Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1883-04-18

moth, some tusks of which brought away
from Wrangel Island. One bright fellow
saw us looking at book Of pictures Of an
imals, and he would come day after day and
ask 10 look at the book. He was delighted
to look at the pictures OF the bears OF his
own climate, and would laugh immoder-
ately as he returned to them"
"Then they have their ideas of funny
things as well as other folks ?"
90 yes. One day some OF the women OF
the Tchoutchees-the northernmoet people
| saw-were telling me about expeditions
they made to find collections of small roots
which the rats or Jennings Of that country
dig and gather in heaps for winter eating,
and asked them what became of the rats
after their supplies had been stolen. They
laughed and laughed, thinking it very
funny that anybody should ever think Of
the rat in the transaction"
"Then these people do get something of
vegetable sort to eat 2"
"They get these little roots which they
steal from the Jennings, and they save the
seaweed they find in the stomach Of the
seal, and eat that"
"Did they try to speak English words ?"
"The men-a few Of them-would try to,
though none Of them could speak word
which had the sound in 1t. They would
speak my name accurately-that is, the men
would, but the women invariably pronounced
it as though it were spelled Bezzy."
"One fellow-the same one who came so
many times to see the pictures of animals
learned to speak agreat many English words,
but he would fairly sweat under the diff
Guilty of the effort TO say flannel He
would pick up words by asking as be came
across articles new 10 him, What's name p
He could say cotton, calico, aud all the let
ters but the is. The nearest he could come
to flannel was TO say 'pannel,' using the
for (, as some children do"
Captain Berry said this fellow never tired
of handling the compass and spyglass, and
he learned to know their uses with astonsh-
ing facility. He was delighted when Berry
promised to send him one Of each, and said
that hunting parties were sometimes lost
because they lost all idea in storm as to
which way they were going. The glass, he
said, would help him to tell whether the
black specks seen far away on the ice were
seal or not, and save miles of walking. He
will get his compass and spyglass when the
whalers go north in the spring.
Captain Berry related how the two boys
Of this particular Tchoutchee were very po-
lite little fellows, and would always rise
When any one not belonging TO the family
would come in, and he said the people had
words of salutstion which they always used
when they met. He was surprised to find
these evidences Of politeness among people
the most remote and isolated from any civ
ilizing influences. The women, he says,
have some pride of dress, and so do the
men, though inside their houses they strip
down to one garment about the loins, taking
off their furs and the women take pride
in keeping their houses what they regard as
clean, though it would not pass for ceanli.
ness anywhere else. They have no idea of
accumulatng for the future, and are prim-
itively communistic about their food. II
one family has meat and the other families
in the village have none, they all eat of the
supply until it is gone or they can get more,
and if one village has food and another
none, the hungry ones come over and eat
with those who have something. They live
on from hand to mouth, and there are evil
dences Of annihiated villages where, it is
reasonable to suppose, something has oc-
Cured to prevent the getting of meat, and
so all have starved to death.-Selected.