144 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
wintering will long be held in grateful remembrance by them, 
especially as, in order not to spoil their seal-hunting, I strictly 
forbade all unnecessary interference with it. 
It is probably impossible for a Chukch to take the place of a 
European workman. It has, however, happened that Chukches 
have gone with whalers to the Sandwich Islands, and have 
become serviceable seamen. During our wintering two young 
men got accustomed to come on board and there to take a hand, 
in quite a leisurely way, at work of various kinds, as sawing 
wood, shovelling snow, getting ice on board, &c. In return they 
got food that had been left over, and thus, for the most part, 
maintained not only themselves, but also their families, during 
the time we remained in their neighbourhood. 
If what I have here stated be compared with Sir Edward 
Parra’s masterly sketches of the Eskimo at Winter Island and 
Iglolik, and Dr. Simpson’s of the Eskimo in North-western 
America, or with the numerous accounts we possess of the 
Eskimo in Danish Greenland, a great resemblance will be 
found to exist between the natural disposition, mode of life, 
failings and good qualities of the Chukches, the savage Eskimo, 
and the Greenlanders. This resemblance is so much more 
strikinoc, as the Chukch and the Eskimo belong^ to different 
races, and speak quite different languages, and, as the former, to 
judge by old accounts of this people, did not, until the most 
recent generations, sink to the unwarlike, peace-loving, harmless, 
anarchic, and non-religious standpoint which they have noAV- 
reached. It ought to be observed, however, that in the Eskimo 
of Danish Greenland no considerable alteration has been brought 
about by their all having learned to read and write and profess 
the Christian religion—although with an indifference to the 
consequences of original sin, the mysteries of redemption, and 
the punishments of hell, which all imaginable missionary zeal 
has not succeeded in overcoming. Their innocent natural state 
has not been altered in any considerable degree by being 
