The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-12-28
THE ESQUIMAUX.
Curious Manners and Customs of the Lit.
tie Known Hyperborean People.

Curious Manners and Customs of the Lit
tie Known Hyperborean People.
The EsqumauX are a docle aud bright
people. They are extremely dirty, simply
because it is SO cold In their country that
washing is very uncomfortable. Their win
ter dwellings are under ground for the sake
Of warmth. Tho entrance is a square hole
through which the visitor deseends about
three feet to an entry way. The entry way
is. perhaps. twenty feet long and never more
than four feet high. Sometimes it is much
lower, so that one has literally to crawl
through it in order to reach the two rooms
at the end. These two rooms. each from
ten to twenty feet across, are the homes of
two families, which thus have a common
hall and front door. From six to ten per-
sons live in each room, around three sides
of which is a raised platform. On the plat
form are spread furs and skins for beds.
The most important article of furniture Is a
stone two feet in length with a shallow de-
preston on top of it. 1t is both lamp and
stove. being filled with whale or seal oil.
Cooking, however, Is merely for the purpose
OF taking the frost out of the meat, which
is eaten practically raw. For lighting pur-
poses wick of moss is used.
The natives wear reindeer skins for cloth
ing. They buy them from the Siberian
Chuckchees, who come over 10 an interna-
tiOnal fair that is held every summer on
Kotzebue Sound, just above Behring Strait,
on the Alaskan side. For the pelts seal oil
and walrus oil are exchanged. There is
much dancing and feasting on these oeca-
sions as well as trading. All the trading is
done By barter, no sort OF money being in
circulation. At this fair also many wives
are bought One can purchase very good
article OF wife for SO. Wives among the
EsQuimau people are usually bought. Some
| times the women are consulted.
There Is no special ceremony connected
| with marriage among the Esquimaux. In
| some tribes the husband joins the wife's
| relatives and is expected to hunt and fish
| for them. If he is lazy, or refuses to give
| the furs he gets 10 his father-in-law, he is
| likely 10 be bounced. aud some one more
| active and obedient is instaled-in his place
as husband. Sometimes it happens, that
girl has ten or twelve husbands
in succession before she finally settles
| down to permanent conjugal state Polyg-
| amy prevails TO limited extent. Children
! are very commonly sold, the price for a lit
tie girl being usually sealskn bag of oil
| or an old suit of clothes. The religion of the
natives is merely belief in wttchcraft and
| evil spirits. Mystery men attend 10 driving
| away bad spirits and the curing of illnesses
| caused by these diaboical agencies. When
| the sick are near death they are usually
carried to an clubhouse to die, though often
| they are killed by the mystery men in at
| tendance with stab in the temple or breast.
| Frequently the aged and helpless are slain
at their own request. he dead are wrapped
| in skins and placed on elevated scaffoldS to
keep them from wild animals, though some
tribes throw out their corpses to be devoured
| by the dogs.
Both sexes among the Esquimaux are tat
| tooed. Iabrets are favorite ornaments. In
| early youth cut is made in the lower lip,
| and a small wooden plug introduced to
keep it from closing. Gradually it is en-
| larged, and the adult is decorated with a
| labret Of jade, ivory, bone or glass. shaped
| like silk hat in miniature, the rim being
| inside the mouth to hold it. Girls have their
ears aud sometimes their noses pierced for
| chains or such other ornaments. Along the
Arctic coast men cut off the hair on top OF
| their heads, so that they look like monks,
] the object being to avoid soaring the carl
/ bou by the tiutter of their locks. The
| EsQumauX are fond Of eggs not yet Matched,
but about to be. They are much addicted
to liquor and tobacco. and it is common
| thing to see nursing infant with qud of
| tobacco in its mouth.-A Washington letter.