Arizona weekly citizen., 1890-07-12
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 HOW gSQulmAUx LIVE.
nzssofn of Peculiar Race of Mortimer
 People Who Are Disappearfne.

fnstetn of Peculiar Race of SortnssA
 People Who Are Disappearing.
 Their social customs are full of in- serest and individuality. Their way af eating, for instance, is decidedly pc cGliar. Cutting a long strip of gory, greasy meat from the mass before him the Esquimau gourmand takes one end of 1t in his mouth, and then. pull tng on the other until it is strained Sght, with quick slash of the knife past his mouth and nose sewers < nouthful and swallows it without nastlcation, repeating the olsraGon rapidly until the limit of his storage capacity is reached. A civilized spec sator watching an Esquimau family at dinner cannot fail to be struck with the wisdom of Providence in giving these people such short noses, as. were khe features any longer, shey would infallibly suffer early abbreviation. In the matter Of amusements the Es quimaux are not badly off They have a form of cup-and-ball, the ball being a block of ivory pierced with holes at different angles, into one of which the players strive to insert an ivory peg as the block falls, the position of the hole determining the value of the stroke. Another game closely resembles domi- noes, and contains pieces running as high as double thirties," but sequen- ces are not regularly carried out, tho breaks Tn them seeming to be without system. They have a game exactly like solitaire, with the exception that iv0Ny pegs take the place of the glass balls The special amusement of tho women IS a species of ''cat'S cradle" which has been brought to such per. lection that they develop from twenty to thirty different figures in it. h. deed, they are extremely clever in per forming tricks with string, winding end twisting piece in and out among their fingers, and then disentangling f by single pull on one end.
 Such are some of the manners and ,ustoms of the quaint, harmless and
 despite their dirt-lovable people, whose home is among the dreary re- gions to the north and south of Hud- sons straits. They have many admi. rable traits of character. They are wonderfully patient and enduring in ames of trial and suffering; honest and intelligent to an unlocked for de gree; perfectly fearless in the chase yet so peace loving in their disposition that quarrels are almost unknown; hOspitable, docile, keenly appreciativs of kindness, and ready to share their last bXe with their white visitors; willing to work when opportunity of fers; and content with small remu- iteration. So many good points have Aley, indeed, that the sad certainty of their gradual extermi=Stion is rem dored all the sadder thereby. The most careful estimate of their numbers in the Hudson's straits region at present j9 l, 500; but this, of course, is only an approximation, as their own system of counting, which generally runs lone, two, three-a great many" renders anything like an accurate census im- possible. Each year finds their food supply diminishing, thanks mainly to the enterprise of the whalers and seal CTS. As the number of seals decrease the number of Esquimaux decrease also, and the end, though it may be bns delayed, seems inevitabla.- A,nsricaa Magazine.