The sledges belonging to these Esquimaux were in general large and

heavily constructed, being more adapted to the carriage of considerable

burdens than to very quick travelling. They varied in size, being from

six and a half to nine feet in length, and from eighteen inches to two

feet in breadth. Some of those at Igloolik were of larger dimensions,

one being eleven feet in length, and weighing two hundred and sixty-eight

pounds, and two or three others above two hundred pounds. The runners

are sometimes made of the right and left jaw-bones of a whale; but more

commonly of several pieces of wood or bone scarfed and lashed together,

the interstices being filled, to make all smooth and firm, with moss

stuffed in tight, and then cemented by throwing water to freeze upon it.

The lower part of the runner is shod with a plate of harder bone, coated

with fresh-water ice to make it run smoothly and to avoid wear and tear,

both which purposes are thus completely answered. This coating is

performed with a mixture of snow and fresh water about half an inch

thick, rubbed over it till it is quite smooth and hard upon the surface,

and this is usually done a few minutes before setting out on a journey.

When the ice is only in part worn off, it is renewed by taking some water

into the mouth, and spirting it over the former coating. We noticed a

sledge which was extremely curious, on account of one of the runners and

a part of the other being constructed without the assistance of wood,

iron, or bone of any kind. For this purpose a number of seal-skins being

rolled up and disposed into the requisite shape, an outer coat of the

same kind was sewed tightly round them; this formed the upper half of the

runner, the lower part of which consisted entirely of moss moulded while

wet into the proper form, and being left to freeze, adhering firmly

together and to the skins. The usual shoeing of smooth ice beneath

completed the runner, which for more than six months out of twelve, in

this climate, was nearly as hard as any wood; and for winter use no way

inferior to those constructed of more durable materials. The crosspieces

which form the bottom of the sledge are made of bone, wood, or anything

they can muster. Over these is generally laid a seal-skin as a flooring,

and in the summertime a pair of deer’s horns are attached to the sledge

as a back, which in the winter are removed to enable them when stopping

to turn the sledge up, so as to prevent the dogs running away with it.

The whole is secured by lashings of thong, giving it a degree of strength

combined with flexibility which perhaps no other mode of fastening could

effect.

The dogs of the Esquimaux, of which these people possessed above a

hundred, have been so often described that there may seem little left to

add respecting their external appearance, habits, and use. Our visits to

Igloolik having, however, made us acquainted with some not hitherto

described, I shall here offer a further account of these invaluable

animals. In the form of their bodies, their short pricked ears, thick

furry coat, and bushy tail, they so nearly resemble the wolf of these

regions that, when of a light or brindled colour, they may easily at a

little distance be mistaken for that animal. To an eye accustomed to

both, however, a difference is perceptible in the wolf’s always keeping

his head down and his tail between his legs in running, whereas the dogs

almost always carry their tails handsomely curled over the back. A

difference less distinguishable, when the animals are apart, is the

superior size and more muscular make of the wild animal, especially about

the breast and legs. The wolf is also, in general, full two inches

taller than any Esquimaux dog we have seen; but those met with in 1818,

in the latitude of 76°, appear to come nearest to it in that respect.

The tallest dog at Igloolik stood two feet one inch from the ground,

measured at the withers; the average height was about two inches less

than this.

The colour of the dogs varies from a white, through brindled, to

black-and-white, or almost entirely black. Some are also of a reddish or

ferruginous colour, and others have a brownish-red tinge on their legs,

the rest of their bodies being of a darker colour, and these last were

observed to be generally the best dogs. Their hair in the winter is from

three to four inches long; but besides this, Nature furnishes them during

this rigorous season with a thick under-coating of close soft wool, which

they begin to cast in the spring. While thus provided, they are able to

withstand the most inclement weather without suffering from the cold; and

at whatever temperature the atmosphere may be, they require nothing but a

shelter from the wind to make them comfortable, and even this they do not

always obtain. They are also wonderfully enabled to endure the cold even

on those parts of the body which are not thus protected, for we have seen

a young puppy sleeping, with its bare paw laid on an ice-anchor, with the

thermometer at -30°, which with one of our dogs would have produced

immediate and intense pain, if not subsequent mortification. They never

bark, but have a long melancholy howl like that of the wolf, and this

they will sometimes perform in concert for a minute or two together.

They are besides always snarling and fighting among one another, by which

several of them are generally lame. When much caressed and well fed,

they become quite familiar and domestic; but this mode of treatment does

not improve their qualities as animals of draught. Being desirous of

ascertaining whether these dogs are wolves in a state of domestication, a

question which we understood to have been the subject of some

speculation, Mr. Skeoch, at my request, made a skeleton of each, when the

number of all the vertebra was found to be the same in both, and to

correspond with the well-known anatomy of the wolf.

When drawing a sledge, the dogs have a simple harness (_annoo_) of deer

or seal skin, going round the neck by one bight, and another for each of

the fore-legs, with a single thong leading over the back and attached to

the sledge as a trace. Though they appear at first sight to be huddled

together without regard to regularity, there is, in fact, considerable

attention paid to their arrangement, particularly in the selection of a

dog of peculiar spirit and sagacity, who is allowed, by a longer trace,

to precede the rest as leader, and to whom, in turning to the right or

left, the driver usually addresses himself. This choice is made without

regard to age or sex, and the rest of the dogs take precedency according

to their training or sagacity, the least effective being put nearest the

sledge. The leader is usually from eighteen to twenty feet from the fore

part of the sledge, and the hindmost dog about half that distance, so

that when ten or twelve are running together, several are nearly abreast

of each other. The driver sits quite low on the fore part of the sledge,

with his feet overhanging the snow on one side, and having in his hand a

whip, of which the handle, made either of wood, bone, or whalebone, is

eighteen inches, and the lash more than as many feet in length. The part

of the thong next the handle is plaited a little way down to stiffen it

and give it a spring, on which much of its use depends; and that which

composes the lash is chewed by the women to make it flexible in frosty

weather. The men acquire from their youth considerable expertness in the

use of this whip, the lash of which is left to trail along the ground by

the side of the sledge, and with which they can inflict a very severe

blow on any dog at pleasure. Though the dogs are kept in training

entirely by fear of the whip, and indeed without it would soon have their

own way, its immediate effect is always detrimental to the draught of the

sledge; for not only does the individual that is struck draw back and

slacken his trace, but generally turns upon his next neighbour, and this,

passing on to the next, occasions a general divergency, accompanied by

the usual yelping and showing of teeth. The dogs then come together

again by degrees, and the draught of the sledge is accelerated; but, even

at the best of times, by this rude mode of draught, the traces of

one-third of the dogs form an angle of thirty or forty degrees on each

side of the direction in which the sledge is advancing. Another great

inconvenience attending the Esquimaux method of putting the dogs to,

besides that of not employing their strength to the best advantage, is

the constant entanglement of the traces by the dogs repeatedly doubling

under from side to side to avoid the whip, so that, after running a few

miles, the traces always require to be taken off and cleared.

In directing the sledge the whip acts no very essential part, the driver

for this purpose using certain words, as the carters do with us, to make

the dogs turn more to the right or left. To these a good leader attends

with admirable precision, especially if his own name be repeated at the

same time, looking behind over his shoulder with great earnestness, as if

listening to the directions of the driver. On a beaten track, or even

where a single foot or sledge mark is occasionally discernible, there is

not the slightest trouble in guiding the dogs; for even in the darkest

night and in the heaviest snowdrift there is little or no danger of their

losing the road, the leader keeping his nose near the ground, and

directing the rest with wonderful sagacity. Where, however, there is no

beaten track, the best driver among them makes a terribly circuitous

course, as all the Esquimaux roads plainly show; these generally

occupying an extent of six miles, when with a horse and sledge the

journey would scarcely have amounted to five. On rough ground, as among

hummocks of ice, the sledge would be frequently overturned, or altogether

stopped, if the driver did not repeatedly get off, and, by lifting or

drawing it to one side, steer it clear of those accidents. At all times,

indeed, except on a smooth and well-made road, he is pretty constantly

employed thus with his feet, which, together with his never-ceasing

vociferations and frequent use of the whip, renders the driving of one of

these vehicles by no means a pleasant or easy task. When the driver

wishes to stop the sledge, he calls out “Wo, woa,” exactly as our carters

do; but the attention paid to this command depends altogether on his

ability to enforce it. If the weight is small and the journey homeward,

the dogs are not to be thus delayed; the driver is therefore obliged to

dig his heels into the snow to obstruct their progress; and having thus

succeeded in stopping them, he stands up with one leg before the foremost

cross-piece of the sledge, till, by means of laying the whip gently over

each dog’s head, he has made them all lie down. He then takes care not

to quit his position; so that should the dogs set off he is thrown upon

the sledge, instead of being left behind by them.

With heavy loads the dogs draw best with one of their own people,

especially a woman, walking a little way ahead; and in this case they are

sometimes enticed to mend their pace by holding a mitten to the mouth,

and then making the motion of cutting it with a knife, and throwing it on

the snow, when the dogs, mistaking it for meat, hasten forward to pick it

up. The women also entice them from the huts in a similar manner. The

rate at which they travel depends, of course, on the weight they have to

draw, and the road on which their journey is performed. When the latter

is level and very hard and smooth, constituting what in other parts of

North America is called “good sleighing,” six or seven dogs will draw

from eight to ten hundredweight, at the rate of seven or eight miles an

hour, for several hours together, and will easily under those

circumstances perform a journey of fifty or sixty miles a day; on

untrodden snow, five-and-twenty or thirty miles would be a good day’s

journey. The same number of well-fed dogs, with a weight of only five or

six hundred pounds (that of the sledge included), are almost

unmanageable, and will on a smooth road run any way they please at the

rate of ten miles an hour. The work performed by a greater number of

dogs is, however, by no means in proportion to this, owing to the

imperfect mode already described of employing the strength of these

sturdy creatures, and to the more frequent snarling and fighting

occasioned by an increase of numbers.

In the summer, when the absence of snow precludes the use of sledges, the

dogs are still made useful on journeys and hunting excursions, by being

employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle-bags laid across their

shoulders. A stout dog thus accoutred will accompany his master, laden

with a weight of about twenty to twenty-five pounds. When leading the

dogs, the Esquimaux take a half hitch with the trace round their necks to

prevent their pulling, and the same plan is followed when a sledge is

left without a keeper. They are also in the habit of tethering them,

when from home, by tying up one of the fore-legs; but a still more

effectual method is similar to that which we saw employed by the

Greenlanders of Prince Regent’s Bay, and consists in digging with their

spears two holes in the ice in an oblique direction and meeting each

other, so as to leave an eye-bolt, to which the dogs are fastened.

The scent of the Esquimaux dogs is excellent; and this property is turned

to account by their masters in finding the seal holes, which these

invaluable animals will discover entirely by the smell at a very great

distance. The track of a single deer upon the snow will in like manner

set them off at a full gallop, when travelling, at least a quarter of a

mile before they arrive at it, when they are with difficulty made to turn

in any other direction; and the Esquimaux are accustomed to set them

after those animals to hunt them down when already wounded with an arrow.

In killing bears the dogs act a very essential part, and two or three of

them when led on by a man will eagerly attack one of those ferocious

creatures. An Esquimaux seldom uses any other weapon than his spear and

_panna_ in this encounter, for which the readiness of the dogs may be

implied from the circumstance of the word “nennook” (bear), being often

used to encourage them when running in a sledge. Indeed, the only animal

which they are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which the greater part

of them seem to have an instinctive dread, giving notice at night of

their approach to the huts by a loud and continued howl. There is not

one dog in twenty among them that will voluntarily, or indeed without a

great deal of beating, take the water if they think it is out of their

depth, and the few that would do so were spoken of as extraordinary

exceptions.

The Esquimaux in general treat their dogs much as an unfeeling master

does his slaves; that is, they take just as much care of them as their

own interest is supposed to require. The bitches with young are in the

winter allowed to occupy a part of their own beds, where they are

carefully attended and fed by the women, who will even supply the young

ones with meat and water from their mouths as they do their own children,

and not unfrequently also carry them in their hoods to take care of them.

It is probably on this account that the dogs are always so much attached

to the women, who can at any time catch them or entice them from the huts

when the men fail. Two females that were with young on board the _Fury_

in the month of February brought forth six and seven at a litter, and the

former number were all females. Their feeding, which, both in summer and

winter, principally consists of _kāŏw_, or the skin and part of the

blubber of the walrus, is during the latter season very precarious, their

masters having then but little to spare. They therefore become extremely

thin at that time of the year, and would scarcely be recognised as the

same animals as when regularly fed in the summer. No wonder therefore

that they will eat almost anything however tough or filthy, and that

neither whipping nor shouting will prevent their turning out of the road,

even when going at full speed, to pick up whatever they espy. When at

the huts they are constantly creeping in to pilfer what they can, and

half the time of the people sitting there is occupied in vociferating

their names and driving them by most unmerciful blows out of the

apartments. The dogs have no water to drink during the winter, but lick

up some clean snow occasionally as a substitute; nor indeed if water be

offered them do they care about it unless it happens to be oily. They

take great pleasure in rolling in clean snow, especially after or during

a journey, or when they have been confined in a house during the night.

Notwithstanding the rough treatment which they receive from their masters

their attachment to them is very great, and this they display after a

short absence by jumping up and licking their faces all over with extreme

delight. The Esquimaux, however, never caress them, and indeed scarcely

ever take any notice of them but when they offend, and they are not then

sparing in their blows. The dogs have all names, to which they attend

with readiness, whether drawing in a sledge or otherwise. Their names

are frequently the same as those of the people, and in some instances are

given after the relations of their masters, which seems to be considered

an act of kindness among them. Upon the whole, notwithstanding the

services performed by these valuable creatures, I am of opinion that art

cannot well have done less towards making them useful, and that the same

means in almost any other hands would be employed to greater advantage.

*****

In the disposition of these people, there was of course among so many

individuals considerable variety as to the minute points; but in the

general features of their character, which with them are not subject to

the changes produced by foreign intercourse, one description will nearly

apply to all. The virtue which, as respected ourselves, we could most

have wished them to possess is honesty, and the impression derived from

the early part of our intercourse was certainly in this respect a

favourable one. A great many instances occurred, some of which have been

related, where they appeared even scrupulous in returning articles that

did not belong to them; and this too when detection of a theft, or at

least of the offender, would have been next to impossible. As they grew

more familiar with us, and the temptations became stronger, they

gradually relaxed in their honesty, and petty thefts were from time to

time committed by several individuals both male and female among them.

The bustle which any search for stolen goods occasioned at the huts was a

sufficient proof of their understanding the estimation in which the crime

was held by us. Until the affair was cleared up they would affect great

readiness to show every article which they had got from the ships,

repeating the name of the donor with great warmth, as if offended at our

suspicions, yet with a half-smile on their countenances at our supposed

credulity in believing them. There was, indeed, at all times some degree

of trick and cunning in this show of openness and candour; and they would

at times bring back some very trifling article that had been given them,

tendering it as a sort of expiation for the theft of another much more

valuable. When a search was making they would invent all sorts of lies

to screen themselves, not caring on whom besides the imputation fell; and

more than once they directed our people to the apartments of others who

were innocent of the offence in question. If they really knew the

offender, they were generally ready enough to inform against him, and

this with an air of affected secrecy and mysterious importance; and, as

if the dishonesty of another constituted a virtue in themselves, they

would repeat this information frequently, perhaps for a month afterwards,

setting up their neighbour’s offence as a foil to their own pretended

honesty.

In appreciating the character of these people for honesty, however, we

must not fail to make due allowance for the degree of temptation to which

they were daily exposed amidst the boundless stores of wealth which our

ships appeared to them to furnish. To draw a parallel case, we must

suppose a European of the lower class suffered to roam about amidst

hoards of gold and silver; for nothing less valuable can be justly

compared with the wood and iron that everywhere presented themselves to

their view on board the ships. The European and the Esquimaux who, in

cases so similar, both resist the temptation of stealing, must be

considered pretty nearly on a par in the scale of honesty; and judging in

this manner, the balance might possibly be found in favour of the latter

when compared with any similar number of Europeans taken at random from

the lower class.

In what has been hitherto said, regard has been had only to their

dealings with us. In their transactions among themselves there is no

doubt that, except in one or two privileged cases, such as that of

destitute widows, the strictest honesty prevails, and that as regards the

good of their own community they are generally honest people. We have in

numberless instances sent presents by one to another, and invariably

found that they had been faithfully delivered. The manner in which their

various implements are frequently left outside their huts is a proof,

indeed, that robbery is scarcely known among them. It is true that there

is not an article in the possession of one of them of which any of the

rest will not readily name the owner, and the detection of a theft would

therefore be certain and immediate. Certainty of detection, however,

among a lawless and ferocious people, instead of preventing robbery,

would more probably add violence and murder to the first crime, and the

strongest would ultimately gain the upper hand. We cannot, therefore,

but admire the undisturbed security in which these people hold their

property without having recourse to any restraint beyond that which is

incurred by the tacitly received law of mutual forbearance.

In the barter of their various commodities their dealings with us were

fair and upright, though latterly they were by no means backward or

inexpert in driving a bargain. The absurd and childish exchanges which

they at first made with our people induced them subsequently to complain

that the Kabloonas had stolen their things, though the profit had been

eventually a hundredfold in their favour. Many such complaints were made

when the only fault in the purchaser had been excessive liberality, and

frequently also as a retort by way of warding off the imputation of some

dishonesty of their own. A trick not uncommon with the women was to

endeavour to excite the commiseration and to tax the bounty of one person

by relating some cruel theft of this kind that had, as they said, been

practised upon them by another. One day, after I had bought a knife of

Togolat, she told Captain Lyon, in a most piteous tone, that _Parree_ had

stolen her last _ooloo_, that she did not know what to do without one,

and, at length coming to the point, begged him to give her one.

Presently after this, her husband coming in and asking for something to

eat, she handed him some meat accompanied by a very fine ooloo. Her son,

being thus reminded of eating, made the same request, upon which a second

knife was produced, and immediately after, a third of the same kind for

herself. Captain Lyon, having amused himself in watching these

proceedings, which so well confirmed the truth of the proverb that

certain people ought to have good memories, now took the knives, one by

one, out of their hands, and holding them up to Togolat, asked her if

Parree had not stolen her last ooloo. A hearty laugh all round was the

only notice taken by them of this direct detection of the deceit.

The confidence which they really placed in us was daily and hourly

evinced by their leaving their fishing gear stuck in the snow all round

the ships; and not a single instance occurred, to my knowledge, of any

theft committed on their property. The licking of the articles received

from us was not so common with them as with Esquimaux in general, and

this practice was latterly almost entirely left off by them.

Among the unfavourable traits in their character must be reckoned an

extreme disposition to envy, which displayed itself on various occasions

during our intercourse with them. If we had made any presents in one

hut, the inmates of the next would not fail to tell us of it,

accompanying their remarks with some satirical observation, too

unequivocally expressed to be mistaken, and generally by some stroke of

irony directed against the favoured person. If any individual with whom

we had been intimate happened to be implicated in a theft, the

circumstance became a subject of satisfaction too manifest to be

repressed, and we were told of it with expressions of the most triumphant

exultation on every occasion. It was indeed curious, though ridiculous,

to observe that, even among these simple people, and in this obscure

corner of the globe, that little gossip and scandal so commonly practised

in small societies among us were very frequently displayed. This was

especially the case with the women, of whom it was not uncommon to see a

group sitting in a hut for hours together, each relating her quota of

information, now and then mimicking the persons of whom they spoke, and

interlarding their stories with jokes evidently at the expense of their

absent neighbours, though to their own infinite amusement.

In extenuation, however, of these faults, it must be allowed that we were

ourselves the exciting cause which called them into action, and without

which they would be comparatively of rare occurrence among them. Like

every other child of Adam, they undoubtedly possess their share of the

seeds of these human frailties; but even in this respect they need not

shrink from a comparison with ourselves, for who among us can venture to

assure himself that if exposed to similar temptations he would not be

found wanting?

To another failing to which they are addicted the same excuse will not so

forcibly apply, as in this respect our acquaintance with them naturally

furnishes an opportunity for the practice of a virtue, rather than for

the development of its opposite vice. I have already, in the course of

the foregoing narrative, hinted at the want of gratitude evinced by these

people in their transactions with us. Among themselves, almost the only

case in which this sentiment can have any field for exertion is in the

conduct of children towards their parents, and in this respect, as I

shall presently have occasion to notice, their gratitude is by no means

conspicuous. Anything like a free gift is very little, if at all, known

among them. If A gives B a part of his seal to-day, the latter soon

returns an equal quantity when he is the successful fisherman. Uncertain

as their mode of living is, and dependent as they are upon each other’s

exertions, this custom is the evident and unquestionable interest of all.

The regulation does credit to their wisdom, but has nothing to do with

their generosity. This being the case, it might be supposed that our

numerous presents, for which no return was asked, would have excited in

them something like thankfulness, combined with admiration; but this was

so little the case that the _coyenna_ (thanks) which did now and then

escape them, expressed much less than even the most common-place “thank

ye” of civilised society. Some exceptions, for they were only

exceptions, and rare ones, to this rule have been mentioned as they

occurred; but, in general, however considerable the benefit conferred, it

was forgotten in a day; and this forgetfulness was not unfrequently

aggravated by their giving out that their benefactor had been so shabby

as to make them no present at all. Even those individuals who, either

from good behaviour or superior intelligence, had been most noticed by

us, and particularly such as had slept on board the ships, and whether in

health or sickness had received the most friendly treatment from

everybody, were in general just as indifferent as the rest; and I do not

believe that any one amongst them would have gone half a mile out of his

road, or have sacrificed the most trivial self-gratification, to have

served us. Though the riches lay on our side, they possessed abundant

means of making some nominal return, which, for the sake of the principle

that prompted it, would of course have been gratifying to us. Okotook

and Iligliuk, whom I had most loaded with presents, and who had never

offered me a single free gift in return, put into my hand, at the time of

their first removal from Winter Island, a dirty crooked model of a spear,

so shabbily constructed that it had probably been already refused as an

article of barter by many of the ship’s company. On my accepting this,

from an unwillingness to affront them, they were uneasy and dissatisfied

till I had given them something in return, though their hands were full

of the presents which I had just made them. Selfishness is, in fact,

almost without exception their universal characteristic, and the

main-spring of all their actions, and that, too, of a kind the most

direct and unamiable that can well be imagined.

In the few opportunities we had of putting their hospitality to the test,

we had every reason to be pleased with them. Both as to food and

accommodation, the best they had were always at our service; and their

attention, both in kind and degree, was everything that hospitality and

even good breeding could dictate. The kindly offices of drying and

mending our clothes, cooking our provision, and thawing snow for our

drink were performed by the women with an obliging cheerfulness which we

shall not easily forget, and which commanded its due share of our

admiration and esteem. While thus their guest, I have passed an evening

not only with comfort, but with extreme gratification; for with the women

working and singing, their husbands quietly mending their lines, the

children playing before the door, and the pot boiling over the blaze of a

cheerful lamp, one might well forget for the time that an Esquimaux hut

was the scene of this domestic comfort and tranquillity; and I can safely

affirm with Cartwright, that, while thus lodged beneath their roof, I

know no people whom I would more confidently trust, as respects either my

person or my property, than the Esquimaux. It is painful, and may

perhaps be considered invidious after this, to inquire how far their

hospitality would in all probability be extended if interest were wholly

separated from its practice, and a stranger were destitute and unlikely

soon to repay them. But truth obliges me to confess that, from the

extreme selfishness of their general conduct, as well as from their

behaviour in some instances to the destitute of their own tribe, I should

be sorry to lie under the necessity of thus drawing very largely on their

bounty.

The estimation in which women are held among these people is, I think,

somewhat greater than is usual in savage life. In their general

employments they are by no means the drudges that the wives of the

Greenlanders are said to be; being occupied only in those cares which may

properly be called domestic, and as such are considered the peculiar

business of the women among the lower classes in civilised society. The

wife of one of these people, for instance, makes and attends the fire,

cooks the victuals, looks after the children, and is sempstress to her

whole family; while her husband is labouring abroad for their

subsistence. In this respect it is not even necessary to except their

task of cutting up the small seals, which is, in truth, one of the

greatest luxuries and privileges they enjoy; and even if it were esteemed

a labour, it could scarcely be considered equivalent to that of the women

in many of our own fishing-towns, where the men’s business is at an end

the moment the boat touches the beach. The most laborious of their tasks

occurs perhaps in making their various journeys, when all their goods and

chattels are to be removed at once, and when each individual must

undoubtedly perform a full share of the general labour. The women are,

however, good walkers, and not easily fatigued; for we have several times

known a young woman of two-and-twenty, with a child in her hood, walk

twelve miles to the ships and back again the same day for the sake of a

little bread-dust and a tin canister. When stationary in the winter,

they have really almost a sinecure of it, sitting quietly in their huts,

and having little or no employment for the greater part of the day. In

short, there are few, if any, people in this state of society among whom

the women are so well off. They always sit upon the beds with their legs

doubled under them, and are uneasy in the posture usual with us. The men

sometimes sit as we do, but more generally with their legs crossed before

them.

The women do not appear to be in general very prolific. Illumea, indeed,

had borne seven children, but no second instance of an equal number in

one family afterwards came to our knowledge; three or four is about the

usual number. They are, according to their own account, in the habit of

suckling their children to the age of three years; but we have seen a

child of five occasionally at the breast, though they are dismissed from

the mother’s hood at about the former age. The time of weaning them must

of course, in some instances, depend on the mother’s again becoming

pregnant, and if this succeeds quickly it must, as Crantz relates of the

Greenlanders, go hard with one of the infants. Nature, however, seems to

be kind to them in this respect, for we did not witness one instance, nor

hear of any, in which a woman was put to this inconvenience and distress.

It is not uncommon to see one woman suckling the child of another, while

the latter happens to be employed in her other domestic occupations.

They are in the habit also of feeding their younger children from their

own mouths, softening the food by mastication, and then turning their

heads round, so that the infant in the hood may put its lips to theirs.

The chill is taken from water for them in the same manner, and some

fathers are very fond of taking their children on their knees and thus

feeding them. The women are more desirous of having sons than daughters,

as on the former must principally depend their support in old age.

Twelve of the men had each two wives, and some of the younger ones had

also two betrothed; two instances occurred of the father and son being

married to sisters. The custom of betrothing children in their infancy

is commonly practised here, in which respect these people differ from the

natives of Greenland, where it is comparatively rare. A daughter of

Arnaneelia, between two and three years old, had long been thus

contracted to Okotook’s son, a hero of six or seven, and the latter used

to run about the hut, calling his intended by the familiar appellation of

_Nŏŏllē-ă_ (wife), to the great amusement of the parents. When a man has

two wives, there is generally a difference of five or six years in their

ages. The senior takes her station next the principal fire, which comes

entirely under her management; and she is certainly considered in some

respects superior to the other, though they usually live together in the

utmost harmony. The men sometimes repudiate their wives without

ceremony, in case of real or supposed bad behaviour, as in Greenland, but

this does not often occur. There was a considerable disparity of age

between many of the men and their wives, the husband being sometimes the

oldest by twenty years or more, and this also when he had never married

any former wife. We knew no instance in which the number of a man’s

wives exceeded two, and indeed we had every reason to believe that the

practice is never admitted among them. We met with a singular instance

of two men having exchanged wives, in consequence merely of one of the

latter being pregnant at the time when her husband was about to undertake

a long journey.

The authority of the husband seems to be sufficiently absolute, depending

nevertheless in great measure on the dispositions of the respective

parties. Iligliuk was one of those women who seemed formed to manage

their husbands; and we one day saw her take Okotook to task in a very

masterly style for having bartered away a good jacket for an old useless

pistol without powder or shot. He attempted at first to bluster in his

turn, and with most women would probably have gained his point. But with

Iligliuk this would not do; she saw at once the absurdity of his bargain,

and insisted on his immediately cancelling it, which was accordingly

done, and no more said about it. In general, indeed, the husband

maintains his authority, and in several instances of supposed bad

behaviour in a wife, we saw obedience enforced in a pretty summary

manner. It is very rare, however, to see them proceed to this extremity;

and the utmost extent of a husband’s want of tenderness towards his wife

consists in general in making her walk or lead the dogs, while he takes

his own seat in the sledge and rides in comfort. Widows, as might be

expected, are not so well off as those whose husbands are living, and

this difference is especially apparent in their clothes, which are

usually very dirty, thin, and ragged; when indeed they happen to have no

near relatives, their fate, as we have already seen, is still worse than

this.

I fear we cannot give a very favourable account of the chastity of the

women, nor of the delicacy of their husbands in this respect. As for the

latter, it was not uncommon for them to offer their wives as freely for

sale as a knife or a jacket. Some of the young men informed us that,

when two of them were absent together on a sealing excursion, they often

exchanged wives for the time, as a matter of friendly convenience; and

indeed, without mentioning any other instances of this nature, it may

safely be affirmed that in no country is prostitution carried to greater

lengths than among these people. The behaviour of most of the women when

their husbands were absent from the huts plainly evinced their

indifference towards them, and their utter disregard of connubial

fidelity. The departure of the men was usually the signal for throwing

aside restraint, which was invariably resumed on their return. For this

event they take care to be prepared by the report of the children, one of

whom is usually posted on the outside for the purpose of giving due

notice.

The affection of parents for their children was frequently displayed by

these people, not only in the mere passive indulgence, and abstinence

from corporal punishment, for which Esquimaux have before been remarked,

but by a thousand playful endearments also, such as parents and nurses

practise in our own country. Nothing indeed can well exceed the kindness

with which they treat their children; and this trait in their character

deserves to be the more insisted on, because it is in reality the only

very amiable one which they possess. It must be confessed, indeed, that

the gentleness and docility of the children are such as to occasion their

parents little trouble, and to render severity towards them quite

unnecessary. Even from their earliest infancy, they possess that quiet

disposition, gentleness of demeanour, and uncommon evenness of temper,

for which in more mature age they are for the most part distinguished.

Disobedience is scarcely ever known, a word or even a look from a parent

is enough; and I never saw a single instance of that frowardness and

disposition to mischief which with our youth so often requires the whole

attention of a parent to watch over and to correct. They never cry from

trifling accidents, and sometimes not even from very severe hurts, at

which an English child would sob for an hour. It is indeed astonishing

to see the indifference with which, even as tender infants, they bear the

numerous blows they accidentally receive when carried at their mothers’

backs.

They are just as fond of play as any other young people, and of the same

kind; only that while an English child draws a cart of wood, an Esquimaux

of the same age has a sledge of whalebone; and for the superb baby-house

of the former, the latter builds a miniature hut of snow, and begs a

lighted wick from her mother’s lamp to illuminate the little dwelling.

Their parents make for them, as dolls, little figures of men and women,

habited in the true Esquimaux costume, as well as a variety of other

toys, many of them having some reference to their future occupations in

life, such as canoes, spears, and bows and arrows. The drum or

tambourine, mentioned by Crantz, is common among them, and used not only

by the children, but by the grown-up people at some of their games. They

sometimes serrate the edges of two strips of whalebone and whirl them

round their heads, just as boys do in England to make the same peculiar

humming sound. They will dispose one piece of wood on another, as an

axis, in such a manner that the wind turns it round like the arms of a

windmill; and so of many other toys of the same simple kind. These are

the distinct property of the children, who will sometimes sell them while

their parents look on, without interfering or expecting to be consulted.

When not more than eight years old the boys are taken by their fathers on

their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn their future

business; and even at that early age they are occasionally intrusted to

bring home a sledge and dogs from a distance of several miles over the

ice. At the age of eleven we see a boy with his watertight boots and

moccasins, a spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back,

accompanying the men to the fishery, under every circumstance; and from

this time his services daily increase in value to the whole tribe. On

our first intercourse with them we supposed that they would not

unwillingly have parted with their children in consideration of some

valuable present, but in this we afterwards found that we were much

mistaken. Happening one day to call myself Toolooak’s _attata_ (father),

and pretend that he was to remain with me on board the ship, I received

from the old man, his father, no other answer than what seemed to be very

strongly and even satirically implied, by his taking one of our gentlemen

by the arm and calling him his son; thus intimating that the adoption

which he proposed was as feasible and as natural as my own.

The custom of adoption is carried to very great lengths among these

people, and served to explain to us several apparent inconsistencies with

respect to their relationships. The adoption of a child in civilised

countries has usually for its motive either a tenderness for the object

itself, or some affection or pity for its deceased, helpless, or unknown

parents. Among the Esquimaux, however, with whom the two first of these

causes would prove but little excitement, and the last can have no place,

the custom owes its origin entirely to the obvious advantage of thus

providing for a man’s own subsistence in advanced life; and it is

consequently confined almost without exception to the adoption of sons,

who can alone contribute materially to the support of an aged and infirm

parent. When a man adopts the son of another as his own, he is said to

“_tego_,” or take him; and at whatever age this is done (though it

generally happens in infancy), the child then lives with his new parents,

calls them father and mother, is sometimes even ignorant of any such

transfer having been made, especially if his real parents should be dead;

and whether he knows it or not, is not always willing to acknowledge any

but those with whom he lives. Without imputing much to the natural

affection of these people for their offspring, which, like their other

passions, is certainly not remarkable for its strength, there would seem,

on the score of disinterestedness, a degree of consideration in a man’s

thus giving his son to another, which is scarcely compatible with the

general selfishness of the Esquimaux character; but there is reason to

suppose that the expediency of this measure is sometimes suggested by a

deficiency of the mother’s milk, and not unfrequently perhaps by the

premature death of the real parent. The agreement seems to be always

made between the fathers, and to differ in no respect from the transfer

of other property, except that none can equal in value the property thus

disposed of. The good sense, good fortune, or extensive claims of some

individuals were particularly apparent in this way, from the number of

sons they had adopted. Toolemak, deriving perhaps some advantage from

his qualifications as Angetkook, had taken care to negotiate for the

adoption of some of the finest male children of the tribe; a provision

which now appeared the more necessary from his having lost four children

of his own, besides Noogloo, who was one of his _tego’d_ sons. In one of

the two instances that came to our knowledge of the adoption of a female

child, both its own parents were still living, nor could we ascertain the

motive for this deviation from the more general custom.

In their behaviour to old people, whose age or infirmities render them

useless and therefore burdensome to the community, the Esquimaux betray a

degree of insensibility, bordering on inhumanity, and ill-repaying the

kindness of an indulgent parent. The old man Hikkeiera, who was very ill

during the winter, used to lie day after day little regarded by his wife,

son, daughter, and other relatives, except that his wretched state

constituted, as they well knew, a forcible claim upon our charity; and,

with this view, it was sure to excite a whine of sympathy and

commiseration whenever we visited or spoke of him. When, however, a

journey of ten miles was to be performed over the ice, they left him to

find his way with a stick in the best manner he could, while the young

and robust ones were many of them drawn on sledges. There is, indeed, no

doubt that, had their necessities or mode of life required a longer

journey than he could thus have accomplished, they would have pushed on

like the Indians and left a fellow-creature to perish. It was certainly

considered incumbent on his son to support him, and he was fortunate in

that son’s being a very good man; but a few more such journeys to a man

of seventy would not impose this incumbrance upon him much longer.

Illumea, the mother of several grown-up children, lived also in the same

apartment with her youngest son, and in the same hut with her other

relations. She did not, however, interfere, as in Greenland, with the

management of her son’s domestic concerns, though his wife was half an

idiot. She was always badly clothed, and even in the midst of plenty not

particularly well fed, receiving everything more as an act of charity

than otherwise; and she will probably be less and less attended to in

proportion as she stands more in need of assistance.

The different families appear always to live on good terms with each

other, though each preserves its own habitation and property as distinct

and independent as any housekeeper in England. The persons living under

one roof, who are generally closely related, maintain a degree of harmony

among themselves which is scarcely ever disturbed. The more turbulent

passions, which when unrestrained by religious principle or unchecked by

the dread of human punishment, usually create so much havoc in the world,

seem to be very seldom excited in the breasts of these people, which

renders personal violence or immoderate anger extremely rare among them;

and one may sit in a hut for a whole day, and never witness an angry word

or look, except in driving out the dogs. If they take an offence, it is

more common for them to show it by the more quiet method of sulkiness;

and this they now and then tried as a matter of experiment with us.

Okotook, who was often in this humour, once displayed it to some of our

gentlemen in his own hut, by turning his back and frequently repeating

the expression “Good-bye,” as a broad hint to them to go away. Toolooak

was also a little given to this mood, but never retained it long, and

there was no malice mixed with his displeasure. One evening that he

slept on board the _Fury_ he either offended Mr. Skeoch, or thought that

he had done so, by this kind of humour; at all events, they parted for

the night without any formal reconciliation. The next morning Mr. Skeoch

was awakened at an unusually early hour by Toolooak’s entering his cabin

and taking hold of his hand to shake it by way of making up the supposed

quarrel. On a disposition thus naturally charitable, what might not

Christian education and Christian principles effect! Where a joke is

evidently intended, I never knew people more ready to join in it than

these are. If ridiculed for any particularity of manner, figure, or

countenance, they are sure not to be long behindhand in returning it, and

that very often with interest. If we were the aggressors in this way,

some ironical observation respecting the _Kabloonas_ was frequently the

consequence; and no small portion of wit as well as irony was at times

mixed with their raillery.

In point of intellect, as well as disposition, great variety was of

course perceptible among the different individuals of this tribe; but few

of them were wanting in that respect. Some, indeed, possessed a degree

of natural quickness and intelligence which perhaps could hardly be

surpassed in the natives of any country. Iligliuk, though one of the

least amiable, was particularly thus gifted. When she really wished to

develop our meaning, she would desire her husband and all the rest to

hold their tongues, and would generally make it out while they were

puzzling their heads to no purpose. In returning her answers, the very

expression of her countenance, though one of the plainest among them, was

almost of itself sufficient to convey her meaning; and there was in these

cases a peculiar decisive energy in her manner of speaking, which was

extremely interesting. This woman would indeed have easily learned

anything to which she chose to direct her attention; and had her lot been

cast in a civilised country instead of this dreary region, which serves

alike to “freeze the genial current of the soul” and body, she would

probably have been a very clever person. For want of a sufficient

object, however, neither she nor any of her companions ever learned a

dozen words of English, except our names, with which it was their

interest to be familiar, and which, long before we left them, any child

could repeat, though in their own style of pronunciation.

Besides the natural authority of parents and husbands, these people

appear to admit no kind of superiority among one another, except a

certain degree of superstitious reverence for their _angetkooks_, and

their tacitly following the counsel or steps of the most active

seal-catcher on their hunting excursions. The word _nallegak_, used in

Greenland to express “master,” and “lord” in the Esquimaux translations

of the Scriptures, they were not acquainted with. One of the young men

at Winter Island appeared to be considered somewhat in the light of a

servant to Okotook, living with the latter, and quietly allowing him to

take possession of all the most valuable presents which he received from

us. Being a sociable people, they unite in considerable numbers to form

a settlement for the winter; but on the return of spring they again

separate into several parties, each appearing to choose his own route,

without regard to that of the rest, but all making their arrangements

without the slightest disagreement or difference of opinion that we could

ever discover. In all their movements they seem to be actuated by one

simultaneous feeling that is truly admirable.

Superior as our arts, contrivances, and materials must unquestionably

have appeared to them, and eager as they were to profit by this

superiority, yet, contradictory as it may seem, they certainly looked

upon us in many respects with profound contempt, maintaining that idea of

self-sufficiency which has induced them, in common with the rest of their

nation, to call themselves, by way of distinction, _Innŭee_, or mankind.

One day, for instance, in securing some of the gear of a sledge, Okotook

broke a part of it composed of a piece of our white line, and I shall

never forget the contemptuous sneer with which he muttered in soliloquy

the word “Kabloona!” in token of the inferiority of our materials to his

own. It is happy, perhaps, when people possessing so few of the good

things of this life can be thus contented with the little allotted them.

The men, though low in stature, are not wanting in muscular strength in

proportion to their size, or in activity and hardiness. They are good

and even quick walkers, and occasionally bear much bodily fatigue, wet,

and cold, without appearing to suffer by it, much less to complain of it.

Whatever labour they have gone through, and with whatever success in

procuring game, no individual ever seems to arrogate to himself the

credit of having done more than his neighbour for the general good. Nor

do I conceive there is reason to doubt their personal courage, though

they are too good-natured often to excite others to put that quality to

the test. It is true, they will recoil with horror at the tale of an

Indian massacre, and probably cannot conceive what should induce one set

of men deliberately and without provocation to murder another. War is

not their trade; ferocity forms no part of the disposition of the

Esquimaux. Whatever manly qualities they possess are exercised in a

different way, and put to a far more worthy purpose. They are fishermen,

and not warriors; but I cannot call that man a coward who, at the age of

one-and-twenty, will attack a Polar bear single-handed, or fearlessly

commit himself to floating masses of ice which the next puff of wind may

drift for ever from the shore.

If, in short, they are deficient in some of the higher virtues, as they

are called, of savage life, they are certainly free also from some of its

blackest vices; and their want of brilliant qualities is fully

compensated by those which, while they dazzle less, do more service to

society and more honour to human nature. If, for instance, they have not

the magnanimity which would enable them to endure without a murmur the

most excruciating torture, neither have they the ferocious cruelty that

incites a man to inflict that torture on a helpless fellow-creature. If

their gratitude for favours be not lively nor lasting, neither is their

resentment of injuries implacable, nor their hatred deadly. I do not say

there are not exceptions to this rule, though we have never witnessed

any; but it is assuredly not their general character.

When viewed more nearly in their domestic relations, the comparison will,

I believe, be still more in their favour. It is here as a social being,

as a husband and the father of a family, promoting within his own little

sphere the benefit of that community in which Providence has cast his

lot, that the moral character of a savage is truly to be sought; and who

can turn without horror from the Esquimaux, peaceably seated after a day

of honest labour with his wife and children in their snow-built hut, to

the self-willed and vindictive Indian, wantonly plunging his dagger into

the bosom of the helpless woman whom nature bids him cherish and protect!

Of the few arts possessed by this simple people some account has already

been given in the description of their various implements. As mechanics,

they have little to boast when compared with other savages lying under

equal disadvantages as to scantiness of tools and materials. As

carpenters, they can scarf two pieces of wood together, secure them with

pins of whalebone or ivory, fashion the timbers of a canoe, shoe a

paddle, and rivet a scrap of iron into a spear or arrow head. Their

principal tool is the knife (_panna_), and, considering the excellence of

a great number which they possessed previous to our intercourse with

them, the work they do is remarkably coarse and clumsy. Their very

manner of holding and handling a knife is the most awkward that can be

imagined. For the purpose of boring holes they have a drill and bow so

exactly like our own that they need no further description, except that

the end of the drill-handle, which our artists place against their

breast, is rested by these people against a piece of wood or bone held in

their mouths, and having a cavity fitted to receive it. With the use of

the saw they were well acquainted, but had nothing of this kind in their

possession better than a notched piece of iron. One or two small

European axes were lashed to handles in a contrary direction to ours;

that is, to be used like an adze, a form which, according to the

observation of a traveller well qualified to judge, savages in general

prefer. It was said that these people steamed or boiled wood in order to

bend it for fashioning the timbers of their canoes. As fishermen or

seamen, they can put on a woolding or seizing with sufficient strength

and security, and are acquainted with some of the most simple and

serviceable knots in use among us. In all the arts, however, practised

by the men, it is observable that the ingenuity lies in the principle,

not in the execution. The experience of ages has led them to adopt the

most efficacious methods, but their practice as handicrafts has gone no

further than absolute necessity requires; they bestow little labour upon

neatness or ornament.

In some of the few arts practised by the women there is much more

dexterity displayed, particularly in that important branch of a

housewife’s business, sewing, which even with their own clumsy needles of

bone they perform with extraordinary neatness. They had, however,

several steel needles of a three-cornered shape, which they kept in a

very convenient case, consisting of a strip of leather passed through a

hollow bone and having its ends remaining out, so that the needles which

are stuck into it may be drawn in and out at pleasure. These cases were

sometimes ornamented by cutting; and several thimbles of leather, one of

which in sewing is worn on the first finger, are usually attached to it,

together with a bunch of narrow spoons and other small articles liable to

be lost. The thread they use is the sinew of the reindeer (_tooktoo

ĕwāllŏŏ_), or, when they cannot procure this, the swallow-pipe of the

_neitiek_. This may be split into threads of different sizes, according

to the nature of their work, and is certainly a most admirable material.

This, together with any other articles of a similar kind, they keep in

little bags, which are sometimes made of the skin of birds’ feet,

disposed with the claws downwards in a very neat and tasteful manner. In

sewing, the point of the needle is entered and drawn through in a

direction towards the body, and not from it or towards one side, as with

our sempstresses. They sew the deer-skins with a “round seam,” and the

water-tight boots and shoes are “stitched.” The latter is performed in a

very adroit and efficacious manner, by putting the needle only half

through the substance of one part of the seal-skin, so as to leave no

hole for admitting the water. In cutting out the clothes, the women do

it after one regular and uniform pattern, which probably descends

unaltered from generation to generation. The skin of the deer’s head is

always made to form the apex of the hood, while that of the neck and

shoulders comes down the back of the jacket; and so of every other part

of the animal, which is appropriated to its particular portion of the

dress. To soften the seal-skins of which the boots, shoes, and mittens

are made, the women chew them for an hour or two together, and the young

girls are often seen employed in thus preparing the materials for their

mothers. The covering of the canoes is a part of the women’s business,

in which good workmanship is especially necessary to render the whole

smooth and water-tight. The skins, which are those of the _neitiek_

only, are prepared by scraping off the hair and the fleshy parts with an

_ooloo_, and stretching them out tight on a frame, in which state they

are left over the lamps or in the sun for several days to dry; and after

this they are well chewed by the women to make them fit for working. The

dressing of leather and of skins in the hair is an art which the women

have brought to no inconsiderable degree of perfection. They perform

this by first cleansing the skin from as much of the fat and fleshy

matter as the _ooloo_ will take off, and then rubbing it hard for several

hours with a blunt scraper, called _siākŏŏt_, so as nearly to dry it. It

is then put into a vessel containing urine, and left to steep a couple of

days, after which a drying completes the process. Skins dressed in the

hair are, however, not always thus steeped; the women, instead of this,

chewing them for hours together, till they are quite soft and clean.

Some of the leather thus dressed looked nearly as well as ours, and the

hair was as firmly fixed to the pelt; but there was in this respect a

very great difference, according to the art or attention of the

housewife. Dyeing is an art wholly unknown to them. The women are very

expert at platting, which is usually done with three threads of sinew; if

greater strength is required, several of these are twisted slackly

together, as in the bowstrings. The quickness with which some of the

women plat is really surprising; and it is well that they do so, for the

quantity required for the bows alone would otherwise occupy half the year

in completing it.

It may be supposed that among so cheerful a people as the Esquimaux there

are many games or sports practised; indeed, it was rarely that we visited

their habitations without seeing some engaged in them. One of these our

gentlemen saw at Winter Island, on an occasion when most of the men were

absent from the huts on a sealing excursion, and in this Iligliuk was the

chief performer. Being requested to amuse them in this way, she suddenly

unbound her hair, platted it, tied both ends together to keep it out of

her way, and then, stepping out into the middle of the hut, began to make

the most hideous faces that can be conceived, by drawing both lips into

her mouth, poking forward her chin, squinting frightfully, occasionally

shutting one eye, and moving her head from side to side as if her neck

had been dislocated. This exhibition, which they call _āyŏkĭt-tāk-poke_,

and which is evidently considered an accomplishment that few of them

possess in perfection, distorts every feature in the most horrible manner

imaginable, and would, I think, put our most skilful horse-collar

grinners quite out of countenance.

The next performance consists in looking stedfastly and gravely forward

and repeating the words _tăbāk-tabak_, _kĕibō-keibo_,

_kĕ-bāng-ĕ-nū-tŏ-ĕĕk_, _kebangenutoeek_, _ămātămā_, _amatama_, in the

order in which they are here placed, but each at least four times, and

always by a peculiar modulation of the voice, speaking them in pairs, as

they are coupled above. The sound is made to proceed from the throat in

a way much resembling ventriloquism, to which art it is indeed an

approach. After the last _amatama_ Iligliuk always pointed with her

finger towards her body, and pronounced the word _angetkook_, steadily

retaining her gravity for five or six seconds, and then bursting into a

loud laugh, in which she was joined by all the rest. The women sometimes

produce a much more guttural and unnatural sound, repeating principally

the word _īkkĕrĕe-ikkeree_, coupling them as before, and staring in such

a manner as to make their eyes appear ready to burst out of their sockets

with the exertion. Two or more of them will sometimes stand up face to

face, and with great quickness and regularity respond to each other,

keeping such exact time that the sound appears to come from one throat

instead of several. Very few of the females are possessed of this

accomplishment, which is called _pitkoo-she-rāk-poke_, and it is not

uncommon to see several of the younger females practising it. A third

part of the game, distinguished by the word _keitīk-poke_, consists only

in falling on each knee alternately, a piece of agility which they

perform with tolerable quickness, considering the bulky and awkward

nature of their dress.

The last kind of individual exhibition was still performed by Iligliuk,

to whom in this, as in almost every thing else, the other women tacitly

acknowledged their inferiority, by quietly giving place to her on every

occasion. She now once more came forward, and letting her arms hang down

loosely and bending her body very much forward, shook herself with

extreme violence, as if her whole frame had been strongly convulsed,

uttering at the same time, in a wild tone of voice, some of the unnatural

sounds before mentioned.

This being at an end, a new exhibition was commenced, in which ten or

twelve women took a part, and which our gentlemen compared to blind man’s

buff. A circle being formed, and a boy despatched to look out at the

door of the hut, Iligliuk, still the principal actress, placed herself in

the centre, and after making a variety of guttural noises for about half

a minute, shut her eyes, and ran about till she had taken hold of one of

the others, whose business it then became to take her station in the

centre, so that almost every woman in her turn occupied this post, and in

her own peculiar way, either by distortion of countenance or other

gestures, performed her part in the game. This continued three-quarters

of an hour, and, from the precaution of placing a look-out, who was

withdrawn when it was over, as well as from some very expressive signs

which need not here be mentioned, there is reason to believe that it is

usually followed by certain indecencies, with which their husbands are

not to be acquainted. Kaoongut was present indeed on this occasion, but

his age seemed to render him a privileged person; besides which his own

wife did not join in the game.

The most common amusement, however, and to which their husbands made no

objection, they performed at Winter Island expressly for our

gratification. The females, being collected to the number of ten or

twelve, stood in as large a circle as the hut would admit, with Okotook

in the centre. He began by a sort of half-howling, half-singing noise,

which appeared as if designed to call the attention of the women, the

latter soon commencing the _Amna Aya_ song hereafter described. This

they continued without variety, remaining quite still while Okotook

walked round within the circle; his body was rather bent forward, his

eyes sometimes closed, his arms constantly moving up and down, and now

and then hoarsely vociferating a word or two, as if to increase the

animation of the singers, who, whenever he did this, quitted the chorus

and rose into the words of the song. At the end of ten minutes they all

left off at once, and, after one minute’s interval commenced a second act

precisely similar and of equal duration, Okotook continuing to invoke

their Muse as before. A third act which followed this varied only in his

frequently towards the close throwing his feet up before and clapping his

hands together, by which exertion he was thrown into a violent

perspiration. He then retired, desiring a young man (who, as we were

informed, was the only individual of several then present thus qualified)

to take his place in the centre as master of the ceremonies, when the

same antics as before were again gone through. After this description it

will scarcely be necessary to remark that nothing can be poorer in its

way than this tedious singing recreation, which, as well as everything in

which dancing is concerned, they express by the word _mŏmēk-poke_. They

seem, however, to take great delight in it; and even a number of the men,

as well as all the children, crept into the hut by degrees to peep at the

performance.

The Esquimaux women and children often amuse themselves with a game not

unlike our “skip-rope.” This is performed by two women holding the ends

of a line and whirling it regularly round and round, while a third jumps

over it in the middle according to the following order:—She commences by

jumping twice on both feet, then alternately with the right and left, and

next four times with the feet slipped one behind the other, the rope

passing once round at each jump. After this she performs a circle on the

ground, jumping about half-a-dozen times in the course of it, which

bringing her to her original position, the same thing is repeated as

often as it can be done without entangling the line. One or two of the

women performed this with considerable agility and adroitness,

considering the clumsiness of their boots and jackets, and seemed to

pride themselves in some degree on the qualification. A second kind of

this game consists in two women holding a long rope by its ends and

whirling it round in such a manner, over the heads of two others standing

close together near the middle of the bight, that each of these shall

jump over it alternately. The art therefore, which is indeed

considerable, depends more on those whirling the rope than on the

jumpers, who are, however, obliged to keep exact time, in order to be

ready for the rope passing under their feet.

The whole of these people, but especially the women, are fond of music,

both vocal and instrumental. Some of them might be said to be

passionately so, removing their hair from off their ears and bending

their heads forward, as if to catch the sounds more distinctly, whenever

we amused them in this manner. Their own music is entirely vocal, unless

indeed the drum or tambourine before mentioned be considered an

exception.

The voices of the women are soft and feminine, and when singing with the

men are pitched an octave higher than theirs. They have most of them so

far good ears that, in whatever key a song is commenced by one of them,

the rest will always join in perfect unison. After singing for ten

minutes, the key had usually fallen a full semitone. Only two of them,

of whom Iligliuk was one, could catch the tune as pitched by an

instrument; which made it difficult with most of them to complete the

writing of the notes, for if they once left off they were sure to

re-commence in some other key, though a flute or violin were playing at

the time.

During the season passed at Winter Island, which appears to have been a

healthy one to the Esquimaux, we had little opportunity of becoming

acquainted with the diseases to which they are subject. Our subsequent

intercourse with a greater number of these people at Igloolik having

unfortunately afforded more frequent and fatal instances of sickness

among them, I here insert Mr. Edwards’s remarks on this subject:—

“Exempted as these people are from a host of diseases usually ascribed to

the vitiated habits of more civilised life, as well as from those equally

numerous and more destructive ones engendered by the pestilential

effluvia that float in the atmosphere of more favoured climes, the

diversity of their maladies is, as might _à priori_ be inferred, very

limited. But, unfortunately, that improvidence which is so remarkable in

their kindred tribes is also with them proof against the repeated lessons

of bitter experience they are doomed to endure. Alternate excesses and

privations mark their progress through life, and consequent misery in one

or another shape is an active agent in effecting as much mischief amongst

them as the diseases above alluded to produce in other countries. The

mortality arising from a few diseases and wretchedness combined, seems

sufficient to check anything like a progressive increase of their

numbers. The great proportion of deaths to births that occurred during

the period of our intercourse with them has already been noticed.

“It is doubtful in what proportion the mortality is directly occasioned

by disease. Few perhaps die, in the strict sense of the term, a natural

death. A married person of either sex rarely dies without leaving

destitute a parent, a widow, or a helpless female infant. To be deprived

of near relations is to be deprived of everything; such unfortunates are

usually abandoned to their fate, and too generally perish. A widow and

two or three children left under these circumstances were known to have

died of inanition, from the neglect and apathy of their neighbours, who

jeered at the commanders of our ships on the failure of their humane

endeavours to save what the Esquimaux considered as worthless.

“Our first communication with these people at Winter Island gave us a

more favourable impression of their general health than subsequent

experience confirmed. There, however, they were not free from sickness.

A catarrhal affection in the month of February became generally

prevalent, from which they readily recovered after the exciting

causes—intemperance and exposure to wet—had ceased to operate. A

solitary instance of pleurisy also occurred, which probably might have

ended fatally but for timely assistance. Our intercourse with them in

the summer was more interrupted; but at our occasional meetings they were

observed to be enjoying excellent health. It is probable that their

certain supplies of food, and the nomad kind of life they lead in its

pursuit during that season, are favourable to health. Nutrition goes on

actively, and an astonishing increase of strength and fulness is

acquired. Active diseases might now be looked for, but that the powers

of nature are providentially exerted with effect.

“The unlimited use of stimulating animal food, on which they are from

infancy fed, induces at an early age a highly plethoric state of the

vascular system. The weaker over-distended vessels of the nose quickly

yield to the increased impetus of the blood, and an active hemorrhage

relieves the subject. As the same causes continue to be applied in

excess at frequent intervals, and are followed by similar effects, a kind

of vicarious hemorrhage at length becomes established by habit;

superseding the intervention of art, and having no small share in

maintaining a balance in the circulating system. The phenomenon is too

constant to have escaped the observation of those who have visited the

different Esquimaux people; a party of them has indeed rarely been seen

that did not exhibit two or three instances of the fact.

“About the month of September the approach of winter induced the

Esquimaux at Igloolik to abandon their tents and to retire into their

more established village. The majority were here crowded into huts of a

permanent construction, the materials composing the sides being stones

and the bones of whales, and the roofs being formed of skins, turf, and

snow; the rest of the people were lodged in snow-huts. For a while they

continued very healthy; in fact, as long as the temperature of the

interior did not exceed the freezing-point, the vapours of the atmosphere

congealed upon the walls, and the air remained dry and tolerably pure;

besides, their hard-frozen winter stock of walrus did not at this time

tempt them to indulge their appetites immoderately. In January the

temperature suffered an unseasonable rise, some successful captures of

walrus also took place, and these circumstances, combined perhaps with

some superstitious customs, of which we were ignorant, seemed the signal

for giving way to sensuality. The lamps were accumulated and the kettles

more frequently replenished, and gluttony in its most disgusting form

became for a while the order of the day. The Esquimaux were now seen

wallowing in filth, while some surfeited lay stretched upon their skins

enormously distended, and with their friends employed in rolling them

about to assist the operations of oppressed nature. The roofs of their

huts were no longer congealed, but dripping with wet and threatening

speedy dissolution. The air was in the bone-huts damp, hot, and, beyond

sufferance, offensive with putrid exhalations from the decomposing relics

of offals, or other animal matter, permitted to remain from year to year

undisturbed in these horrible sinks.

“What the consequences might have been had this state of affairs long

continued, it is not difficult to imagine; but, fortunately for them, an

early and gradual dispersion took place, so that by the end of January

few individuals were left in the village. The rest, in divided bodies,

established themselves in snow-huts upon the sea-ice at some distance

from the land. Before this change had been completed, disorders of an

inflammatory character had appeared. A few went away sick, some were

unable to remove, and others taken ill upon the ice, and we heard of the

death of several about this period.

“The cold snow-huts into which they had moved, though infinitely

preferable to those abandoned, were ill-suited to the reception of people

already sick or predisposed, from the above-named causes, to sickness;

many of them were also deficient in clothing to meet the rigorous weather

that followed. Nevertheless, after this violent excitement had passed

away, a comparatively good condition of health was enjoyed for the

remainder of the winter and spring months.

“Their distance from the ships at once precluded any effectual assistance

being rendered them at their huts, and their removal on board with

safety; the complaints of those who died at the huts, therefore, did not

come under observation. It appears, however, to have been acute

inflammation of some of the abdominal viscera, very rapid in its career.

In the generality the disease assumed a more insidious and sub-acute

form, under which the patient lingered for a while, and was then either

carried off by a diarrhœa or slowly recovered by the powers of nature.

Three or four individuals who, with some risk and trouble, were brought

to the ships, we were providentially instrumental in recovering; but two

others, almost helpless patients, were so far exhausted before their

arrival that the endeavours used were unsuccessful, and death was

probably hastened by their removal.

“Abdominal and thoracic inflammations, in fact, seem to be the only

active diseases they have to encounter. Where a spontaneous recovery

does not take place, these prove fatal in a short time. The only

instance among them of chronic sequels to those complaints occurred in an

old man almost in dotage, whose feeble remains of life were wasting away

by an ulceration of the lungs.

“No traces of the exanthematous disorders met our observation. A

solitary case of epilepsy was seen in a deaf and dumb boy, who eventually

died. Chronic rheumatism occurs, but it is rare and not severe. I have

some doubt in saying that scurvy exists among them. A disease, however,

having a close affinity to it was witnessed, but as in the only case that

came fairly under our notice it was complicated with the symptoms of a

previous debilitating disease, the diagnosis was difficult. During the

patient’s recovery from one of the abdominal attacks above mentioned, the

gums were observed to be spongy, separated from the teeth and reverted,

bleeding, and in various parts presenting the livid appearance of

scorbutic gums. At the same period arose pains of an anomalous

description, and of considerable severity about the shoulders and thorax.

These gradually yielded as he recovered strength, but were succeeded by

other pains and tenderness of the bones and muscles of the thighs and

legs. The citric acid was given to him freely from the beginning, until

it interfered with his appetite and bowels, when it was omitted. Topical

applications were at the same time used, and afterwards continued. Signs

of amendment appeared before it became necessary to withhold the

vegetable acid, and it was not recurred to while he remained on board.

Urged by impatience of control, he left us to join his countrymen before

he had well regained his strength; but we saw him on board several times

afterwards in a progressive state of improvement, and, though yet weak,

free from scorbutic symptoms. Another instance offered in a woman, whom

I saw but once. Her gums were spongy and reverted, but not discoloured;

her countenance sallow, lips pale, and she suffered under general

debility, without local pain or rigidity of the limbs. She remained in

this state for a long time, and eventually, as the weather improved,

recovered without assistance.

“That affection of the eyes known by the name of snow-blindness, is

extremely frequent among these people. With them it scarcely ever goes

beyond painful irritation, whilst among strangers inflammation is

sometimes the consequence. I have not seen them use any other remedy

besides the exclusion of light; but as a preventive a wooden eye-screen

is worn, very simple in its construction, consisting of a curved piece of

wood six or seven inches long and ten or twelve lines broad. It is tied

over the eyes like a pair of spectacles, being adapted to the forehead

and nose, and hollowed out to favour the motion of the eyelids. A few

rays of light only are admitted through a narrow slit an inch long, cut

opposite to each eye. This contrivance is more simple and quite as

efficient as the more heavy one possessed by some who have been fortunate

enough to acquire wood for the purpose. This is merely the former

instrument complicated by the addition of a horizontal plate projecting

three or four inches from its upper rim, like the peak of a jockey’s cap.

In Hudson’s Strait the latter is common, and the former in Greenland,

where also we are told they wear with advantage the simple horizontal

peak alone.

“There are upon the whole no people more destitute of curative means than

these. With the exception of the hemorrhage already mentioned, which

they duly appreciate, and have been observed to excite artificially to

cure head-ache, they are ignorant of any rational method of procuring

relief. It has not been ascertained that they use a single herb

medicinally. As prophylactics they wear amulets, which are usually the

teeth, bones, or hair of some animal, the more rare apparently the more

valuable. In absolute sickness they depend entirely upon their Angekoks,

who, they persuade themselves, have influence over some submarine deities

who govern their destiny. The mummeries of these impostors, consisting

in pretended consultations with their oracles, are looked upon with

confidence, and their mandates, however absurd, superstitiously submitted

to. These are constituted of unmeaning ceremonies and prohibitions

generally affecting the diet, both in kind and mode, but never in

quantity. Seal’s flesh is forbidden, for instance, in one disease, that

of the walrus in the other; the heart is denied to some and the liver to

others. A poor woman, on discovering that the meat she had in her mouth

was a piece of fried heart instead of the liver, appeared horrorstruck;

and a man was in equal tribulation at having eaten, by mistake, a piece

of meat cooked in his wife’s kettle.

“This charlatanerie, although we may ridicule the imposition, is not,

however, with them, as it is with us, a positive evil. In the total

absence of the medical art, it proves generally innoxious; while in many

instances it must be a source of real benefit and comfort, by buoying up

the sick spirit with confident hopes of recovery, and eventually enabling

the vital powers to rise superior to the malady, when, without such

support, the sufferer might have sunk under its weight. It was attempted

to ascertain whether climate effected any difference in animal heat

between them and ourselves by frequently marking the temperature of the

mouth; but the experiments were necessarily made, as occasion offered,

under such various states of vascular excitement, as to afford nothing

conclusive. As it was, their temperature varied from 97° to 102°,

coinciding pretty nearly with our own under similar circumstances. The

pulse offered nothing singular.

“I may here remark that there is in many individuals a peculiarity about

the eye, amounting in some instances to deformity, which I have not

noticed elsewhere. It consists in the inner corner of the eye being

entirely covered by a duplication of the adjacent loose skin of the

eyelids and nose. This fold is lightly stretched over the edges of the

eyelids, and forms, as it were, a third palpebra of a crescentic shape.

The aperture is in consequence rendered somewhat pyriform, the inner

curvature being very obtuse, and in some individuals distorted by an

angle formed where the fold crosses the border of the lower palpebra.

This singularity depends upon the variable form of the orbit during

immature age, and is very remarkable in childhood, less so towards adult

age, and then, it would seem, frequently disappearing altogether; for the

proportion in which it exists among grown-up persons bears but a small

comparison with that observed among the young.

“Personal deformity from mal-conformation is uncommon, the only instance

I remember being that of a young woman, whose utterance was

unintelligibly nasal, in consequence of an imperfect development of the

palatine bones leaving a gap in the roof of the mouth.”

The imperfect arithmetic of these people, which resolves every number

above ten into one comprehensive word, prevented our obtaining any very

certain information respecting the population of this part of North

America and its adjacent islands. The principal stations of these people

not visited by us are _Akkoolee_, _Toonoonee-roochiuh_, _Peelig_, and

_Toonoonek_, of whose situation I have already spoken. The first of

these, which is the only one situated on the continent, lies in an

indentation of considerable depth on the shores of the Polar Sea, running

in towards Repulse Bay on the opposite coast, and forming with it the

large peninsula situated like a bastion at the north-east angle of

America, which I have named Melville Peninsula, in honour of Viscount

Melville, the First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty. From what we

know of the habits and disposition of the Esquimaux, which incline them

always to associate in considerable numbers, we cannot well assign a

smaller population than fifty souls to each of the four principal

stations above-mentioned; and including these, and the inhabitants of

several minor ones that were occasionally named to us, there may perhaps

be three or four hundred people belonging to this tribe with whom we have

never had communication. In all their charts of this neighbourhood they

also delineate a tract of land to the eastward, and somewhat to the

northward, of Igloolik, where they say the _Seadlērmeoo_, or strangers,

live, with whom, as with the Esquimaux of Southampton Island, and all

others coming under the same denomination, they have seldom or never any

intercourse, either of a friendly or a hostile nature. It is more than

probable that the natives of the inlet called the river Clyde, on the

western coast of Baffin’s Bay, are a part of the people thus designated;

and, indeed, the whole of the numerous bays and inlets on that extensive

and productive line of coast may be the residence of great numbers of

Esquimaux, of whom these people possess no accurate information.

Whatever may be the abundance sometimes enjoyed by these people, and

whatever the maladies occasioned by their too frequent abuse of it, it is

certain that they occasionally suffer very severely from the opposite

extreme. A remarkably intelligent woman informed Captain Lyon that two

years ago some Esquimaux arrived at Igloolik from a place near Akkoolee,

bringing information that during a very grievous famine one party of men

had fallen upon another and killed them; and that they afterwards

subsisted on their flesh while in a frozen state, but never cooked nor

even thawed it. This horrible account was soon after confirmed by

Toolemak on board the _Fury_; and though he was evidently uneasy at our

having heard the story, and conversed upon it with reluctance, yet by

means of our questions he was brought to name, upon his fingers, five

individuals who had been killed on this occasion. Of the fact therefore

there can be no doubt; but it is certain, also, that we ourselves

scarcely regarded it with greater horror than those who related it; and

the occurrence may be considered similar to those dreadful instances on

record, even among civilised nations, of men devouring one another, in

wrecks or boats, when rendered desperate by the sufferings of actual

starvation.

The ceremony of crying, which has before been mentioned as practised

after a person’s death, is not, however, altogether confined to those

melancholy occasions, but is occasionally adopted in cases of illness,

and that of no very dangerous kind. The father of a sick person enters

the apartment, and after looking at him for a few seconds without

speaking, announces by a kind of low sob his preparation for the coming

ceremony. At this signal every other individual present composes his

features for crying, and the leader of the chorus then setting up a loud

and piteous howl, which lasts about a minute, is joined by all the rest,

who shed abundant tears during the process. So decidedly is this a

matter of form, unaccompanied by any feeling of sorrow, that those who

are not relatives shed just as many tears as those that are; to which may

be added that in the instances which we witnessed there was no real

occasion for crying at all. It must therefore be considered in the light

of a ceremony of condolence, which it would be either indecorous or

unlucky to omit.

I have already given several instances of the little care these people

take in the interment of their dead, especially in the winter season; it

is certain, however, that this arises from some superstitious notion, and

particularly from the belief that any heavy weight upon the corpse would

have an injurious effect upon the deceased in a future state of

existence; for even in the summer, when it would be an easy matter to

secure a body from the depredations of wild animals, the mode of burial

is not essentially different. The corpse of a child observed by

Lieutenant Palmer, he describes “as being laid in a regular but shallow

grave, with its head to the north-east. It was decently dressed in a

good deer-skin jacket, and a seal-skin, prepared without the hair, was

carefully placed as a cover to the whole figure, and tucked in on all

sides. The body was covered with flat pieces of limestone, which,

however, were so light that a fox might easily have removed them. Near

the grave were four little separate piles of stones, not more than a foot

in height, in one of which we noticed a piece of red cloth and a black

silk handkerchief, in a second a pair of child’s boots and mittens, and

in each of the others a whalebone pot. The face of the child looked

unusually clean and fresh, and a few days only could have elapsed since

its decease.”

These Esquimaux do not appear to have any idea of the existence of One

Supreme Being, nor indeed can they be said to entertain any notions on

this subject, which may be dignified with the name of Religion. Their

superstitions, which are numerous, have all some reference to the

preternatural agency of a number of _toōrngŏw_, or spirits, with whom, on

certain occasions, the Angetkooks pretend to hold mysterious intercourse,

and who in various and distinct ways are supposed to preside over the

destinies of the Esquimaux. On particular occasions of sickness or want

of food the Angetkooks contrive, by means of a darkened hut, a peculiar

modulation of the voice, and the uttering of a variety of unintelligible

sounds, to persuade their countrymen that they are descending to the

lower regions for this purpose, where they force the spirits to

communicate the desired information. The superstitious reverence in

which these wizards are held, and a considerable degree of ingenuity in

their mode of performing their mummery, prevent the detection of the

imposture, and secure implicit confidence in these absurd oracles. My

friend Captain Lyon having particularly directed his attention to this

part of their history during the whole of our intercourse with these

people, and intending to publish his Journal, which contains much

interesting information of this nature, I shall not here enter more at

large on the subject. Some account of their ideas respecting death, and

of their belief in a future state of existence, have already been

introduced in the course of the foregoing pages, in the order of those

occurrences which furnished us with opportunities of observing them.