e last coincidence
may possibly arise from similarity of location and climate; and, taken
by itself, would afford no certain proof of identity of origin; but
taken in connexion with the aforementioned characteristics, I think
the conclusion is irresistible that the Laplanders and Esquimaux are
of the same race.

That the Esquimaux and the natives of Greenland are also of a kindred
race, is a fact ascertained beyond a doubt, from the reports of the
Moravian Missionaries, who have settlements among both.

The way in which they must have passed from the one continent to the
other, must now be left to conjecture. There is nothing improbable
in the supposition that some of them might have been drifted out to
sea by stress of weather, and wafted to the shores of Greenland;
whence some might, in course of time, remove to the opposite coast
of America. From the southern extremity of Labrador to Behring's
Straits, the Esquimaux language is the same, differing only in the
pronunciation of a few words. We had a native of Hudson's Bay with us,
who had accompanied Captain Franklin to the McKenzie and Coppermine
Rivers, and who assured us that he understood the Esquimaux of that
quarter, and those of Ungava, although some thousands of miles apart,
as well as his own tribe.

In manners, customs, and dress, there is a like similarity. The
Esquimaux have ever remained a distinct people; the other natives of
America seeming to consider them more as brutes than human beings, and
never approaching them unless for the purpose of knocking them on the
head. Every one's hand is against them. I have seen Esquimaux scalps,
even among the timid _tetes des boules_ of Temiscamingue; yet no
people seem more disposed to live at peace with their neighbours, if
only they were allowed. Circumstanced as they are, however, they are
likely to suffer hostile aggression for a long time. Even a coward,
with a musket in his hand, is generally an overmatch for a brave man
with only a bow or a sling; but once possessed of fire-arms, they will
teach their enemies to respect them, for they will undoubtedly have
the advantage of superior courage and resolution.

The Esquimaux is not easily excited to anger; but his wrath once
roused, he becomes furious: he foams like a wild boar, rolls his eyes,
gnashes his teeth, and rushes on his antagonist with the fury of a
beast of prey. In the winter of 1840, a quarrel arose between two
individuals about the sex, which l