the evidence of movement of Arctic people. The most 
remarkable migration was that of the Onkilon, Omoki, 
and other Siberian tribes during a long period of years, 
owing apparently to pressure from the south. We are 
told that their abandoned yourts may still be seen near 
the Indigirka and Cape Chelagskoi. As we have already 
