er of souls inhabiting one of these lodges appeared only to be
limited by the circle of friends and connections forming a family. The
winter abode--formed almost underground--appeared decidedly well
adapted to afford warmth, and some degree of pure ventilation, in so
severe a climate, where fuel can be spared only for culinary purposes;
and I was glad to see that, although necessity obliges the Esquimaux to
eat of the oil and flesh of the seal and naorwhal, yet, when they could
procure it, they seemed fully alive to the gastronomic pleasures of a
good wholesome meal of fish, birds' eggs, bread, sugar, tea, and
coffee.

Their canoes are perfect models of beauty and lightness; in no part of
the world do we see them excelled in speed and portability--two very
important qualities in the craft of a savage; and in ornamental
workmanship, the skill of both men and women is tastefully displayed.

The clothing of the natives is vastly superior to any thing we could
produce, both in lightness of material, and wind and water-tight
qualities;--the material, seal and deer skin, and entrails,
manufactured by the women; their needles of Danish manufacture; their
thread, the delicate sinews of animals. We gladly purchased all we
could obtain of their clothing.

[Headnote: _THE ESQUIMAUX._]

Every one has heard of the horrors of an Esquimaux existence,--sucking
blubber instead of roast beef, train-oil their usual beverage, and a
seal their bonne-bouche; the long gloomy winter spent in pestiferous
hovels, lighted and warmed with whale-oil lamps; the narrow gallery for
an entrance, along which the occupant creeps for ingress and egress.
This and much more has been told us; yet, now that I have seen it
all,--the Esquimaux's home, the Esquimaux's mode of living, and the
Esquimaux himself,--I see nothing so horrible in one or the other.

The whaler, from bonnie Scotia, or busy Hull, fresh from the
recollection of his land and home, no doubt shudders at the comparative
misery and barbarity of these poor people; but those who have seen the
degraded Bushmen or Hottentots of South Africa, the miserable Patanies
of Malayia, the Fuegians or Australians of our southern hemisphere, and
remember the comparative blessings afforded by nature to those
melancholy specimens of the human family, will, I think, exclaim with
me, that the Esquimaux of Greenland are as superior to them in mental
capacity, manual dexterity, physical enterprise, and social