Voy., vol. i., p. 366. Tent of skins, tie-poo-eet; topak; toopek. Tent, too-pote. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 381. 'Yourts.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59. Tent, topek. Dall says Richardson is wrong, and that igloo or iglu is the name of ice houses. Alaska, p. 532. House, iglo. Tent, tuppek. Richardson's Jour., vol. ii., p. 378. Snow house, eegloo. Franklin's Nar., vol. ii., p. 47.
43
They are so fond of the warm blood of dying animals that they invented an instrument to secure it. See Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 344. 'Whale-blubber, their great delicacy, is sickening and dangerous to a European stomach.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 192.
44
Hearne says that the natives on the Arctic coast of British America are so disgustingly filthy that when they have bleeding at the nose they lick up their own blood. Travels, p. 161. 'Salt always appeared an abomination.' 'They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a substitute for fire.' Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201. At Kotzebue Sound they 'seem to subsist entirely on the flesh of marine animals, which they, for the most part, eat raw.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 239.
45
'During the two summer months they hunt and live on swans, geese, and ducks.' Richardson's Nar., vol. i., p. 346.
46
'Secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for the lamps of a whole village, and there is great rejoicing.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 313. 'The capture of the seal and walrus is effected in the same manner. Salmon and other fish are caught in nets.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 61. 'Six small perforated ivory balls attached separately to cords of sinew three feet long.' Dease & Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., 222.
47
Near Smith River, a low piece of ground, two miles broad at the beach, was found enclosed by double rows of turf set up to represent men, narrowing towards a lake, into which reindeer were driven and killed. Simpson's Nar., p. 135.
48
'Ce qu'il y a encore de frappant dans la complexion de ces barbares, c'est l'extrême chaleur de leur estomac et de leur sang; ils échauffent tellement, par leur haleine ardente, les huttes où ils assemblent en hiver, que les Européans, s'y sentent étouffés, comme dans une étuve dont la chaleur est trop graduée: aussi ne font-ils jamais de feu dans leur habitation en aucune saison, et ils ignorent l'usage des cheminées, sous le climat le plus froid du globe.' De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 261.
49
'The voluptuousness and Polygamy of the North American Indians, under a temperature of almost perpetual winter, is far greater than that of the most sensual tropical nations.' Martin's British Colonies, vol. iii., p. 524.
50
'The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnishing oil and blubber, but the skin used for their canoes, thongs, nets, lassoes, and boot soles.' Whymper's Alaska, p. 161.
51
They have 'two sorts of bows; arrows pointed with iron, flint, and bone, or blunt for birds; a dart with throwing-board for seals; a spear headed with iron or copper, the handle about six feet long; and formidable iron knives, equally adapted for throwing, cutting, or stabbing.' Simpson's Nar., p. 123. They ascended the Mackenzie in former times as far as the Ramparts, to obtain flinty slate for lance and arrow points. Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 213. At St. Lawrence Island, they are armed with a knife two feet long. Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., pp. 193, 211. One weapon was 'a walrus tooth fixed to the end of a wooden staff.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 343.
52
At the Coppermine River, arrows are pointed with slate or copper; hatchets also are made of a thick lump of copper. Hearne's Travels, pp. 161-9.
53
'The old ivory knives and flint axes are now superseded, the Russians having introduced the common European sheath-knife and hatchet. The board for throwing darts is in use, and is similar to that of the Polynesians.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53.
54
The 'baydare is a large open boat, quite flat, made of sea-lions' skins,' and is used also for a tent. At Lantscheff Island it was 'a large and probably leathern boat, with black sails.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., pp. 202, 216. 'The kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks with oars.' Can 'propel their kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., pp. 238, 358. At Hudson Strait they have canoes of seal-skin, like those of Greenland. Franklin's Nar., vol. i., p. 29. Not a drop of water can penetrate the opening into the canoe. Müller's Voy., p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are 'much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.' Hooper's Tuski, pp. 226, 228. Oomiaks or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. Simpson's Nar., p. 148. 'With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.' Dall's Alaska, p. 380. 'Frame work of wood – when this cannot be procured whalebone is substituted.' Armstrong's Nar., p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; 'sewed in some parts, and tied in others.' Voyages, p. 67. They also use a sail. 'On découvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait à la voile; elle était en cuir.' Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. They 'are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.' Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. 'It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.' Campbell's Voy., p. 114. 'The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.' Beechey's Voy., vol. i., p. 346.
55
The 'kajak is shaped like a weaver's shuttle.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 308. 'The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56.
56
'The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.' Richardson's Jour., vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. Langsdorff's Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. They strike 'the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.' Cook's Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 516. 'Wiegen nie über 30 Pfund, und haben ein dünnes mit Leder überzognes Gerippe.' Neue Nachrichten, p. 152. 'The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.' Kotzebue's New Voy., vol. ii., p. 40. At the Shumagin Islands they 'are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.' Meares' Voy., p. x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. Sauer, Billings' Ex., p. 157, 159.
57
'They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.' 'The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.' Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56. At Saritscheff Island 'I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.' Kotzebue's Voy., vol. i., p. 201. 'To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.' Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; 'neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or lashings of whale-bone.' Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, Voyages, pp. 67,
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