News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1884-05-22

| tlves OF the participants in the first hunt
This same superstition is also fount
among the Esquimaux on the other sid,
of the continent. Boys are though
more of than girls, yet both sexes are 81
scarce that when a couple is blessed will
more than one child the children art
distributed around to the other families
who are childless. A child is considered
great blessing among them, and il
thought more of than anything else
which they possess.
IRREGULARITIES OF LIVING.
AS rule these natives do not eai
blubber. When provisions become
scarce they will eat it, but never by it.
self. The same can be said of oil. A
food is prepared in large wooden bowl,
consisting of little seal oil and deel
tallow beaten together to the consist
ency of thick cream. Boiled deer meat
is then stirred in by woman with her
naked hand until it becomes like penn
mican This is thier chief travelling
food, and is always used when a journey
is to be performed. No part of the ami
NAL is allowed TO go to waste. Even
the bones, after being picked bare, are
pounded up and boiled and the marrow
extracted for pemmican food. Ray says
it is common occurrence for them to
take little seal oil and thoroughly mix
it with reindeer droppings, and eat it
with an apparent relish. They crave
vegetables, and would always carefully
gather up the potato peelings around
the station, boil them and consider they
had dined like a king. When travelling
they eat but one meal day. When
they arise in the morning they start on
their journey without breakfast, will
travel all day, and when they strike
camp at night will gorge themselves and
go to bed. They have no sleeping sacks
or deerskins. When the igloo is built
and the slab of snow cut out upon which
they are to rest, tanned walrus hide is
thrown over the cold slab and they lie
down in the clothes in which they have
travelled all day.
FoNDNEss FOR TOBACCO AND WHISKY.
They are crazy after tobacco and will
do almost anything to obtain it. The
blacker the tobacco and the more adul-
terated it is the better the Innus like it.
The common natural leaf brands and the
fne-cuts are not as eagerly sought after
as the "bIack Jack" with its copperas
taste. They get the full value of the
tobacco in chewing, and, after the
fully tucked behind the ear for some
future occasion, the native, no doubt.
fearing that ''corner" in the article
might take place. So Unsuitable are
their appetites in this respect that they
would often come to the station and
crave the privilege of cleaning out the
mems pipes of their refuse-scrape the
inside of the bowl and stem of nicotine
and, mixing the ashes and other debris
together, take it into the mouth and alb
,olutely eat if. Tobacco appears to have
10 effect upon their systems, unless it is
o strengthen them, for after one of their
casts upon the weed the Innus appear
% have more vitality and seem far hap
pier. Even children and infants seme
70 take to it naturally. Ray says he has
seen a babe three months old taken
from its mothers breast, its mouth filed
with tobacco, and the infant would
suckle away at the weed, with more en-
loyment than if it had its natural food,
until it fell asleep. They are literally
tobacco eaters. The same may be said
about whisky. The more fiery it is in its
taste the harder they will strive to obtain
it. The finer brands are not sought
after, but one good drink of old "tangle-
foot, which contains equal parts of
nitro-glycerine and as
safoetida, will make native happy as a
clam at high water. Alcohol, in its pure
state, is their high-toned drink, and the
natives idea of pure bliss is bottle of
alcohol and plug of "black Jack" 1t
is impossible to get these people to
travel with you in the long Arctic night.
They will not leave their huts as long as
the sun is below the horizon. They are
generally very healthy people and con-
sumption is unknown among them.
There are no traces of lingering sickness
or hereditary disease, and the people are
mostly affected by bronchial ailments,
caused by sudden exposure. Their snow
huts are not exactly like the Esquimaux
of the Hudson Bay region, being shaped
more like tent. Ray says he has slept
in one of these 'igloos" when it was SO
crowded and poorly ventilated that his
cooking lamp refused to burn, yet in the
morning he felt well and was prepared
for long journey.
FLOWERS BLOOMING AMID THE SHOWS.
As far north as this station was it was
not without its signs of civilization in the
spring and summer. The old-fashioned
dandelion was found here in abundance,
about the same in size and as strong in
growth as in the Eastern States. Several
species of the saxafrage grow In that re-
gion, and the little buttercup is COM
mon thing. The latter has been found
in bloom in early spring, the plant being
in some favored place where the sun
reached it and where projection of snow
protected it from the cold wind. A blue
bell similar to our own grows on the low
lands, while several species of poppies
are found, the most prominent of which
is a small yellow variety. This poppy
blossoms and fades quickly, and while
the flower is passing away small yellow
butterfly frequents the bloom and feeds
thereon. The Indians believe the poppy
changes into the butterfly, and hence
both are called '1ucky lucky j Jackson."
A small Arctic willow grows under the
surface of the moss, and one shrub will
sometimes cover an area of several rods.
No grass can be found, except along the
seashore, where small, coarse, wiry
species is found.
Meade River is sixty miles from the
station, and there we find a small, scragey
willow about four feet high. This river
is tortuous, about two hundred yards
wide at its mouth and flows northeasterly
into the Arctic Ocaan. Ten miles further
on is the Ick-pick-pong River (the river
of big cliffs) and the same willow is found
there. In both of these rivers whitefsb.
trout and few salmon trout are found.
Large game is seldom seen in that local
ity. Occasionally a stray deer wanders
there. Ray SAYS he does not believe the