LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
219 
every mouth, and as the spectators had ascertained the meaning; 
of the word, it was expected that the lips would meet in sweet 
communion, and prove the finale of the entertainment: great and 
excessive however was their surprise, when instead of the lips 
being offered, their squat and ugly noses were projected towards 
each other, and having given to each others’ nose a certain 
quantum of friction, the ceremony of kissing was completed, 
We have been informed, for we do not profess to write from any 
personal experience on a subject of so delicate a nature, that in 
its effect the European method of kissing may be compared to the 
collision of two clouds charged with electrical matter, a flame is 
occasioned, which runs through the whole frame, and which 
cannot be afterwards quenched by any exertion of the acting 
parties, and were the whole fire brigade of the metropolis to 
hasten to their assistance. Acting upon this information, which 
we have some reason to believe is founded on truth, we have felt 
an invincible desire to ascertain whether the same effect be pro¬ 
duced by the collision of the noses of the Esquimaux, as by the 
collision of the lips of the Europeans; and whether the feeling 
that is excited be more or less intense according to the size of 
the nose, or to the degree of friction that may be used. If the 
former be the case, what a universal favourite would our old 
friend Bardolph have been amongst the Esquimaux ladies, and 
as to Slawkenbergius, the extreme magnitude of his nose would 
have rendered him irresistible. In familiar parlance in this 
country, it is common to say of an individual, who takes upon 
himself the character of a Paul Pry, he 'pokes his nose every where ; 
but what might be the consequence if an Esquimaux were to poke 
his nose everywhere, or even to allow his neighbour to poke his 
nose wherever he pleased. Were the Esquimaux blessed with a 
court of law, or cursed with lawyers, some business might result 
from this indiscriminate and licentious habit of poking the nose; 
at all events, the necessity is obvious to every individual who 
travels into foreign countries to make himself acquainted with 
the customs of the natives as soon as possible, or perhaps he may 
give the most serious offence, when none whatever was intended, 
as for instance, it was possible that Capt. Ross himself might 
