The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-04 00:00:00

ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

A numerous meeting of this society was held on
Wednesday evening—r. Crawfurd, the president,
in the chair—on which occasion ladies were for the
first time admitted.

Sir EDWARD BELCHER read a paper on the manu-
facture of stone hatchets and other works of art
by the Esquimaux.
The table was covered with about 100 specimens
of the tools, arrow heads, and other implements and
weapons used by the Esquimaux, which served to
illustrate Sir h. Belcher's observations. They
were collected by him principally during his
voyages in the Blossom, in 1825-9, and in the at-
tempt to discover and succour Franklin's expedi-
tion. The Blossom proceeded first to Kamtschat-
ka to procure an interpreter from the Tchutchi
Indians, and this visit enabled Sir E. Belcher to
compare those tribes with the Esquimaux whom he
afterwards visited; and the result of that com-
parison led him to perceive that there is a close con-
nection between those Indians, the Esquimaux of
North America, and the natives along the shores of
the Pacific. The Tchutchi he found far more
accomplished than the other Indians, especially in
music. They manufacture their cwn violins, and
perform on them in a wonderful manner, imitating
the sounds of various animals with great exactness.
They are good buffoons and actors ; but in the
useful arts they are mach inferior to the Esqui,
maux, and are not equal to them in intelligence.
Sir Edward Belcher gave an interesting description
of the habits and manners of the Esquimaux,
particularly of those of Icy Cape, with whom he
became best acquainted. Smoking is with them
not merely a habit, but a superstition, and before
they conclude any important business they inhale a
quantity of tobacco•smoke, which they retain in
their lungs till they become insensible. Their
pipes are o the most diminutive size, not being
more than one-eighth of an inch in diameter, and
three-Varters of an inch long. A party of them
being seated, and the pipe flied, the chief com-
mences by inhaling the smoke by deep and rapid
inspirations, so as suddenly to exhaust the tobacco,
and without allowing any smoke to escape. He
then passes the pipe to the next one, and by throw-
ing himself on the ground on his face he becomes
stupefied for many minutes. Sir Edward observed
that he obtained great influence over these Indians,
and so long as he could teach them anything
useful they submitted implicitly to his com-
mands, and he had no doubt that if he had
desired it they would have made him one of
their chiefs. This disposition of the Esquimaux
to associate with and be instructed by white men
confirmed him in the notion he had entertained that
possibly some one or two of the crews of the
Erebus and Terror may be now willingly.
living
among, them. The principtlleombjenecttn onindthweeappaopners
was to notice the stone im
bar:o„,,ht from Cape Lisp
of the Esquimaux, those
Sir Edward Belcher
burns more particularly,
saw them manufactured from the stratum from
which the flint was
procured. He described the in.
g
yvhich the Indians, after they had
rcherttoth orm they required,
gave a serrate..A f
edgeyl
nb
°f
but e
b to the stone, not by chipping
splintered e n iou s ra a n
the manner e
with a hammer, means of a tool made for
the purpose, by which the edge was formed on both
the teeth of a saw. The same process is
asidduepstelidkbey the Indians of Mexican origin in Califor-
nia, by the natives of the Sandwich Islands and in
the North and South Pacific, in places 2,300 miles
asunder. Among the many implements exhi-
bited were planes for planing wood, ingeniously
contrived for protecting the hand, drills and
bows for drilling holes with them, hammers
and axes made of bone and stone, imitation fish
for fishing, contrivances for catching birds, and
an instrument for straightening arrows by
the agency of steam. Steam, he observed,
is more or less employed by all tribes
of North American Indians, but by none so
extensively as by the Esquimaux, who employ
it to bend their bows, and in various other
ways. The figures and characters with which many
of their implements are ornamented are those of
objects unknown to the Esquimaux, and resemble
the figures employed in ornamentation in Peru
and in Egypt. '1 he stone nephrite, which is used
in the most valuable of the Esquimaux ornaments,
and is much valued by them, is employed also in
ornamenting the gods of China, of New Zealand,
and Japan, though whence the Esquimaux obtain
it is unknown. The many ingenious instruments pos-
sessed by these people, each one of which exhibits
fresh proofs of original invention and design, shows,
Sir Edward Belcher observed, that they are
capable of being civilised.
An interesting discussion followed the reading
of the paper, in which the President, Mr.Jr•
Evans, Colonel Rawlinson, Mr. H. Christie,
M.
M. Macki, Captain Snow, Dr. Hector, and Sir
John Kay Shuttleworth took part.
The meeting then adjourned to the 16th blot.