American agriculturist, 
Tlie Icy ISegions of the North. 
My attention was first called, in an impressive 
way, to tlie wonders of the polar world by Dr. 
Hayes, who in a lecture told many wonderful 
things he and his party had seen while on a journey 
towards that portion of the earth which no man 
has probably seen—the North Pole. When I was a 
little child, and was taking my first lessons in 
Geography, it seemed to me that the earth was a 
great ball, and through the center was a rod of 
iron, which stuck out at the ends some distance 
above the surface. These ends 1 understood were 
the poles, and I sometimes pictured to myself a 
youthful adventurer, who, being more successful 
than others, found one of these poles, and climb¬ 
ing it, unfurled from its end, in triumph, the flag of 
his own country. I have outgrown both my early 
notion of the pole and the hope of ever dis¬ 
covering it. Nevertheless the polar world, or that 
portion of the earth’s surface in the region of the 
pole, is very full of interest to me. How different 
must be the life of the dwellers of the polar 
regions from that of the inhabitants of the tropics, 
or even of the temperate zone ! Instead of tall 
forests and fields of waving grain, the surface of 
the earth is made up mostly of ice and snow, with 
mosses and small stunted shrubs to give some in¬ 
dications of plant life in that frozen country. The 
number of wild animals that live there is com¬ 
paratively small, and during the long winter— 
which is a long night—many of them migrate to 
the southward, where they find a less severe cli¬ 
mate and more abundant food. 
But it is the people that dwell in the arctic world 
that perhaps interest us more than any features of 
the country itself. We give to all the people who 
live in the northernmost regions the general name 
of Esquimaux, pronounced Es-kee-mo; the name 
means “ eaters of raw flesh,” and was applied by 
more southern tribes to those living far north of 
them. Why the Esquimaux should prefer to live 
in the regions of perpetual ice and snow, aud suffer 
the severe cold of a dark arctic winter, rather than 
in the comfortable climate of a more southern 
country, I will leave for the young reader to decide. 
Perhaps the little Esquimaux man, and his still 
smaller wife, and even the baby Esquimaux enjoy 
their surroundings much better than we suppose. 
They take much comfort in their thick fur cloth¬ 
ing and the small and snug huts where often burns 
a warm fire. There is much, I have been told, in 
getting used to any thing, and this must apply to 
the dwellers of the frozen polar country. The 
little child is born into a cold world and knows not 
of the warm and balmy air of a June day in New 
York, or the mellow and pleasant air of a January 
morning in the sunny South. He may feel the 
cold ; his little feet may ache, but it is all taken as 
a part of existence, and the little fellow grows up 
surrounded with all the comforts—as far as he 
knows—of a very pleasant life. In early child¬ 
hood he has the tender care of the mother who 
educates him into a longing for the adventures of 
the bear hunt, and the killing of the seal. The 
courageous dogs are his playmates, and from them 
he gains some of the training that fits him to brave 
the storm, and take delight in journeys with 
them across the trackless waste of ice and snow. 
The artist shows us, in the engraving, some of the 
out-door life of our northern brothers. The hunt¬ 
ing of the white polar bear is one of the leading 
occupations of the Esquimaux, as its flesh and fur 
and fat furnish many of the comforts of the home. 
The amount of tact and skill which the hunters 
exercise in obtaining this valuable game is said to 
be wonderful, and even the dogs are so expert that 
their actions seem almost human. They seldom 
engage in a contest of strength with the bear, but 
in various ways retard his movements until the 
hunter arrives, when he is killed by a deep thrust 
of a lance, plunged into the left side below the 
shoulder. The central picture show's a polar bear 
at the moment of receiving a death thrust from a 
skillful hunter, while the dogs are still worrying 
the game. In capturing the seal, the hunter w'atches 
with a great degree of patience at one of the seal 
holes. So soon as the seal comes to the surface ol 
the water to breathe it is struck with a spear and 
captured. Various forms of instruments are shown, 
whole or in part, on the borders of the engraving; 
in the construction and use of these the hunters 
exhibit great ingenuity and skill. Uncle Hal. 
