Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/565

Rh ESKIMO 545 in the winter, become damp and dripping in the spring, and are then deserted. In the roof are deposited their spare harpoons, &c.; and from it is suspended the steatite basin-like lamp, the flames of which, the wick being of moss, serves us fire and light. On one side of the hut is the bench which is used as sofa, seats, and common sleeping place. The floor is usually very filthy, a pool of blood or a dead seal being often to be seen there. Ventila tion is almost non-existent ; and after the lamp has blazed for some time, the family having assembled, the heat is all but unbearable : the upper garment must be taken off, and the unaccustomed visitor gasps half asphyxiated in the mephitic atmosphere. In the summer the wolfish-looking dogs lie outside on the roof of the huts, in the winter in the tunnel-like passage just outside the family apartment. The Western Eskimo build their houses chiefly of planks, merely covered on the outside with green turf. The same Eskimo have, in the more populous places, a public room for meetings. &quot; Council chambers &quot; are also said to exist in Labrador, but are only known in Greenland by tradi tion. Sometimes in South Greenland and in the Western Eskimo country the houses are made to accommodate several families, but as a rule each family has a house to itself. The Eskimo are solely hunters and fishers, and derive most of their subsistence from the sea. Their country will allow of no cultivation worth attending to ; and beyond a few berries, roots, &c., they use no vegetable food. They are essentially sarcophagous. The seal, the reindeer when obtainable, and various cetaceous animals supply the bulk of their food, as well as their clothing, light, fuel, and frequently also, when driftwood is scarce or unavailable, the material for various articles of domestic economy. The shuttle-shaped canoe or kayak, covered with hairless seal-skin -stretched on a wooden or whalebone frame, with only a hole in the centre for the paddler, is one of the most characteristic Eskimo imple ments. The paddler propels it with a bone-tipped double- bladed piddle, like that used in the &quot; canoes&quot; familiar as aquatic playthings in England. He is covered with a waterproof skin or entrail dress, tightly fastened round the mouth of the hole in which he sits, so that, should the canoe overturn, not a drop of water may enter. A skilful kayaker can turn a complete somersault, boat and all, through the water. The umiak or flat-bottomed skin luggage-boat, rowed by the women, is another, though less interesting, Eskimo vessel. The sledge, made of two runners of wood or bone, even, in one case on record, of frozen salmon (Maclure), united by cross bars tied to the runners by hide thongs, and drawn by from 4 to 8 dogs harnessed abreast, is another article of Eskimo domestic economy which no European ingenuity has ever been able to improve. Some of their weapons afford remarkable evidence of inventive skill, in particular, the harpoon, with the point detachable after it has struck the seal, narwhal, or white whale ; the line to which the harpoon is fastened, with the inflated sealskin at the end, which tires out the prey, besides marking its course, and buoys it up when dead; the bird-spears, with bladder attached, and the adventitious side-points which strike the animal should the main one miss it; the rib bow of the wild Eskimo, ttc. Although they have to maintain a severe struggle for existence against the elements, the Eskimo have been able, in the manufacture of their tools, to develop artistic and mechanical skill far surpassing that of savages more favour ably situated, but less endowed with brain power. They sometimes cook their food by boiling, but, when it is frozen, never hesitate to devour it raw. Blood, and the half-digested contents of the reindeer s paunch, are also eagerly consumed by them ; but it is a mistake to suppose that they habitually eat blubber. Fat they are no doubt fond of, but blubber is too precious: it must be kept for winter fuel and light. They are enormous eaters; two Eskimo will easily dispose of a seal at a sitting ; and in Greenland, for instance, each individual has for his daily consumption, on an average, 2 Bb of flesh with blubber, and 1 Ib of fa sh, besides mussels, berries, sea-weed, &c., to which in the Danish settlements may be added 2 oz. of imported food. Ten pounds of flesh, in addition to other food, is not uncommonly consumed in a day in time of plenty. A man will lie on his back and allow his wife to feed him with tit-bits of blubber and flesh until he is unable to move. The Eskimo cannot be strictly called a wandering race. They are nomadic only in so far that they have to move about from place to place during the fishing and shooting season, following the game in its migrations. They have, however, no regular property. They possess only the most necessary utensils and furniture, with a stock of provisions for less than one year ; and these possessions never exceed certain limits fixed upon by tradition or custom (Rink). Long habit and the necessities of their life have also compelled those having food to share with those having none, a custom which, with others, has conduced to the stagnant condition of Eskimo society and to their utter improvidence. Moral and Mental Character. So far as a nation can be characterized in a few words, it may be said that the Eskimo are, if not in the first rank of barbarous races, not in the last, and that, though they want some of the mental endowments of races like the Polynesians, they are equally free from many of their vicious traits. Their intelligence is considerable, as their implements and folk-tales abun dantly prove. They display a taste for music, chartography, and drawing, display no small amount of humour, are quick at picking up peculiar traits in strangers, and are pain fully acute in detecting the weak points or ludicrous sides of their character. They are excellent mimics, and easily learn the dances and songs of the Europeans, as well as their games, such as chess and draughts. They gamble a little, but in moderation, for the Eskimo, though keen traders, have a deep-rooted antipathy to speculation. When they offer anything for sale say at a Danish settlement in Greenland they always leave it to the buyer to settle the price. They have also a dislike to bind themselves by contract. Hence it was long before the Eskimo in Green land could be induced to enter into European service, though when they do so now-a-days they pass to almost the opposite extreme they have no will of their own. It is affirmed by those who ought to know that any sort of licentiousness or indecency which might give rise to public offence is rare among them. In their private life their morality is. however, not high. The women are especially erring; and in Greenland, at places where strangers visit, their extreme laxity of morals, and their utter want of shame, are not more remarkable than the entire absence of jealousy or self-respect on the part of their countrymen and relatives. Theft in Greenland is almost unknown; but the wild Eskimo make very free with strangers goods though it must be allowed that the value they attach to the articles stolen is some excuse for the thieves. Among themselves, on the other hand, they are very honest, a result of their being so much under the control of public opinion. Lying is said to be as common a trait of the Eskimo as of other savages in their dealings with Europeans. They have naturally not made any figure in literature. Their folk-lore is, however, extensive, and that collected by Dr Rink shows considerable imagination and no mean talent on the part of the story-tellers. In Green land and Labrador most of the natives have been taught by the missionaries to read and write in their own language. Altogether, the literature published in the Eskimo tongue is considerable. Most of it has been printed in Denmark, VIII. 69