y.
Those who see a sort of complemental relation to each other of
linguistic affinity and the conformity in physical characters may infer
from "Mikey-doo-rook" (a term of endearment equivalent to "Mavourneen"
and used in addressing little children) that the inhabitants within the
Polar Circle have something of the Emerald Isle about them. But no, they
are not Irish, for when they are about to leave the ship or any other
place for their houses they say "to hum"; consequently they are Yankees.
I do not wish to be thought frivolous in my notions regarding the noble
science of philology; but when one considers the changes that language
is constantly undergoing, the inability of the human voice to articulate
more than twenty distinct sounds, and the wonderful amount of ingenious
learning that has been wasted by philologists on trifling subjects, one
is disposed to associate many of their deductions with the savage
picture-writing on Dighton Rock, the Cardiff Giant, and the old
wind-mill at Newport.
ESKIMO DIETETICS.
Attempts to trace or discover the origin of races through supposed
philological analogies do not possess the advantage of certainty
afforded by the study of the means by which individuals of the race
supply the continuous demands of the body with the nutriment necessary
to maintain life and health.
Everybody has heard of the seal, bear, walrus, and whale in connection
with Eskimo dietetics, and doubtless the stomachs of most persons would
revolt at the idea of eating these animals, the taste for which, by the
way, is merely a matter of early education or individual preference, for
there is no good reason why they should not be just as palatable to the
northern appetite as pig, sheep, and beef are to the inhabitants of
temperate latitudes. As food they renew the nitrogenous tissues,
reconstruct the parts and restore the functions of the Eskimo frame,
prolong his existence, and produce the same animal contentment and joy
as the more civilized viands of the white man's table. There are more
palatable things than bear or eider duck, yet I know many persons to
whom snails, olive oil, and _pate de fois gras_ are more repugnant. A
tray full of hot seal entrails, a bowl of coagulated blood, and putrid
fish are not very inviting or lickerish to ordinary mortals, yet they
have their analogue in the dish of some farmers who eat a preparation of
pig's bowels known as "chitterlings," and in the blood-puddings and
L
|