APPEARANCE OF THE PEOPLE — THEIR COMPLEXION, AND DIFFICULTY OF SEEING IT — AN ESQUIMAUX CHILD WASHED AND COMBED — BODILY STRENGTH — DRESS OF THE MEN — THE TAILED COAT — “MILLING” BOOTS — DRESS OF THE WOMEN — THE LARGE HOOD AND BOOTS — THE TATTOO, AND MODE OF PERFORMING IT — HAIR-DRESSING — PREPARING SKINS — THE SNOW HOUSES, AND MODE OF BUILDING THEM — CAPTAIN LYON’S DESCRIPTION — INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS OF THE HUT — ICE AND BONE HOUSES — THE TUPIC, OR SUMMER DWELLING — FOOD OF THE ESQUIMAUX — A WISE TRAVELLER.

We now come to those extraordinary people, called by Europeans the Esquimaux (their own name being Innuit), who, placed amid perpetual ice and snow, have bent those elements to their own purposes, and pass as happy lives in their inclement country as do the apparently more favored inhabitants of the tropics amid their perpetual verdure. Indeed, the Esquimaux has a perfect yearning for his beloved country, should he be away from it. Captain Hall relates the circumstances attendant upon the “death of Kudlago, a singularly intelligent man, who had visited the United States, and fully learned to appreciate the advantages of the high civilization which he saw there. But all his wishes were for home, and he was taken back. As the ship neared his native land, he fell ill and died, his last words being the eager inquiry, ‘Do you see ice? Do you see ice?’”

In appearance, the Esquimaux are a peculiar people. Their stature is short, when compared to that of an ordinary European, the average being about five feet three inches for the men, and two or three inches less for the women.

The complexion is in some cases rather dark, but, as a rule, is not much darker than that of the inhabitants of Southern Europe. It looks, however, many shades darker, in consequence of the habits of the Esquimaux, who never wash from their birth to their death. It is not that they neglect their ablutions, but the very idea of washing never enters the mind of an Esquimaux, who, unless he has met with white men, has not even heard of such an operation. When, however, an Esquimaux has been induced to allow his skin to be cleansed, he is found to lose many shades of his original darkness. There is an amusing passage in the journal of Captain Hall, given in his “Life with the Esquimaux,” a work to which frequent reference will be made in the next few pages.

“Kimnaloo has just been Americanized. Captain B——’s good wife had made and sent to her a pretty red dress, a necktie, mittens, belt, &c.

“Mr. Rogers and I, at a suggestion from me, thought it best to commence the change of nationality with soap and water. The process was slow, that of arriving at the beautiful little girl, whom we at length found, though deeply imbedded layer after layer in dirt. Then came the task of making her toilet. With a very coarse comb I commenced to disentangle her hair. She had but little, the back part from behind her ears having been cut short off on account of severe pains in her head. How patiently she submitted to the worse than curry-comb process I had to use! This was the first time in her life that a comb had been put to her head. Her hair was filled with moss, seal and reindeer hairs, and many other things, too numerous to call them all by name. Poor little thing! Yet she was fat and beautiful, the very picture of health. Her cheeks were as red as the blown rose; Nature’s vermilion was upon them.”

The skin is smooth, soft, and yet wonderfully tough, with a sort of unctuous surface, probably occasioned by the enormous amount of oil and fat which forms the principal part of their diet. The features are not very pleasing, the face being broad, and the cheek-bones so high that in many cases, if a flat ruler were laid from cheek to cheek, it would not touch the nose. As is the case with the Chinese section of this vast race, the eyes slope rather downward, and the face is often covered with wrinkles to a wonderful extent, extending from the eyes down each cheek.

In bodily strength, the Esquimaux present a great contrast to the Andamaners, who, though short, are possessed of gigantic muscular powers. Captain Lyon found that the natives could not raise burdens that were easily lifted by his sailors, whereas an ordinary Andamaner is often a match for two powerful sailors. The neck is strangely thin and feeble, however well-proportioned the chest may be, and it is a curious fact that the Esquimaux are almost wholly ignorant of running and jumping. There is but little beard, and the hair is black, coarse, straight, and lanky.

The general character of the dress is alike in both sexes, so that at a little distance it is not easy to tell whether the spectator be looking at a man or a woman, both sexes wearing trousers, and jackets with a large hood, which can either be drawn over the head or allowed to fall on the shoulders. The jacket of the man is made something like a broad-tailed dress coat, hanging behind as far as the middle of the calf, and cut away in front just below the waist. It is mostly made of deer-hide, and the hood is lined and turned up with white fur, which forms a curious contrast to the dark, broad face within it. The edge of the coat is generally bordered with a lighter-colored fur, and is often decorated with little strips of fur hanging like tassels.

Under this coat is another of similar shape, but of lighter material, and having the furry side turned inward. The legs are clothed in two pairs of trousers, the outer pair being often made of strips of differently colored deer-skins arranged in parallel stripes, and having the fur outward, while the other has the fur inward, as is the case with the coats. They only come as low as the knee, so that the joint is often frost-bitten; but nothing can induce the Esquimaux to outrage fashion by adding a couple of inches to the garment.

The boots are made of the same materials as the other parts of the dress. In winter time the Esquimaux wear first a pair of boots with the fur inward, then slippers of soft seal-skin so prepared as to be waterproof, then another pair of boots, and, lastly, strong seal-skin shoes. In the summer time one pair of boots is sufficient protection. The soles are made of thicker material than the rest of the garment, and it is the duty of the women to keep the soles flexible by chewing or “milling” them, an operation which consumes a considerable part of their time.

Mittens are made of various skins, the hairy side being inward; and if the wearer be engaged in fishing, he uses mittens made of watertight seal-skin. During the summer, light dresses are worn, made of the skins of ducks, with the feathers inward. Over all there is sometimes a very thin and light waterproof garment made of the intestines of the walrus.

The jackets worn by the women have a much longer and narrower tail than those of the men, and a tolerably deep flap in front. The hood is of enormous size, being used as a cradle as well as a hood, in which a child of nearly three years old is carried. The trousers, or rather leggings, are tied to a girdle that passes round the waist, and are so cut away at the top, that they allow a portion of the skin to be visible between them and the sides of the jacket, an exposure from which the wearers do not seem to suffer. The oddest article of the female apparel is, however, the boots, which more resemble sacks or buckets than boots, and are simply tied to the girdle by a broad strap that passes up the front of the leg. The boots are used as receptacles for all kinds of portable property, food included, and in consequence impart a most singular walk, or rather waddle, to the wearers, who are obliged to keep their feet widely apart, and, as they walk, to swing one foot round the other, rather than to use the ordinary mode of walking.

The Esquimaux women use the tattoo, called by them the kakeen, and in some places cover their limbs and a considerable portion of their persons with various patterns. There are some who mark the forehead, cheeks, and chin, these being mostly proof that the woman is married, though they are sometimes worn by unmarried females. The mode in which the kakeen is performed is amusingly told by Captain Lyon, who courageously submitted to the operation.

“My curiosity determined me on seeing how the kakeen was performed, and I accordingly put myself into the hands of Mrs. Kettle, whom I had adopted as my amama, or mother.

“Having furnished her with a fine needle, she tore with her teeth a thread off a deer’s sinew, and thus prepared the sewing apparatus. She then, without a possibility of darkening her hands beyond their standard color, passed her fingers under the bottom of the stove pot, from whence she collected a quantity of soot. With this, together with a little oil and much saliva, she soon made a good mixture, and taking a small piece of whalebone well blackened, she then drew a variety of figures about my arm, differing, as I easily saw, from those with which she herself was marked; and, calling her housemates, they all enjoyed a good laugh at the figures, which perhaps conveyed some meaning that I could not fathom.

“I had, however, only determined on a few strokes, so that her trouble was in some measure thrown away. She commenced her work by blackening the thread with soot, and taking a pretty deep but short stitch in my skin, carefully pressing her thumb on the wound as the thread passed through it, and beginning each stitch at the place where the last had ceased. My flesh being tough, she got on but slowly, and, having broken one needle in trying to force it through, I thought fit, when she had completed forty stitches, or about two inches, to allow her to desist; then, rubbing the part with oil in order to stanch the little blood which appeared, she finished the operation. I could now form an idea of the price paid by the Esquimaux females for their embellishments, which for a time occasion a slight inflammation and some degree of pain. The color which the kakeen assumes when the skin heals is of the same light blue as we see on the marked arms of seamen.”

The dress of the children is alike in both sexes. None at all is worn until the infant is nearly three years old, up to which age it is kept naked in its mother’s hood. A dress is then made of fawn skin, having the jacket, trousers, boots, and hood in one piece, the only opening being at the back. Into this odd dress the child is put, and the opening being tied up with a string, the operation of dressing is completed. The hood or cap is generally made in the shape of the fawn’s head, so that the little Esquimaux has the strangest appearance imaginable, and scarcely looks like a human being.

As to the hair, the men cut it short over the forehead, and allow the side locks to grow to their full length, tying them, when very long, over the top of the head in a large knot projecting over the forehead. The women part the hair in the middle, and make it into two large tails. A piece of bone or wood is introduced into each of the tails by way of a stiffener, and they are then bound spirally with a narrow strip of deer-hide, with the fur outward. Those women who can afford such a luxury pass the hair through two brass rings, which are then pressed as closely as possible to the head.

The whole of the operations of preparing the skin and making the clothes are done by the women, the men having completed their task when they have killed the animals. The fat, blood, and oil are first sucked from the skins, and the women then scrape the inner surface with an ingenious instrument, sometimes furnished with teeth, and at other times plain, like blunt knives. The skins are then rubbed and kneaded, and are dried by being stretched by pegs to the ground in summer, and laced over a hoop in winter and exposed to the heat of the lamp, which constitutes the only fire of the Esquimaux.

Bird skins are prepared in a somewhat similar fashion, and are stripped from the bodies of the birds in a marvellously expeditious manner. With their knife, which exactly resembles a cheese cutter, they make an incision round the head and round the outer joint of each wing. The cut part is then seized between the teeth, and with a pull and a jerk the skin comes off in one piece, and turned inside out. These skins are considered a great luxury by the Esquimaux, who bite and suck off the fat which adheres liberally to them.

In a country where the thermometer remains many degrees below zero for many months together, and in which ice and snow are the prevailing features, it is evident that houses cannot be built after the fashion of those in most countries. No trees can grow there, so that wooden houses are out of the question, and in a land where ice has been known to choke up the iron flue of a stove always kept burning neither clay could be made into bricks, nor stones cemented with mortar. There is only one substance of which houses can be made, and this is frozen water, either in the form of snow or ice, the former being the usual material. These snow houses, called igloos, are made in a dome-like shape, and are built with a rapidity that is perfectly astonishing. The reader will find the form and mode of building these houses illustrated on page 1327.

The general appearance of these strange houses is thus described by Captain Lyon, in his “Private Journal.” “Our astonishment was unbounded, when, after creeping through some long passages of snow, to enter the different dwellings, we found ourselves in a cluster of dome shaped edifices, entirely constructed of snow, which, from their recent erection, had not been sullied by the smoke of the numerous lamps that were burning, but admitted the light in most delicate hues of verdigris green and blue, according to the thickness of the slab through which it passed.... There were five clusters of huts, some having one, some two, and others three domes, in which thirteen families lived, each occupying a dome or one side of it, according to their strength. The whole number of people were twenty-one men, twenty-five women, and eighteen children, making a total of sixty-four.

“The entrance to the building was by a hole about a yard in diameter, which led through a low arched passage of sufficient breadth for two to pass in a stooping posture, and about sixteen feet in length; another hole then presented itself, and led through a similarly shaped but shorter passage, having at its termination a round opening about two feet across. Up this hole we crept one step, and found ourselves in a dome about seven feet in height, and as many in diameter, from whence the three dwelling-places with arched roofs were entered. It must be observed that this is the description of a large hut; the smaller ones, containing one or two families, have the domes somewhat differently arranged.

“Each dwelling might be averaged at fourteen or sixteen feet in diameter, by six or seven in height; but as snow alone was used in their construction, and was always at hand, it might be supposed that there was no particular size, that being of course at the option of the builder. The laying of the arch was performed in such a manner as would have satisfied the most regular artist, the key piece on the top being a large square slab. The blocks of snow used in the buildings were from four to six inches in thickness, and about a couple of feet in length, carefully pared with a large knife. Where two families occupied a dome, a seat was raised either side two feet in height. These raised places were used as beds, and covered, in the first place, with whalebone, sprigs of Andromeda, or pieces of seal-skin; over these were spread deer-pelts and deer-skin clothes, which had a very warm appearance. The pelts were used as blankets, and many of them had ornamental fringes of leather sewed round their edges.

“Each dwelling-place was illuminated by a broad piece of transparent fresh-water ice, of about two feet in diameter, which formed part of the roof, and was placed over the door. These windows gave a most pleasing light, free from glare, and something like that which is thrown through ground glass. We soon learned that the building of a house was but the work of an hour or two, and that a couple of men—one to cut the slabs and another to lay them—were sufficient laborers.

“For the support of the lamps and cooking apparatus a mound of snow is erected for each family; and when the master has two wives or a mother, both have an independent place, one at each end of the bench.”

In the middle of the hut is erected a slight scaffold, which supports a rudely made net, and under the net is placed the one essential piece of furniture of the house, namely, the lamp. This is a very simple contrivance. It is merely an oval shaped dish of stone, round the edge of which is arranged a long wick made of moss. Oil is poured into it, and a quantity of blubber is heaped in the centre of the lamp, so as to keep up the supply. Over the lamp is hung the cooking pot, the size of each being proportioned to the rank of the possessor. It sometimes happens that two wives occupy the same hut. In this case, the chief or “igloo-wife” has the large lamp and the supporting scaffold, while the other has to content herself with a little lamp and a small pot, which she must support as she can.

The value of the lamp is simply incalculable, not so much for its use in cooking, as the Esquimaux like meat raw quite as well as cooked, but for its supply of warmth, for the water which is obtained by melting snow over it, and for its use in drying clothes. All garments, the snow being first beaten off them, are placed on the “dry-net” over the lamp, where they are gradually dried, and, after being chewed by the women, are fit for wear again: otherwise they become frozen quite hard, and are of no more use than if they were made of ice. Oil is supplied by chewing blubber, and the women, who always perform the task, have the curious knack of expressing the oil without allowing a drop of moisture to mix with it. In one minute a woman can obtain enough oil to fill a lamp two feet in length.

Sometimes, when snow is scarce, the igloo is made of ice. The walls are formed of this material, and are generally of an octagonal form, the ice slabs being cemented together with snow. The domed roof is usually made of snow, but the tunnel, or passage to the interior, is of ice. Such a house is, when first made, so transparent that, even at the distance of some paces, those who are within it can be recognized through its walls.

It may seem strange that such materials as snow and ice should be employed in the construction of man’s dwelling-place, as nothing seems more opposed to comfort; yet these houses, instead of being cold, are so warm that the inhabitants throw off the greater part, and sometimes the whole, of their clothes when within them; and the bed of snow on which they recline is, when covered with the proper amount of skins, even warmer than an European feather bed. In the summer time the Esquimaux prefer the skin hut, or “tupic.” This is a mere tent made of deer-skins thrown over a few sticks, though the supports are sometimes formed from the bones of whales.

The food of the Esquimaux is almost wholly of an animal character. In the first place, the country supplies scarcely any vegetation; and, in the next place, an abundant supply of animal food is required in order to enable the inhabitants to withstand the intense cold. The seal and the reindeer form their favorite food, and in both cases the fat is the part that is most highly valued.

In the reindeer, the fat of the hinder quarters, called by the Esquimaux “toodnoo,” is the portion that is most valued. Captain Hall, who very wisely lived as the Esquimaux while staying with them, says that it is as much superior to butter as is the best butter to lard; and when the deer is in good condition, the meat is so tender that a steak almost falls to pieces if lifted by its edge. Another part of the reindeer is almost as valuable as the fat. This is the contents of the deer’s paunch, eaten raw with slices of raw venison. It has a slightly acid flavor, like that of sorrel, and if the consumer were not to know what he was eating, he would be delighted with it.

This was the case with Captain Hall, while partaking of a deer feast in an igloo. He tried the deer flesh, and found it excellent; he then took a morsel of the unknown substance, and describes it as ambrosial. After eating the greater part of it, he took it to the light, and was horrified to find the nature of the feast. However, he soon came to the wise conclusion that epicurism of any kind was nothing but the effect of education, and that, in consequence, he would ignore his previous prejudices on the subject, and eat whatever the Esquimaux ate, and as they ate it. As to the quantity consumed, neither he nor any other white man would be a match for an Esquimaux, who will consume nine or ten pounds of meat at a sitting, and lie leisurely on his back, being fed by his wife with pieces of blubber when he is utterly unable to help himself. An Esquimaux finds a sort of intoxicating effect in utter repletion, which stands him in the stead of fermented liquors.

Putting aside the gourmandizing propensity of the Esquimaux, Captain Hall found that if he were to live with them, as he intended to do, he must sooner or later come to the same diet. He determined in making a bold plunge, and eating whatever he saw them eat. At first it was rather repugnant to his feelings to eat a piece of raw meat that had been carefully licked by a woman, in order to free it from, hairs and other extraneous matters. But he reflected that, if he had not known of the licking, he would not have discovered it from the flavor of the meat, and he very wisely ignored the mode in which it had been cleaned. Similarly, fresh seal’s blood just drawn from the animal seemed rather a strange kind of soup, and the still warm entrails a remarkable sort of after-dinner delicacy. But finding that the Esquimaux considered them both as very great dainties, he tried them, and pronounced that the Esquimaux were perfectly right, and that his preconceived ideas were entirely wrong.