THE LIVING WORLD. 
321 
^at with avidity and relish the flesh of the whale. The inhabitants of the Arctic 
regions have discovered that their environment requires rich, oleaginous food, 
and hence use the whale as food as well as for oil and bone and ivory. The 
Esquimaux or Eskimos, of Kamtchatka, north-eastern Asia, the Arctic Archi¬ 
pelago, and the North American Arctic region take their name from being eaters 
of raw flesh—they call themselves not Esquimaux, but Innuit, a word which 
in their tongue means the manly ones. Through the accounts of various explorers 
(notably of Sir John Franklin, Elisha Kent Kane and Greeley,) we know 
that the Esquimaux were not vainglorious in their assumption of a name, for. 
they have always been distinguished by many manly qualities, such as indus- 
FIRING THE GUN HARPOON. 
try, skill, hardship and activity. The necessities of their life have taught them 
to use wood and turf very sparingly, even as building material, so that their 
partially underground houses are, built of real bones of the whale; dress, 
bedding and tapestry, furnished by the seal or the reindeer; boats supplied by 
the whale and walrus ; sleds made from skins ; weapons and ornaments made 
from bone or ivory, and exhibiting a mechanical and artistic skill worthy of 
greater permanence; and finally, food and oil, if the Esquimaux would subsist 
at all; all these are from necessity derived from the spoils of the chase and 
most largely from the cetaceans which they capture. The uniform stoutness 
and good health of the Esquimaux go to show that m that climate, at least, 
