Eskimo

es'ki-mo, a North American people. They range for 5,000 miles from Alaska, around the Arctic shores, to Greenland and Labrador. To this territory must be added 500 miles of coast in eastern Siberia. The Eskimos in some respects resemble the Mongolians of Siberia, but they are now classed as a division of the great American or Red Race. Although scattered in small parties throughout this immense territory, they are thought to number not over 40,000 in all. In their own language they call themselves Innuit, or the people, signifying that all others are to be regarded as outsiders or foreigners. The Eskimo is a sturdy, hardy fellow, with a long body and short legs, giving him a squatty appearance. His hands and feet are small. His skull is high. He has coarse, straight, black hair, black eyes, high cheek bones, and a broad nose. His complexion, once the smoke and grime are removed, is rather lighter than that of other Indians.

In dress, the men and women are much alike. Both sexes wear fur trousers and coats. The skins of the seal, the fox, or any hairy animal are used for clothing. The collar of the coat is prolonged into a sort of hood, to be drawn over the head in winter. This hood, which hangs down the back, is used by the Eskimo woman as a convenient place in which to carry a young child. In their houses both sexes remove the fur coat, and go about clad in trousers only. Tattooing is a common practice. The men have a curious habit of wearing a pair of large bone buttons or studs, the shanks of which are inserted through slits made in the lower lip.

Although waterfowl, fish, and various land and sea animals furnish a part of his support, the Eskimo is dependent chiefly on two animals,--the dog and the seal. In winter, though all other food fails, the seal is obliged to come up through holes in the ice to breathe, and is taken by the Eskimo, who lies in wait with his harpoon. This animal furnishes skins for tents and clothing. Its blubber furnishes oil and fuel and light. Blubber and flesh form the chief article of winter food. If a polar bear can be taken, so much the better; but the seal is the Eskimo's chief dependence. The Eskimo dog is a vicious, wolf-like animal of great endurance. It has been trained to draw sledges. With his dogs, the Eskimo hunter is able to make long trips, otherwise impossible, in search of seals. He carries with him a large fur sleeping bag in which he is able to sleep whenever fatigue overtakes him. We cannot say when night overtakes him, because in the Arctic region, the winter night is several months in length. The Eskimo is also an expert boatman. His kayak or canoe is made of skins stretched over a light frame constructed of bones or pieces of wood. A sort of skin deck is drawn up around the boatman's waist in such a way as to keep out water completely. He uses a paddle with great dexterity. With its help he is able to right himself without inconvenience, in case his boat should be overturned. With his kayak the hunter plunges through the surf fearlessly in pursuit of game.

The Eskimos live in small villages of a few families. In the summer time the families wander, seldom, however, going far inland; in winter they return, usually to the same locality, always on the seashore. They have great skill in constructing temporary houses of blocks of snow; but their permanent homes are made usually of stones, chinked with sods and covered with earth. The entrance is a low, half underground passage. An Eskimo home is far from attractive. The house has a fishy, oily smell, and is surrounded usually by offal. As a people they show an inclination to keep away from the whites and to preserve their own language and primitive methods of worship. Some progress has been made by the Moravian Brethren in Greenland, however, where most of the villages have embraced a form of Christianity.

See Reindeer; Peary; Greenland; Alaska