des the
differentiation of the muscles.

These people have no written speech, and their language is
agglutinative, with complicated prefixes and suffixes, by which they
extend a word to a considerable length from the original stem. The
language is relatively easy to acquire, and during my first summer in
Greenland I gained a fair knowledge of it. In addition to their ordinary
speech, they have an esoteric language known only to the adults of the
tribe. I cannot say wherein it differs from the other, having made no
attempt to learn it, and I doubt if any white man has been fully taught
this secret speech, as the knowledge is carefully guarded by its
possessors.

The Eskimos of this region have not, as a rule, applied themselves to
the study of English, for they were clever enough to see that we could
learn their language more easily than they could learn ours.
Occasionally, however, an Eskimo will startle all hands by rolling out
an English phrase or sentence, and, like a parrot, he seems to have a
special aptitude in picking up from the sailors phrases of slang or
profanity.

On the whole, these people are much like children, and should be treated
as such. They are easily elated, easily discouraged. They delight in
playing tricks on each other and on the sailors, are usually
good-natured, and when they are sulky there is no profit in being vexed
with them. The methods which children characterize as "jollying" are
best for such emergencies. Their mercurial temperament is Nature's
provision for carrying them through the long dark night, for if they
were morose like the North American Indians, the whole tribe would long
ago have lain down and died of discouragement, so rigorous is their lot.

In managing the Eskimos it is necessary to make a psychological study of
them, and to consider their peculiar temperament. They are keenly
appreciative of kindness, but, like children, they will impose upon a
weak or vacillating person. A blending of gentleness and firmness is the
only effective method. The fundamental point in all my dealings with
them has been always to mean just what I say and to have things done
exactly as ordered. For instance, if I tell an Eskimo that if he does a
certain thing properly he will get a certain reward, he always gets the
reward if he obeys. On the other hand, if I tell him that a certain
undesirable thing will happen if he follows a course I have forbidden,
that thing invariably happens.

I