Esquimaux

THE Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux alone among savage races, occupy both the Old and the New World. They inhabit the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Greenland; and throughout this great extent of country the language, appearance, occupations, weapons, and habits of the natives are very similar, and it must be added that the latter are most ingenious. The language of the Innuit or Esquimaux is akin to that of the North American Indians in structure, while their appearance has a decided likeness, particularly about the eyes, to the Chinese and Tartars.

Their dwellings are of two kinds. The summer they pass in tents or wigwams, with the entrance to the south or south-east. In those observed by Captain Parry, the tentpoles were, in the absence of wood, formed of stags' horns, or bones lashed together. The lower borders of the skins were held down by large stones. These were sometimes built up into regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter and four or five feet high. These circles were at first supposed to be the remains of winter-houses, but it was subsequently ascertained that they were exclusively used for extending the skins of the summer-tents. Near these “hut circles” long rows of standing stones were several times observed, The winter-houses, in the southern districts are constructed of earth or drift-timber, which is very abundant in some places. In the north, however, wood becomes extremely rare.