The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft Part 11

[36] 'On trouva plusieurs huttes construites en bois, moitie dans la terre, moitie en dehors.' _Choris_, _Voy. Pitt._, pt. ii., p. 6. At Beaufort Bay are wooden huts. _Simpson's Nar._, p. 177. At Toker Point, 'built of drift-wood and sods of turf or mud.' _Hooper's Tuski_, p. 343.

At Cape Krusenstern the houses 'appeared like little round hills, with fences of whale-bone.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 237. 'They construct yourts or winter residences upon those parts of the sh.o.r.e which are adapted to their convenience, such as the mouths of rivers, the entrances of inlets, or jutting points of land, but always upon low ground.' _Beechey's Voy._, vol. ii., p. 300.

[37] 'I was surprised at the vast quant.i.ty of driftwood acc.u.mulated on its sh.o.r.e, several acres being thickly covered with it, and many pieces at least sixty feet in length.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 104.

[38] 'Eastern Esquimaux never seem to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth.' _Simpson's Nar._, p. 346.

[39] Their houses are 'moveable tents, constructed of poles and skins.'

_Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 469. 'Neither wind nor watertight.'

_Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 361. At Cape Smythe, Hooper saw seven Eskimo tents of seal skin. _Tuski_, p. 216. 'We entered a small tent of morse-skins, made in the form of a canoe.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 226. At Coppermine River their tents in summer are of deer-skin with the hair on, and circular. _Hearne's Travels_, p. 167. At St Lawrence Island, Kotzebue saw no settled dwellings, 'only several small tents built of the ribs of whales, and covered with the skin of the morse.'

_Voyage_, vol. i., pp. 190-191.

[40] 'In parallelograms, and so adjusted as to form a rotunda, with an arched roof.' _Silliman's Jour._, vol. xvi., p. 146. _Parry's Voy._, vol. v., p. 200. _Franklin's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 44.

[41] 'These houses are durable, the wind has little effect on them, and they resist the thaw until the sun acquires very considerable power.'

_Richardson's Nar._, vol. i., p. 350.

[42] The snow houses are called by the natives _igloo_, and the underground huts _yourts_, or _yurts_, and their tents _topeks_. Winter residence, 'iglut.' _Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 310. Beechey, describing the same kind of buildings, calls them 'yourts.' _Voy._, vol.

i., p. 366. Tent of skins, tie-poo-eet; topak; toopek. Tent, too-pote.

_Ibid._, vol. ii., p. 381. 'Yourts.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 59. Tent, topek. Dall says Richardson is wrong, and that igloo or iglu is the name of ice houses. _Alaska_, p. 532. House, iglo. Tent, tuppek. _Richardson's Jour._, vol. ii., p. 378. Snow house, eegloo.

_Franklin's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 47.

[43] They are so fond of the warm blood of dying animals that they invented an instrument to secure it. See _Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p.

344. 'Whale-blubber, their great delicacy, is sickening and dangerous to a European stomach.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 192.

[44] Hearne says that the natives on the Arctic coast of British America are so disgustingly filthy that when they have bleeding at the nose they lick up their own blood. _Travels_, p. 161. 'Salt always appeared an abomination.' 'They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a subst.i.tute for fire.' _Collinson_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. xxv., p. 201. At Kotzebue Sound they 'seem to subsist entirely on the flesh of marine animals, which they, for the most part, eat raw.'

_Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 239.

[45] 'During the two summer months they hunt and live on swans, geese, and ducks.' _Richardson's Nar._, vol. i., p. 346.

[46] 'Secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for the lamps of a whole village, and there is great rejoicing.' _Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 313. 'The capture of the seal and walrus is effected in the same manner. Salmon and other fish are caught in nets.' _Seemann's Voy.

Herald_, vol. ii., p. 61. 'Six small perforated ivory b.a.l.l.s attached separately to cords of sinew three feet long.' _Dease & Simpson_, in _Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour._, vol. viii., 222.

[47] Near Smith River, a low piece of ground, two miles broad at the beach, was found enclosed by double rows of turf set up to represent men, narrowing towards a lake, into which reindeer were driven and killed. _Simpson's Nar._, p. 135.

[48] 'Ce qu'il y a encore de frappant dans la complexion de ces barbares, c'est l'extreme chaleur de leur estomac et de leur sang; ils echauffent tellement, par leur haleine ardente, les huttes ou ils a.s.semblent en hiver, que les Europeans, s'y sentent etouffes, comme dans une etuve dont la chaleur est trop graduee: aussi ne font-ils jamais de feu dans leur habitation en aucune saison, et ils ignorent l'usage des cheminees, sous le climat le plus froid du globe.' _De Pauw_, _Recherches Phil._, tom. i., p. 261.

[49] 'The voluptuousness and Polygamy of the North American Indians, under a temperature of almost perpetual winter, is far greater than that of the most sensual tropical nations.' _Martin's British Colonies_, vol.

iii., p. 524.

[50] 'The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnis.h.i.+ng oil and blubber, but the skin used for their canoes, thongs, nets, la.s.soes, and boot soles.' _Whymper's Alaska_, p. 161.

[51] They have 'two sorts of bows; arrows pointed with iron, flint, and bone, or blunt for birds; a dart with throwing-board for seals; a spear headed with iron or copper, the handle about six feet long; and formidable iron knives, equally adapted for throwing, cutting, or stabbing.' _Simpson's Nar._, p. 123. They ascended the Mackenzie in former times as far as the Ramparts, to obtain flinty slate for lance and arrow points. _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 213. At St. Lawrence Island, they are armed with a knife two feet long. _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 193, 211. One weapon was 'a walrus tooth fixed to the end of a wooden staff.' _Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 343.

[52] At the Coppermine River, arrows are pointed with slate or copper; hatchets also are made of a thick lump of copper. _Hearne's Travels_, pp. 161-9.

[53] 'The old ivory knives and flint axes are now superseded, the Russians having introduced the common European sheath-knife and hatchet.

The board for throwing darts is in use, and is similar to that of the Polynesians.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 53.

[54] The 'baydare is a large open boat, quite flat, made of sea-lions'

skins,' and is used also for a tent. At Lantscheff Island it was 'a large and probably leathern boat, with black sails.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., pp. 202, 216. 'The kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks with oars.'

Can 'propel their kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour.'

_Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., pp. 238, 358. At Hudson Strait they have canoes of seal-skin, like those of Greenland. _Franklin's Nar._, vol.

i., p. 29. Not a drop of water can penetrate the opening into the canoe.

_Muller's Voy._, p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are 'much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.' _Hooper's Tuski_, pp. 226, 228. _Oomiaks_ or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. _Simpson's Nar._, p. 148. 'With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.' _Dall's Alaska_, p. 380. 'Frame work of wood--when this cannot be procured whalebone is subst.i.tuted.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; 'sewed in some parts, and tied in others.'

_Voyages_, p. 67. They also use a sail. 'On decouvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait a la voile; elle etait en cuir.' _Choris_, _Voy. Pitt._, pt. ii., p. 6. They 'are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.' _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt. ii., p. 43.

'It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.'

_Campbell's Voy._, p. 114. 'The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.'

_Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 346.

[55] The 'kajak is shaped like a weaver's shuttle.' _Richardson's Pol.

Reg._, p. 308. 'The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 56.

[56] 'The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.'

_Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. _Langsdorff's Voy._, pt.

ii., p. 43. They strike 'the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.' _Cook's Third Voy._, vol. ii., p.

516. 'Wiegen nie uber 30 Pfund, und haben ein dunnes mit Leder uberzognes Gerippe.' _Neue Nachrichten_, p. 152. 'The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.' _Kotzebue's New Voy._, vol. ii., p. 40.

At the Shumagin Islands they 'are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.' _Meares' Voy._, p.

x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. _Sauer_, _Billings' Ex._, p. 157, 159.

[57] 'They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.'

'The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 56.

At Saritscheff Island 'I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 201. 'To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.'

_Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; 'neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or las.h.i.+ngs of whale-bone.' _Third Voy._, vol.

ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, _Voyages_, pp. 67, 68.

[58] 'About the size of those of Newfoundland, with shorter legs.'

_Dall's Alaska_, p. 25. 'Neither plentiful nor of a good cla.s.s.'

_Whymper's Alaska_, p. 171.

[59] The dog will hunt bear and reindeer, but is afraid of its near relative, the wolf. _Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 474.

[60] 'An average length is four and a half feet.' _Whymper's Alaska_, p.

183. 'The Innuit snowshoe is small and nearly flat,' 'seldom over thirty inches long.' 'They are always rights and lefts.' Ingalik larger; Kutchin same style; Hudson Bay, thirty inches in length. _Dall's Alaska_, pp. 190, 191. 'They are from two to three feet long, a foot broad, and slightly turned up in front.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 60.

[61] 'Blue beads, cutlery, tobacco, and b.u.t.tons, were the articles in request.' _Beechey's Voy._, vol. i., p. 352. At Hudson Strait they have a custom of licking with the tongue each article purchased, as a finish to the bargain. _Franklin's Nar._, vol. i., 27. 'Articles of Russian manufacture find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast, eastward to Repulse Bay.' _Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 317.

[62] Are very anxious to barter arrows, seal-skin boots, and ivory ornaments for tobacco, beads, and particularly for iron. _Hooper's Tuski_, p. 217. Some of their implements at Coppermine River are: stone kettles, wooden dishes, scoops and spoons made of buffalo or musk-ox horns. _Hearne's Travels_, p. 168. At Point Barrow were ivory implements with carved figures of sea-animals, ivory dishes, and a 'fine whalebone net.' Also 'knives and other implements, formed of native copper' at Coppermine River. _Simpson's Nar._, pp. 147, 156, 261. At Point Barrow they 'have unquestionably an indirect trade with the Russians.'

_Simpson's Nar._, 161.

[63] 'They are very expert traders, haggle obstinately, always consult together, and are infinitely happy when they fancy they have cheated anybody.' _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 211. 'A thieving, cunning race.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 110. They respect each other's property, 'but they steal without scruple from strangers.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 352.

[64] 'They have a chief (Nalegak) in name, but do not recognize his authority.' _Dr Hayes_, in _Hist. Mag._, vol. i., p. 6. Government, 'a combination of the monarchical and republican;' 'every one is on a perfect level with the rest.' _Seemann's Voy. Herald_, vol. ii., p. 59, 60. 'Chiefs are respected princ.i.p.ally as senior men.' _Franklin's Nar._, vol. ii., p. 41. At Kotzebue Sound, a robust young man was taken to be chief, as all his commands were punctually obeyed. _Kotzebue's Voy._, vol. i., p. 235. Quarrels 'are settled by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately, until one of them gives in.'

_Richardson's Pol. Reg._, p. 326. Every man governs his own family.

_Brownell's Ind. Races_, p. 475. They 'have a strong respect for their territorial rights, and maintain them with firmness.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 351.

[65] They are 'horribly filthy in person and habits.' _Hooper's Tuski_, p. 224. 'A husband will readily traffic with the virtue of a wife for purposes of gain.' _Armstrong's Nar._, p. 195. 'More than once a wife was proffered by her husband.' _Richardson's Jour._, vol. i., p. 356. As against the above testimony, Seemann affirms: 'After the marriage ceremony has been performed infidelity is rare.' _Voy. Herald_, vol.

ii., p. 66. 'These people are in the habit of collecting certain fluids for the purposes of tanning; and that, judging from what took place in the tent, in the most open manner, in the presence of all the family.'