CHAPTER VII.

ESKIMOS (CONTINUED).

The natives of the Labrador peninsula and those of Cumberland gulf, under the influence of the missionaries, are gradually giving up many of their ancient beliefs and customs. At present these can only be studied among the tribes as yet unvisited by the missionaries, such as those of the northwest coast of Hudson bay, who, although long acquainted with the whalers, have not been so influenced by them as to change their superstitions and beliefs.

The writer spent the winter of 1903-04 among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus on that coast, and paid some attention to these matters, deriving at the same time a large amount of information from Captain George Comer, of the whaling schooner _Era_, wintering alongside the _Neptune_. Captain Comer had already made several voyages to Hudson bay and Cumberland gulf, on all of which he had made ethnological collections and notes for the American Museum of Natural History, New York. A considerable amount of his information has been published by Dr. Franz Boas. With the exception of the Rev. Mr. Peck, at Cumberland, Captain Comer is probably the greatest authority upon the manners and customs of the Eskimos.

The different tribes of Eskimos have no hereditary or elected chiefs. Each tribe is divided into a number of small bands, usually close blood relations. The head man of each band is nearly always advanced in years, and holds a sort of patriarchal sway over his sons and younger relations, altogether due to their willingness to be guided by his advice and experience and not to any sense of duty. At other times, when the older men are not forceful in character, a successful younger hunter largely influences the actions of the band. The authority of the leader is not great, and he never asserts it by direct orders issued to the other men; if he wants anything done he asks them if they are willing to do it; any member is quite at liberty to refuse, and to follow his own judgment or inclinations.

The head man is usually an _Angekok_, conjuror or medicine man, and in consequence derives some power over the band through their superstitions. It is not quite clear if more than one angekok belongs to each band, but they are quite numerous, and it seems likely, therefore, that the number is not limited to one.

As regards the family relations among the uncivilized Eskimos, the marriage tie is very loose, and can easily be broken by either party. This is often done for the most trivial cause. The Eskimos practise polygamy, and in some tribes, polyandry, where there are fewer women than men. Many of the men have but one wife, owing to their inability to support more, the successful hunter being known by the number of his wives, although two is the usual limit. There does not appear to be any ceremony in connection with marriage, beyond a present to the nearest male relative, who gives his consent to the union.

Divorce is common, the chief causes being failure to produce male children and incompatibility of temper. When a woman is divorced she returns to her family, taking her children with her, and both parties are free to form a new alliance.

Jealousy caused by infidelity on the part of the wife is exceedingly rare, the man taking rather a pride in the appreciation of his wife’s charms by others. The women are jealous of one another, and I have seen a wife take away her husband whom she found dancing on board the ship with another woman.

An exchange of wives is customary, after certain feasts, or after the angekok has performed his conjuring tricks, either to cure sickness or to take away the effects of the breaking of some of the many taboos. These customs make polyandry easy where it is found necessary, as in the case of the Nechilliks, or where only one woman accompanies a hunting party.

As a rule the women are treated fairly by their husbands, and it is only in the case of a shrew, or of constant neglect of attention to the cooking and other household duties, that corporal punishment is resorted to; but when administered, it is severe.

The missionaries are exerting their influence to make the Eskimos monogamous; this is probably a mistake. In a greater number of the bands there are more women than men. Under their old customs, a man had as many wives as he could support, and all of them were nearly on an equality. Under the new practice he has but one wife, and the other women whom he supports have no standing in the household, being domestic drudges and concubines.

The Eskimos display a great deal of affection for their children, especially if they are boys. Corporal punishment is rarely, or never, inflicted, and does not appear to be required. In the case of orphans, or where a man is childless, adoption often takes place, a child sometimes being bought from its parents. Adopted children are rarely treated harshly. Instances of the destruction of female children are known, but they are rare.

The aged are respected, and as a rule well looked after. In cases of starvation, the aged sometimes voluntary elect to be left to starve, or die of cold; in rare cases of this kind, old people, or cripples, have been known to be abandoned, but it has generally been a choice between being embarrassed by these weaklings and all perishing, or of leaving them on the chance of the remainder of the party surviving.

Cases of murder and cannibalism during periods of starvation have been authenticated among the natives of the west shore of Hudson bay, and have been reported among other tribes, but are resorted to only in extreme cases.

Murder from private reasons is very rare, and entails a blood feud unless a settlement can be made by presents to the nearest relatives of the murdered man.

If an individual becomes dangerously obnoxious, or insane, a consultation of the men of the band is held, and one or more of them are deputed to remove the criminal or lunatic; in such a case the individuals acting are held blameless in the matter.

Supposed incurables commit suicide, which is not looked upon as a crime, as suicides are supposed to go, after death, to an upper heaven along with other good people.

When a death occurs, the body is sewn up and kept for some time in the iglo, after which it is drawn to a convenient spot on the land, and there covered with boulders as a protection against dogs, wolves and foxes. The body is removed from the snowhouse through a hole cut in the side, and not through the door. The reason for keeping the body a few days is due to the belief that the spirit hovers about it during that time before departing, and might be displeased if it were buried immediately.

There appears to be a great deal of doubt in regard to the action of the soul after death, and at times one is led to think that the Eskimos believe in a dual soul, one of which leaves the body and its surroundings shortly after death, the other remaining in its environment and gradually departing for longer and longer periods as the body decays.

A number of customs are observed after death among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus. No work or hunting is permitted for five days, and the women confine themselves closely to the house. During this period the snow must not be scraped from the ice window, the bed must not be shaken, nor the willow mats disturbed; the drippings from the lamp must remain, and snow for melting must not be cut. The women are forbidden to wash faces, comb hair or dry boots. The men must not work on iron, wood, stone or ivory. Some of these regulations extend beyond the period of five days. The belongings of the dead are not used by the others, and, if they cannot be traded to the whites, are abandoned. When a man dies, his gun and hunting implements are laid beside his grave, and allowed to remain there for a certain time, until his spirit is supposed to have no further use for them, having ceased to remain with the body, or until the spirit is supposed to have forgotten about them. In the case of a woman, articles of a personal nature of use to the spirit are put alongside her grave. For some time after death visits are made to the grave, and one-sided ‘conversations’ are held with the spirit there to show respect and to keep it from becoming lonely; at the same time small presents of tobacco or other articles are left at the grave.

SUPERSTITIONS AND BELIEFS.

It is an exceedingly difficult task to arrive at any sure idea of the beliefs of the Eskimo. In the first place, they are themselves somewhat hazy as to what they do believe concerning the soul and a future state; secondly, an intimate knowledge of the language is needed to catch their ideas on these subjects, and thirdly, one must be very intimate with them and have acquired their respect before they will, from fear of ridicule, discuss such subjects.

They all appear to have a belief in a supreme goddess, called Nuliayok on the western side of Hudson bay, and Sedna by the eastern Eskimos. The folk-lore in connection with these two goddesses points to the same origin for both, and is almost identical. The tradition is that Nuliayok was a coy Eskimo maiden who would not marry any of the young men. She was wooed by the fulmar, a gull, who spoke in a pleasing manner of the life she would lead with him. He so worked upon the senses and feelings of the maiden that she consented to accompany him to his island home as his wife. On arriving there she found that she had been cruelly deceived, and that the splendid house was nothing but a nest of sticks perched upon the high bare rocks, without any shelter from the snows or winds. The abundant food promised turned out to be nothing but rotten fish, and to add to her other discomforts she was jostled by the other fulmars, so that she often had difficulty in preserving her place on the rock. There was plenty of time for regret before she managed to send word to her father, requesting him to come to her rescue, which he did. Her father’s name was Anautelik, and he took her away in his boat during the absence of the fulmar. When the latter discovered his loss, he caused a great storm, and Anautelik, to preserve his own life, threw his daughter overboard, but she clung to the side of the boat, and he cut off her fingers, one by one, to make her release her hold. As her fingers dropped into the sea they changed into the whale, walrus, big seal and the small seal, so originating the sea animals. Her father next knocked one of her eyes out, after which she let go of the side of the boat and went to the world beneath the sea, where she became queen, living in a house built of stone and whalebone, and guarded by her husband, the dog. She cannot walk, but ‘hunches’ over the ground with one foot beneath her body. Her father was also drowned later, and now lives with her, wrapped up in his tent cover, and is employed torturing the souls of the wicked. The souls of sea animals go to her after remaining three days by the body after death. This is the reason a great deal of respect is shown to the bodies of these animals, and is the origin of a number of taboos in connection with them. If the soul is displeased on its departure for the abode of Nuliayok it informs her, and causes her hands to swell; then she revenges herself by bringing ill-luck or sickness upon the Eskimos. If all the ceremonies are properly observed they please the soul of the animal, and other animals will allow themselves to be killed by such considerate people.

It thus appears that the Eskimos existed before their goddess, there being no legend regarding the first Eskimo. The Eskimo story differs in regard to the origin of the white race and the Indians, who are the offspring of Nuliayok and her dog. One story runs that Nuliayok was deceived by the dog, who took the form of a young man. When her father found her with a litter of white and red pups he was very angry, and placed her with her strange progeny upon an island, sending food to her by the dog. Later he drowned the dog, and brought her food in his kyak. Nuliayok, to revenge the death of the dog, set the pups on her father, and so killed him. Being now without any source of food for herself or the pups, she made two large slippers; into one she put the white pups and into the other the red, and set them afloat before a north wind, so that they landed on southern lands and became the ancestors of the whites and the Indians.

There is a goddess of the land-animals called Pukimma, who appears to be closely identified with Nuliayok, and may be the same personage under a different name.

The Eskimos have in addition to a number of legends concerning the creation of the animals many other folk-lore tales, all of a lewd character, and often without point.

The ideas concerning the future state of the soul are confused and often contradictory. There appear to be three degrees of heaven, all situated above the earth. The conditions are heavenly according to the Eskimo view, which pictures such places as being bright and warm, with plenty to eat and wear, and little to do. It is probable that the idea of eternity is beyond the comprehension of the Eskimos. They believe that the soul of the departed will enter the body of a child named after it, and remain for a year, with later continued influence upon the child’s character.

As before mentioned, the souls of suicides go to the upper spirit world along with those who have observed all the taboos. The transgressor of the taboos, and men lost by being carried away on the ice, go to the nether world, where they are tormented for a time by the father of Nuliayok.

TABOOS.

The uncivilized native has a great many strict rules to observe in regard to the modes employed in killing animals, and the manner and time of eating certain flesh. There are also rules regarding work on different materials. If these rules are not closely observed the souls of the animals become displeased, and report the transgression to Nuliayok, who shows her displeasure by bringing sickness, ill-luck in hunting, or some other calamity upon the band in this life, and punishes the individual in the next. When the taboos have been broken they can only be condoned by open confession, in the presence of an angekok, who, through his familiar spirit, reports the confession to Nuliayok, and the sin is forgiven.

The following are a few of the many rules which must be observed: The most heinous crime is the concealment by a woman of a miscarriage, and is the source of the greatest calamities. A woman so unfortunate must confess immediately to the angekok, but as the confession practically ostracizes her for several months, the temptation to conceal her mishap is great. A pregnant woman is debarred from eating several kinds of meat. After childbirth she is unclean for two or three months, and for the first month cannot visit any house in the community. A similar rule applies to women during their menses. A woman who has recently lost a relative must not work on deerskins, pluck ducks, take the hair off sealskins nor mention the names of the animals. When the men are away hunting on the ice the women must not disturb the bedding, as it will make cracks in the ice, and seal-line used in hunting must be cut diagonally for the same reason. When the sun first returns in the spring the children blow out the lamp in the snow-house. During the time that the sun is travelling south cat’s-cradle is played by the women and children to entangle the sun in the meshes and prevent it being lost by continuing south; the cup-and-ball game is played to hasten its return.

Among the many taboos relating to the killing of animals the following may be mentioned: The bear is under the protection of two goddesses, Angeakatille and Ouhowjawtil, who live in an iceberg. No work must be done for three days after a bear is killed, and the women must not comb their hair, nor disturb the bedding. No cannibal may eat bear flesh, lest it should create a taste for human flesh. The newly-killed seal has its eyes punctured, so that its spirit may not see that it is being taken to the snow-house. When the carcass is brought into the house fresh snow is dipped into the kettle and the water from it is dripped over the seal’s mouth. Before going sealing, for the first time on the ice, a fire of shrubs is made, and the clothing and implements of the hunter are thoroughly smoked in it. The key block of the snow-house is at the same time scored in all directions with the knife, to ensure good luck in hunting and to keep away disease; a white piece of deerskin and thread are put on the ice for the same purposes. Seal bones must not be given to the dogs. The souls of the sea animals abhor dead bodies and blood, which must therefore be avoided by hunters. This rule applies especially to women during their periods. Everybody in the encampment may eat freely of the seals killed by the successful hunter, but none of the meat must be removed from his house.

During the deer hunt no work must be done with sealskin. The winter clothes and tents must be buried, while no seal or walrus line may be taken inland. When hunting deer from the kyak on the inland lakes a small piece of sealskin is deposited under a stone on the margin of the lake.

When the musk-ox hunt is in progress, the hair must not be removed from deerskins, and no work with iron may be undertaken.

All deerskin garments must be made on the land, and not after the family has moved upon the ice, until the March moon, when the women are allowed to work at deerskins in an iglo on the land, but not on a day when a walrus has been killed. Soapstone is another material which must not be worked on the ice. No work may be undertaken on sealskins killed during the winter, until the seals have pupped. The tusks of freshly killed walrus must not be removed from the skull until the winter, but work may be done during the season on tusks taken before the new ice forms.

When on the ice, deer meat must be taken into the house through a hole in the side and not by the door, until after the March moon, when both deerskins and meat may be taken through the door. Deer must not be eaten on the same day with seal or walrus, except in the walrus season, when it may be eaten with the latter. Clothing must be changed before eating seal in the walrus season.

The first salmon must be caught before work on bootlegs begins, and boots worn while hunting walrus must not be used when salmon fishing. Salmon is always cooked over shrub fires outside the tent, and in vessels used only for that purpose; consequently fish taken in the winter are eaten raw.

Amulets in the shape of small pieces of skin or cloth are sewn to the under coat by the wife of an angekok to ward off sickness and to bring good luck. Many of these are decorated with beads. The tip of the deer’s tail is sewn to the tail of the coat for success in hunting, and when sewn to the coat of a boy ensures his becoming a successful hunter. A gull’s feather dipped in the drippings of the lamp is placed between the harpoon and spear line, and so carried to the ice, where the hunter sucks the feather and spits in the water in order that the walrus may not know that it is being hunted. The dried skin of a newly-born lemming, when attached to the float of a walrus harpoon, prevents the animal from attacking the boat when wounded, and the skin of a lemming carried in the boat ensures safety.

There are numerous other charms used, together with invocations and songs for success in hunting.

ANGEKOK.

The angekok, or medicine man, is believed by the other Eskimos to possess supernatural powers, whereby he can charm away sickness, lighten the displeasure of Nuliayok when she sends famine and misfortune to the band, put the evil-eye or something similar on those who displease him, and see into the future. He is supposed to do this by the aid of a familiar spirit called his tonwak, which usually assumes the form of some animal—often that of a walrus.

To become an angekok it is necessary to receive instructions in the mysteries from some other angekok, and usually more than one take part in the instruction and initiation of the candidate. After being instructed, the novice has a series of incantations performed over him by the assembled angekoks, who dance round him, uttering charms. He is then taken to his home and left for several days in solitude, during which time he meditates and prays for his tonwak to appear; this usually happens after several days, when all that remains to make him a full-fledged angekok is to learn words used by them and unknown to the uninitiated.

The angekok prepares for a séance, either behind a blanket in the tent or in the porch of the snow-house. Some of them appear to be able to work themselves into a sort of mesmeric trance, when they pretend to be able to transport their spirits to distant scenes and tell what is happening there. They also undertake to foretell the results of future hunts, and whether success or failure will follow certain undertakings. In sickness the angekok works all his cures by charms, the Eskimos being entirely without medicines. He ascribes all sickness to the breaking of certain taboos, either by the sick person or by some close relative.

They perform a number of simple conjuring tricks for the benefit of their audience. I was present at a séance at Cape Fullerton, where two angekoks officiated. They made their preparations in the porch out of sight of the audience, who were arranged in rows on the bed, and who all kept crying ‘atte atte,’ inviting the angekok to enter. Each woman wore a small piece of deerskin on the top of her head. A long conversation was held with the angekok outside, before he finally entered. He first essayed to describe the place whence I came, and in this he was not very successful. He then told us the locality of the Eskimos who had taken our mail south some weeks before; this ended the first part of the performance. The next time, he entered in the form of his familiar spirit, the walrus, and to simulate it had a pair of small tusks fastened into his mouth. Being angry, he tried to strike the natives with the tusks, and was only prevented by considerable force. He was finally ejected, and pursued by the other angekok, who could be heard chasing the walrus several times over the iglo. A violent struggle ensued. The pursuer returned to the iglo a few minutes later with his hands and arms covered with blood, claimed to be that of the walrus spirit. The other came in, a few minutes later, quite unconcerned about the amount of blood he was supposed to have lost. The second angekok now attempted the same trick, but during the scuffle inside the iglo caught one of his tusks in a coat, which pulled it from his mouth. He immediately retired, and felt very bad about the mishap. Later he came to me and asked to be excused from working the next day, which he must spend alone appeasing his tonwak, while all his household had to fast for twenty-four hours. The final act was performed by the successful angekok, who said that he would attempt to make some angekok tobacco. While he was making his preparations a number of fresh blocks of snow were brought in, and a depression hollowed out in each for cuspidors, as no person must spit on the floor after smoking angekok tobacco. He explained that angekok tobacco tasted differently from ordinary tobacco, and that if we found this peculiar taste, of course the thing was proved. He then clumsily palmed a small piece of black tobacco between his hands, and shredded it fine, after which it was placed in a new clay pipe, lighted, and passed round the assembly.

AMUSEMENTS.

The Eskimos are firm believers in the old adage that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and all join heartily in outdoor and indoor sports. Football is the popular outdoor amusement, and men, women and children join in kicking about the ice a ball of feathers or deer hair covered with deerskin. There do not appear to be any rules, each playing for himself. There is another ball game, where the ball is batted with the open hand backwards and forwards, the object being to prevent it from touching the ground. Wrestling is indulged in by the young men; in this no tripping is allowed, and a throw must be made from a shoulder hold. Boxing as we understand it is not practised, but they have hitting contests, where one man stands unguarded and allows another to hit him as powerful a blow as he is capable of, on the understanding that the blow may be returned under similar conditions. When such a contest takes place between strangers it often leads to the vanquished one, if at home, revenging himself upon the stranger with his knife, and altogether this is a rather dangerous pastime for grown men, although good for boys. The children play out-of-doors during the daylight, having usually miniature sleds to which they attach themselves, or the pups.

Among the indoor amusements are a number of games of skill. A very popular game is played by suspending a small ring of ivory by a string to the roof; another string, steadied by a weight, hangs below the ring, often in a vessel of water to prevent it swinging too violently. The string is twisted so that the ring revolves rapidly, and all stand round and attempt to pierce it with small wooded lances. A prize is given to the first successful one, who in turn donates a prize to the second, and so on. Another game is a variety of the cup-and-ball game. A piece of ivory, roughly carved to represent a bear or some other animal, is pierced full of holes and is attached by a short string to a small ivory pencil. The play consists in tossing the large piece into the air and piercing it with the stylus, different values being assigned to the different holes. Cat’s-cradle is the constant amusement of the women and children, and they have a great number of figures unknown to the ordinary player in civilization. The Eskimos do not appear to have the gambling spirit strongly developed, and have few games of chance. One of these consists in guessing the number of articles held in the closed hand; another is played with small slabs of ivory, resembling dominoes, but having a greater number of spots on them; the slabs are thrown in the air, and the number of spots are counted on the slabs that fall right side up. A circular disc of ivory, usually with sawn edges, is threaded on a loop of sinew and made to revolve in the same manner as our own small boy spins a large button.

The girls have dolls made of wood, and cleverly clothed to represent their elders. The carving of walrus ivory passes many an hour of the long winter. As a rule the carvings are rude representations of various animals and other animate objects, and have no high value as objects of art, but occasionally there arises a real artist, who when encouraged will produce wonderfully artistic models of the various animals, men, dog-sleds and almost anything suggested to him. Others are expert in making models of kyaks and hunting gear.

A common amusement, accompanied by more or less ceremony, is the sing-song. When such a performance takes place all the natives of the band congregate in one of the larger houses, sitting around on every available spot. The writer attended one of these sing-songs given in honour of some visiting natives at Cape Fullerton. The ceremony commenced by an elderly native standing out in the middle of the floor space, and beginning to hop gently about. His wife then started the song, being accompanied in the chorus by the other women of his band. The song is sung a line at a time, in a minor key, the air being confined to about three notes. After each line the chorus of two lines is sung, and is somewhat like, ‘Ai yea yae yaeyaeya yae’ repeated twice. While the song is in progress the man dances and hops about the floor, occasionally uttering in a loud voice, we-hew! we-hew! The song belongs to the man, and is his own composition, and is composed in a rough metre to suit the air, but does not rhyme, and no great attention is paid to the rhythm. The sentiments are at times poetic. In this particular song praise was given to the springtime, and a longing was expressed for its arrival; mention was also made of the trials of women at childbirth, and wishes were formulated for good luck to the hunters. The song continued upwards of an hour, after which one of the strangers was invited to sing, and on his taking the floor was presented by the old man with a hatchet as a mark of courtesy. The stranger was a Kenipitu from Chesterfield inlet, and as he was not accompanied by his wife he had himself to sing his song, which he did in a loud voice. The Kenipitu women of the neighbourhood loyally supported him in the chorus. He first thanked the donor of the hatchet for his magnificent present, of which he would make valuable use. He next described the country from whence he came, and said that he was acquainted with the hunting of the sea animals. He expressed a wish to be a great and successful hunter, and deprecated the waste of animals killed for food. By this time he was fairly exhausted and his voice became very hoarse. He was followed by another of the Aivillik tribe, but as there is a limit to the amount of foul air and pungent odour that a white man can stand, it was at this stage of the proceedings that the writer fled.

The songs sometimes are varied; when the singer ridicules his neighbour (and an Eskimo’s joke is often much broader than it is pointed), the song is liable to breed ill-feeling; on this account the Christianized Eskimos of the east side of Hudson bay no longer indulge in this amusement, but sing hymns instead.

During the absence of the men on hunting expeditions, the women sometimes amuse themselves by a sort of female ‘angekoking.’ This amusement is accompanied by a number of very obscene rites, which were better left unrecorded.

GARMENTS.

The winter garments of the Eskimo are made from the skins of animals, while only those who can procure European clothing wear anything but skins throughout the year. For winter clothing deerskin is by far the best, and is always used where it can be obtained. When this material is not available, sealskin, or the skins of foxes, wolves, bears and dogs is used, and sometimes the skins of birds. For the summer garments, sealskin is the common material, while waterproof clothing is made from the intestines of the Big seal.

The clothing of both sexes consists of a coat, breeches, stockings and boots. In the winter two suits are worn, the inner with the hair next to the body and the outer one with the hair exposed. The man’s coat is usually made to descend a short distance below the hips, and is cut plain on the bottom. There are no openings in the coat, and it is drawn on over the head. It terminates above in a hood, provided with a drawing string, so that in cold weather the opening may be closed tightly about the face. The bottom is often provided with a fringe hanging several inches below the garment, and made by cutting a band of deerskin into narrow thongs. This fringe becomes entangled with the hair of the lower garment, and serves as a wind-break. The coat, or kulitang, varies somewhat in shape in the various tribes, and the style seems at times to be due to the fancy of the individual. On the east side of Hudson bay the coats are of a moderate length; among the northern Eskimo of Greenland they are quite short and barely reach the tops of the breeches when the man is standing upright, while a wide section of the back is exposed when he bends over. Along the west coast of Hudson bay, among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus, the men’s coats are long, and often have a short apron and tail like those of the women. They are also ornamented by the insertion of white patches of deerskin in the backs and on the sleeves. This white skin is only worn by the women of other tribes. The inner suit is made from light summer skins, while the outer ones are heavy and thick, and are from the deer killed late in the autumn.

The breeches are made loose, and reach from the thigh to a short distance below the knee, where they are quite open to provide ventilation. They are secured to the body by a string in the waistband and have no openings.

The winter boots are usually made of the skin from the legs of the deer, carefully matched and sewn, and the feet are made with the hair inside, so that a pair of low shoes may be worn over them when travelling on the sled. Deerskin socks are worn inside the boots; they are both long and short, and are worn with the hair inside. A pair of deerskin mitts, worn with the hair outside, complete the ordinary costume of a man, but sometimes, in very cold weather, a pair of dogskin shoes are slipped over the ordinary foot-gear when travelling on the sled, as the Eskimo is very careful that his extremities are kept warm and dry.

A man’s summer clothing of sealskin corresponds closely to his deerskin suit. All the garments, except the boots, are made from skins dressed with the hair on, and the hairy side is worn outside. The skins of the fœtid seal are commonly used for this purpose, and it is only a very fortunate swell who has a suit from the skins of the harbour seal. The boots are made of skins from which the hair has been shaved off. For the tops, the skin of the fœtid seal is used, the bottoms being made from the thicker skin of the big seal.

The women’s clothing consists of garments similar to those worn by the men, but they are cut differently. The coat, in the body, is much looser, and the hood is larger and more open, being prolonged into the back to form a receptacle for the baby, who is carried naked there, the weight being supported by two thongs sewn to the shoulders in front and which, crossing the breast are attached under the arms. Unlike the men’s coats, those of the women have an apron, reaching nearly to the knee in front, and a longer tail behind. The inner coat is often ornamented with beads or fancy strips of skin, while the outer garment is decorated with strips and patches of white deerskin, all very neatly _appliqué_. On the east side of Hudson bay the women wear breeches and boots very similar in cut to those of the men, but on the west coast they are quite dissimilar. There the breeches are very loose, and reach almost to the ankles, where they are gathered in. Between the knee and ankle they have a curious bag on the outer side of the leg, which is used for their feet when seated within the snow-houses, the footwear being removed and the feet withdrawn inside the breeches and thrust into these bags—a very comfortable plan. With such long and clumsy looking breeches, short shoes and socks must be worn.

The women arrange their hair in different fashions, often attempting to follow those set by their more civilized sisters of the trading stations. For example, the prevailing fashion on the east side of Hudson bay is to wear the hair cut short, like that of the wife of the officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Great Whale river. About Cumberland gulf the hair is usually put up in a knot on the back of the head, and this is sometimes varied by small side knots over the ears. Among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus, the prevailing fashion is two rolled braids wound with string or ribbon, one over each ear. The hair when dressed for native state occasions is separated into two side locks, each of which is covered by a highly ornamented covering sewn with beads, and worn as long cylinders hanging down over the breasts.

The children’s clothing, when they wear any, is very similar to that of the grown people, except that the girls, until they are nearly mature, are not provided with tailed coats. Infants are carried perfectly naked in their mother’s hoods until they are about two years old.

MORAL CHARACTERISTICS.

The Eskimo as a rule is strictly honest, and the occasional thief is looked down upon by the wild native as well as by the partly civilized one. Not quite as truthful as they are honest, they still compare favourably in that respect with the white men. When the source of a lie is traced it is found to be due to a mistaken politeness, the native intending to please by answering in a manner which he thinks will be agreeable to the questioner. Another cause is due to the etiquette of the people, whereby a man always belittles his success in hunting or other actions. When these reasons are unknown to the casual stranger among these people he classes them as liars, when the case is not so, for an Eskimo seldom, or never, makes a false statement to shield himself from the consequences of ill-doing. Of course there are black sheep in every flock, and the Eskimos have their share of them.

Judged by the standards of sexual morals of civilization, the Eskimo is a minus quantity; but who is to say what is right in this respect among a people situated as they are.

In temperament they are phlegmatic and slow to anger, being good-natured rather than otherwise, but like all savages, liable to ungovernable bursts of rage when roused. As a rule they are proud and independent, with a greater sense of gratitude for favours received than their Indian neighbours.

They are not cleanly in their habits, and this is not surprising considering that for the greater part of the year they must melt all the water they use. The length of time required for the decay of animal matter in the cool northern regions renders personal or culinary cleanliness a matter of sentiment and not of health, and they do not pay great attention to sentiment.

Being accustomed from childhood to the strong odours of seal blubber and rancid meat, they are not at all delicate in their senses of taste and smell, and it occasionally happens that their liking for tainted meat ends disastrously, especially when a rotten porpoise furnishes the food. The writer knows of several deaths due to poisoning from this cause.

As a people, they are very hospitable and kind; but like other savages would probably soon tire of continuous efforts to support helpless whites cast upon them, especially when the guests assume a superiority over their hosts.