HABITS AND BELIEFS OF THE ESKIMOS.
LAMPS, hunting and fishing tackle, and a few cooking utensils form the whole of an Eskimo's possessions; their lamps are mostly shallow earthenware dishes hollowed out on one side, with dried moss for a wick, and fed with oil. The lamp serves the double purpose of lighting and warming, for the Eskimos burn no wood fires, except out-of-doors in summer. Their few pots and pans used formerly to be all earthenware, but nowadays they are supplied with iron and copper vessels by the Europeans. The native weapons and boats admit of no improvement. They are the result of generations of labor, and have attained to absolute perfection. The kayak is a beautiful little canoe, consisting of a framework of wood, covered with hide. It is pointed bow and stern and decked, except for the manhole in the middle. It is very light, and, if well managed, very safe, and capable of going long distances in a heavy sea, with little exertion to the rower. The omiak is a larger boat, also made of hide, calculated to carry a number of persons and a heavy freight. The construction of these boats and of the harpoons, bows, spears, etc., is extremely ingenious. Several styles of building exist among the Eskimos. The snow huts are merely circular erections, easily built, and containing no interior fittings but a snow bench, covered with hides. Such a hut is easily completed in two or three hours, and one needle covers the cost of erection. The commonest form of Eskimo house, however, is about six feet high and twelve wide; the walls are of large stones and turf, the roof thatched with brushwood, filled in with clods of earth. The length varies from twenty to eighty feet, according to the number of the families that inhabit it. The roof is supported on pillars, which divide the house into compartments. A bed six feet wide and two high runs the whole length of the wall. Hides stretching across it from each pillar mark each family's portion. Here the inhabitants sleep all together by night, and12sit by day, the husband on the edge with his legs dangling, and the wife crouching behind. By each pillar is a separate family hearth, built of flat stones over which are hung two lamps, with a wooden dish to catch the dripping oil. One large pot to each hearth suffices for cooking purposes. In winter time, when all the lamps are alight, and the hut crowded, the heat is almost intolerable, especially as there is no outlet for the vitiated vapor, except the long, low tunnel, which serves as a door. The windows, being covered by fish skins, admit light but no air. Men and women have to strip off their clothes in this atmosphere, and wear only short breeches, the women's being very prettily trimmed with feathers. Europeans are driven out of these huts by the smell of half-tanned leather and half-cooked putrid meat, but Eskimos find it delicious, and object to what we call sweet scents. One old woman being made to smell lavender water sneezed violently, and called it mamatipok (very unpleasant). The Eskimos have no domestic animals except the dogs that draw their sledges. They are like the Lapland dogs, having sharp noses, thick coats, and bushy tails; like their Samoyede relatives, they cannot bark. One that was brought to Europe while a puppy tried hard to bark like the dogs he associated with, but failed to do more than howl dismally. They are trained exclusively for sledge work. The team consists of six or eight harnessed abreast; the driver uses a short-handled whip with a long lash, which can deal terrible blows when skillfully used. The leading dog keeps the others up to their work, and will punish a lazy one severely. In summer the poor beasts are turned out to shift for themselves, but in winter they are well fed and cared for. When the snow is frozen hard, the Eskimos protect their dogs' feet from the sharp ridges by putting them in little bags. The Eskimos are a heedless race, and so soon as they have sufficient food and no occasion to hunt, they give themselves up to good cheer and the pleasures of society. They pay each other visits, chatter morning, noon, and night, and arrange balls, carouses, and athletic sports. At these parties they retail the latest scandals and discuss the affairs of the nation, but grotesque dances and songs are the chief diversion. Eskimos have no musical instrument but the drum, or rather tambourine, but they have good voices, and easily pick up European tunes, for which they compose words, usually satires on current events, or improvisations in praise of their own hunting exploits. If one man has a grudge against another, he composes a song about his injuries, which he performs at one of these festivals. The defendant must then reply in another song, after which the audience pronounce sentence, and the parties are reconciled. An entertainment of this kind lasts all night. As soon as one native has done dancing and singing, another takes the drum and tries to outdo him, and they amuse themselves with such zeal that they often remain eight or ten days without sleep. Though they have little conscience in the matter, the Eskimos generally behave decently at these festivals and in their houses, because, they say, "the missionaries make such a fuss about it." The Eskimos have no special marriage ceremony, except that the bride must be carried off by craft or pretended violence. The bridegroom either performs this feat himself, or gets a friend to do it for him. The match is usually arranged by the parents beforehand, often while the pair are still children. Etiquette requires the bride to get a few knocks and rents in her garments. She must also appear for some time with disheveled hair, as if mournful and weary of life, and make several attempts to escape. The Eskimos are buried in their best array. Beside the corpse is laid all the dead person is supposed to need in the next world. A man has his spear, bow, and arrows; a woman, needles and thread, a leather scraper, and a bucket; a child, its toys, and a dog's head to guide it beyond the grave. Some tombs contain torches and models of kayaks. In one I found several rusty nails, probably the dead man's greatest treasures; in another, several pairs of wooden snow spectacles—the deceased had doubtless weak eyes, and was afraid of the dazzling snow fields in the regions of the blest. The grave is usually a simple ditch, surmounted by a cairn of stones. Several Eskimo customs, their mode of burial especially, indicate a vague conception of a future life. In the next world, they think, the brave hunter will lead a life analogous to that he lived on earth, only he will have less hardships to endure, and will find seals' flesh and other delicacies in abundance. Though not on the whole a superstitious people, Eskimos are apt to attribute their misfortunes to the "Iliseetsok," as they call witches, and many a poor old crone has suffered in consequence. They have neither temples, shrines, nor idols, but the amulets they began by treating as toys and ornaments would probably have become fetiches, and certain of their usages religious ceremonies, had it not been for the missionaries' intervention. One of their superstitions is that they believe the whale hunter will fail unless he puts on his best clothes, because whales like to be respected and detest the sight of dirty people. An amulet is fixed in the bow of the kayak, and a hare's claw tied to the harpoon. Meanwhile the women at home wash themselves, put out the lamps, and wait in silence.