The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1855-04-20

ono hundred miles inland, and seldom a
tenth part of that distance. Considering.
however, the immense extent of coast along
which their settlements are scattered, it is
probable that the ESouimaux are more nu-
merous than any other North American
tribe has ever been.
An Esquinaux is, i'll appearance, merely
a short, fat Indian. His hair is coal black,
coarse, and long; he pulls out his beard by
the roots; his cheek-boncs arc high, and
his checks plump; his face is broad, round
aud flat, the nose being half buried by the
protruding cheeks ;.his eyes arc small, black
aud dull his mouth is little and round, the
under-lip being somewhat thicker than The
other; his hands and feet are small and
soft; his legs arc thick and clumsy lie has
a tendency to corpulency; his forehead is
low and retrcating; and he stands about
five feet in his sea-skin boots. Unlike the
Indians Of milder latitudcs, his good hui
NOR is imperturbable. Henever fights, ncv-
er quarels, and seldom steals An honest,
good tempered, slow, industrious, ingenious.
patient people are the Esquimaux. The
name by Which they call themselves is Kar-
oLt, word the Specification Of which is
unknown. The word E'squimaur is said
to be an obsolete French word, which meant
caters of-raw flesh, Il name conferred upon
them by some early French navigators, who
were amazed to sec them dcvour the flesh
and drink the blood of the fresh taken seal
Cold and hunger, as we just observed,
are the two enemies against which the Is
quimaux arc compelled almost ceaselessly to
contend. From the middle OF October to
the middle of April, the thermometer
ranges from twenty to forty-fve degrees be-
low zero. We who are wont to shiver
when the mercury falls to the freezing point,
can form little idea of the cold to which
the Esquimaux is exposed naviga-
! tors tell us that they are obliged, when The
thermometer stands at only twenty-five de-
grrcs below zero, to cut their brown sugar
with saw, and break their dried apples,
Their seal meat, their lamp oil, their butter,
their prepared punch, and their preserves,
with an axe. On going ont on Il tramp on
the ice, the beard and eyebrows are covcrc'!
IN moment with Il hoar frost. The NOUS
tache and undcr-lip form pcndulous beads
OF dangling ice. If the unwarv hunter
puts out his tongue it is instantly frozen to
the icy crust of the lips, and must he olsen
gagged by the hand. The chin and the up
per jaw freeze Together by the beard, and the
mouth cannot be opened. The iron barrel
OF the gun burns the hand through two pairs
OF the thickest mittcns, and the jack-knitc
feels hot in the pocket. The pocket-hand-
kcrchief, damp with the condensed moisture
OF the cabin, is no sooner exposed to the air
than 1t is changed into white shingle, It's
corners sharp enough to serve as a tooth
pick. An officer cannot touch brass but
ton OF his uniform without blistering his
hand.
During the short. summer Of the Polar
regions, the Esquimaux live in scal-skin tents,
and feel the weather sultry at ten degrees
above the freezing point. But when the
long, dark wintcfscts in, they clothe them
selves i'll scal-skin, and form huts of snow
or turf which they light and warm with a
lamp. DR.: Kane describes, in his graphic
manner, one of these winter huts: "a
square enclosure Of stone or turf is RATED
over with drittrd-wood or whale bones, and
then rootcd with earth, moses, and broken
up boats. One small aperture of eighteen
inches square, covered with the scriped i'll
testines OF the seal, forms the window; and
a long tunncl-lke entry, opening to the
south, and not exceeding three feet in height,
leads to skn-covercd door. Inside perch
cd upon elevated stalls, with IN earthen
lamp to establish a focus, several families
reside together; have seen as many as
four families twenty persons) in an apcr-
ture sixteen feet square. Some of the huts
are garnishcd with little tinseIled pictures;
(purchased Of navigators) Others arc a
very caricatnre of .mouldy,
dark, and fctid ; their rude ceilings distil-
ling filthy water, and sometimes covered
with introverted grass which had orig
lnaliy formed part of the outer covering,
but now intrude upon the greater warmth
OF the interior."-An Esqumaux is not a
creature of delicate sensibIilics.
The great ally of the Esqilimaux, in his
warfare both with the elements and with
necessity, is the SEAL. His obligations to
1.-THE seal arc numberless. He eats its flesh,
drinks its blood, points his dart with its
bones, makes strings of its intestines, uses
is smallest bones for needles, covers his
boat, lines his hut, forms his tent, and makes
his clothes of its tough, flexible and imper-
vlous skin. What the reindeer is to the
iIaplander, the sheep to the Australian bush
man, the OK to the South American herds
man, and the man to the African chief, the
seal is to the Esquimaux.
..y The Anaerican Medical Gazette, for
March, calls attention to an unfailing rem
edy for scalds and burns. 1t says: ......
"a few pounds Of wheat -four should be
promptly applied TO- the wounds. made by
fire, and repeated until the infammatory