Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/792

772 few antiquated matrons, my aversion toward my future fellow-residents reached its highest point. It really seemed as if the ugliest of the ugly had been selected to receive us, for I was afterward surprised by many a cheerful and pleasant face, or a strong, well-built figure. These first Eskimos appeared at least relatively neat, for they had probably held a grand feast of purification before the arrival of the ship. I had an opportunity to observe what a good influence intercourse with the whites had had upon the natives, when I came into a settlement on Davis Strait, which had never been visited by a European. I would not undertake to describe the appearance it presented, so odious was it. When I related to the Eskimos of Cumberland Sound the unhappy experiences I had suffered in the oily and filthy huts of this tribe, they answered: "We are like the cleanly gulls, which have, indeed, to look to the oil and fat of seals and walruses for their food, but still keep their feathers tidy; but they are like the Mollimoke, which wallow in blood and fat, and do not mind any kind of dirt."

The fur dresses of our Eskimos appear to be well made, and adorned with trimmings of different kinds of skins. Particular attention seemed to have been given to the reindeer-skin jackets of the women, with their long tails reaching to the ground, and to the wide hoods in which the children are carried. The short breeches reaching to the knee, of white seal-pups' skin, were very handsome. Afterward, when I became better acquainted with my new friends, I perceived what a disadvantage an indolent woman could be, even in this country, when she can not or will not keep up with her household duties. The clothes of the family too often bear witness to her neglect, and I have sometimes pitied the poor men who have to go to their seal-hunting in cold winter weather, without enough clothing. Among the first women who visited us were some unusually adorned with a cotton garment, which was occasionally exposed under their fur jackets. The men also appeared to be well clothed in seal-skin jackets, small hoods, and breeches ornamented with variously colored furs. Their long hair, loosely fluttering about their heads, gave them a wild appearance; but their quiet eyes, and the childish pleasure they exhibited on every opportunity, contradicted this. They all greatly enjoyed the much-desired tobacco, for the provision at the station had given out some time before, and they had been obliged, willing or unwilling, to practice abstinence, and not to smoke. when they had got entirely out, they had broken up their clay pipes and chewed the pieces for the sake of the taste of the little tobacco that had been absorbed in them.

A little while after casting anchor, we visited the summer tents of the natives. We had not got very close to them before their proximity became quite obvious by the strong odor of the skins of which they were made. The front part, which is made of split, semi-transparent skins, impressed itself very strongly and disagreeably on my