name was Snatch-bow, about the warm weather in the south, he
watched me in wonder and then stood up and said "Injun have no house he
all melt. I no go there" Of course he said this in Eskimo. In his house
was a few pieces of furniture. In the center was the knuckle bone of a
macedon with a nice dish shaped top this was filled with oil, a string
was laid in this; and one end lighted this was their only light. This
lamp served also as a nurseing bottle for the babies. They had two round
pieces of driftwood they used for chairs. In another hut I found they
used hollow bones filled with oil for lamps with a cover over them and a
wick made of a sea-weed. The squaws would lift the cover and take a sip
out of the lamp and then go on with their work. Oil is their favorite
drink. The Eskimos are very hardy so far as enduring cold is
concerned--I saw an Eskimo bobbing--that is how they fish--hold a fish
on a string just under water and as the big fish comes after it they
spear it with a spear they hold in their other hand--This man was
bobbing and his squaw was sitting on the shore watching him. on her
bosom lay a babe about three months old, it was rapped around with a
piece of fur its face was partly bare, it was snowing fine snow
resembling frost, it was about 65 deg. below zero, as I passed I saw they
snow in the babies face and wondered it was not dead just think of a
babe under such an temperature sleeping with the snow falling in its
tender face. It seems utterly impossible but it is true. But when you
look for strength long life endurance or inteligence in the Eskimo you
seek in vain. They all have sore matterated eyes, one fifth of them are
deformed. one in ten has the consumption. and the average life of the
Eskimo is about 30 years. They average to weigh about 90 pounds and
stand about four feet and six inches high.

They are perfectly friendly even if they never saw a white man. They
wrap up the dead in skins and hang them up, they freeze still and so
remin till eaten by some wild beast. The Eskimos are beyond doubt the
happiest people on earth, they never lie, steal, cheat, murder nor mix
in family intercourse so common among all other indians. They have
absolutely no religion, no expectation of ever coming to life when once
dead. They are very ignorant and dirty their huts are black with smoke,
their faces are oiled and covered with black from the oil smoke. Their
huts never get warmer than the freezing point. they u