Star.
London, England, 1823-10-27 00:00:00

exceeded Lee feet ten. inches. Theie colntrr is a airtY!.
loOking yelloWish White,: altd tridr'proportions by no
means robnst. . ' '' "- - • • .. . .
We have mentioned. the appearance of their snow=
_
houses when first seen; 'they yen curiously, shaped and
constt ucted, reietitiblingtlnWitntherisebiehtlies grouped
together, and entered by otte It:mg-passage liall Art
three families to whom-these yield an, bode.; A trefvil
affords a tolerable idea of them.' They are about nine
feet hi diameter, and seven or eight feet in height, the
passage is about twenty feet in length, andsoloW. that
YOU must creep along neatly on all-fohis, in order to.
reach the but.. This is ingeniously intended toexclude
the cold air, Which 'it does effectually, though - widened
in partS for lodging the dogs belonging to the several
households, and which are stationed in-the last sort rf . _
antechamber, before the entrances torn off to the right
and Left r`or ille two nearest huts. Thehuts themselvei
ar.t entirely rnadeof Square blocks of solid 'sno:•:•, with
a target key-block'A the lop of.tbe.rotonda. The win:
(low is-a piece of flit transparent tee. ' Round dial:so:.
rior ritos•a 'seat of thesamensatetial as the walls,Punon
which-the skins of the animali are' thrown..for seats and
beds; Beds. are 31,o made of a klaht, ontke"float. The
hhusel are Stitlione any artitcorr wartnith,.eteert arliat
is produced:by a sort of. oir 'little, i. ,s.lricli they use
pieces of dry moss for wicks-.` .S.
'
In the winter:Of IS22.3,Wasividwellingt or hots con'
strutted of hone Isere-seen: The E.qolitianx often eat
.flesh in a taw state; bat it is sometimes cooked, add the;
women almost invariably sehipit their food to that pre i
cess:'. The, utensils ate uncommon, though simple.—
They consist of two vessels of stone; genera* the pent=
stone or tipir-ollarts, also used in parts of Gertorioy-fcrit
the same. purpose. The lower SeiseL a good deatte.
sembles an English kitchen ash-shovel: 'the upper one
a trough, of a wide coffin form. In thelt-t; Which ri
tilled with oil, a number Of moss wicks gnat,' 'and are
lighted'for the *el. The oil is gradualfy'supplied
,fnaut
strings of fat hung up above the flames,. the heat of
Whirl melts them into ~o many reservoirs Of grease. In
thesecond utensil, placed over the' firethus made, the
'meat-is stewed. Tire natives are very filthy 'in theit
eating, and hardly reject anything, trim the blubber's
Whale to. the flesh lir wolf. When hungry,. 'they di-
Soured the carcases of tea tar ,adoten of the lattei,
which were killed.by hur warren. 'Their food, indeed;
consisted chiefly of, seal andwolves' flesh ; bUt notwith.
standing .ihis, they appeared perfettly contented, nay,
even happy;•. Their dresses were made entirely of skins,
'chiefly those ;of the rein-deer,. .
The lapis-ollatis'ii. Originally so soft...that 'it may be
cut into form with a knife:, and- when 'it is-not to be
found, an extraordinary substitute is manufactured int*
pots and pain. This is a cement composed of dogs
hair, seals blood, and a pasticu!ar clay, which soon be. •
comes as hard as' a stone, and bears the-effects both of '
oil and fire below, and moisture and irfeetiner 0'046
- In the beginning of the r• the Irtiquinsaux .
'were somewhat reserved, and 'shy of eihnuitinicatit
ttheir- opinions; but as their 'reserve wont trig they
voloesed a number of interesting particulars. The woo-
men, especialy, were less secret than the Men, who (we
may here state by !he by) hid no hesitation in bartering
their n ives and daughters with the sailors, at first tot so
poor-a bribe as a nail or two or three beads, and at fait
..
for the price of a paltry
,kture.
These females are net, it isUgue, the most lovely ohs
lects in name. Their feature's ate disagreeable, and they
have long and harsh, but exc.cilingly black'hair. "We
have been strewn a map drewn-tiy one of. them (a• ray.
markable instance of Intelligente), in which she repre-
sents two islands to the north of the 'second winter's pcs.
sirion of the ships, and others in differeht directions,
giving rather sonorous names to them all. The nearest
on the north is several days jouineyacribs, and the
roaming of the Esquimaux'.ttibes is confined-to thein
islands, as they.never sentsire urtrthe Continent. Every
family has a sle.tge, andgeirerally -Peek sit; dogs, with
whiCh they travel with greet crib tied hunt. . ' •' :.
. They say that their race originally sprung. from Is
beneficent female Spirit; and that from anethet Wicked
female Spirit are descended the Other three' mature
who inhabit the earth, namely, the Itkali, or Indiatii;
the cabluais, or lgttropeans; 'end "after long' hesitation
before they Would express lt)'tllS Dogs' whiCh they .
drivel The Itiali they abhor and speak of as mut.
deters, who never spare their tribes. Of, the Cablunle
they had only heard by report,, never having seen A
European till they encountered those'in the Farr aid
Heck ; but it is clear from their classing them Stiih
the Indians and Dogs, that they, have no very exalted
. ..
idea of their virtues'. . .
With their .9Wri . appellation, of
'rareEsquiptaux-the
not Acquaintc4,tit call themselvet inert: Thee
'ha is uncleritood to be A tent of reprint-le -
c oeign.!6;
" eaters of raw flesh." .
From the abov,e it appears that they. eirtettiltl 'a' he.
liefin Certain' ..apitits or suPerior. 'leingsi'lebt ithAr
"notions cc/teething them ate eittecitely iiiVe :met i,aiitke.
this was displallad by 'the 'AtigelEdi ',Or Coriurrltr; '6t
Whom we have spoken. This gt•eat Ariti''‘at; lifter
1.
much entreaty, prevailed upon to eitiblk' hie4iret-
tit
. , .... .
natural powers i 5 the ' captain'e cabin 9f out 7 tilh
ships.. Re. was riccontip.apfet ib7 b-le4 sire,- and b an
his °peril ions'hY having every glitnpse of. stern al 1
.t
AWiefully excitidia. Still ilie fire earrtted'aVirritne. 4,
)in.fl this was covered with a thick inet,sc that at length
"all wle uPer darkness. The Angeliok then stripi,ed
himself naked, and lay down upon the fl-or, and pie-
tended that'he Was going to the loner ,regions %her'e
the spirits dwell. His incantations consisted of hardy
articulate sounds, not wearing to have 'any meaning .
attached to them, bot to be the muttering .ar:d whihin
of strange syllables. He also practised a kind of se .
triloquism ; and modulated his voice so' s to give It
effect.of nearness and greater distance, in the depth; to
which he wished it to be believed he. had descended. '
This farce lasted about twenty minutes; and on thp
re-admission of light, the actor gave an account of his
adventutes and of what the spirits had told rani.' As a
proof of the truth,of his facts and the reality of hts'Cor-
loquies,i..:. produced several stripes of litr tvbichithisff
the spirits had fastened on the back of his 'skittlierat
since he went down, which indeed his wifb had' been
_busily sticking on during the dark perfotillance.- Yet,
such fables and impostures he maintained his sea,
ever his ipsorafit countyinena .wheitnishcitly dtedittd