men
and women, sometimes only of one sex, stand opposite to each other,
exhibiting no other motion in their dancing than raising their
shoulders with a peculiar jerk, bending their knees so as to give
their whole bodies, from the knee upwards, the same motion, and
grinning horribly at each other, while not a foot stirs.

As to the music to which this _dance_ is performed, I know not well
how to describe it. By inflating and depressing the lungs so as
to create a convulsive heaving of the breast, a sound is produced,
somewhat similar to the groans of a person suffering from suffocation;
and it is to this sound they grin, and jerk their shoulders. The whole
performance is quite in keeping; the music worthy of the dancing, the
dancing worthy of the music. They have boxing too, but do not practise
the art after the fashion of the Cribs and Coopers; they disdain to
parry off the blow; each strikes in turn with clenched fist; the
blow is given behind the ear, and, as soon as one of the parties
acknowledges himself defeated, the combat ceases. They are also adepts
at wrestling; I have witnessed frequent contests between them and the
inland Indians, when the latter were invariably floored.

No one enjoys a joke better than an Esquimaux, and when his risibility
is excited he laughs with right good will, evincing in this, as in
every other respect, the difference of disposition between them and
the Indians, whose rigid features seldom betray their feelings. Much
the same diversity of character and disposition is to be observed
among the Esquimaux as among other barbarous tribes. Some instances
of disinterested kindness and generosity fell under my notice while
residing among them, that would have done honour to civilized man.

An Esquimaux who had attached himself to the establishment from the
time of our first arrival at Ungava, kept a poor widow and her three
orphans with him for several years, and seemed to make no difference
between them and the members of his own family. It must be
acknowledged, however, that the unhappy widows seldom fall into so
good hands; their fate is the most wretched that can be imagined,
unless they have children that can provide for them. In years of
scarcity they are rejected from the community, and hover about the
encampments like starving wolves, picking up whatever chance may
throw in their way, until hunger and cold terminate their wretched
existence.

Whatever may be said of the awkwardn