visions as with every other thing that could
be here necessary to their wants.'

'Yes,' exclaims our friend the reasoner, 'but the constitution of an
Esquimaux is peculiarly adapted to the climate and food: what he
enjoys would poison a European; and he also possesses skill to capture
wild animals and fish, which the civilised man cannot exercise.' Is
this true? We answer to the first objection: only partially true; and
the second, we utterly deny. The constitution of vigorous men--and all
Franklin's crew were fine, picked young fellows--has a marvellous
adaptability. It is incredible how soon a man becomes reconciled to,
and healthful under, a totally different diet from that to which he
has been all his life accustomed, so long as that change is suitable
to his new home. We ourselves have personally experienced this to some
extent, and were quite amazed at the rapid and easy way in which
nature enabled us to enjoy and thrive on food at which our stomach
would have revolted in England or any southern land. In every country
in the world, 'from Indus to the pole,' the food eaten by the natives
is that which is incomparably best suited to the climate. In the
frozen regions, and every cold country, the best of all nourishment is
that which contains a large proportion of fat and oil. In Britain, we
read with disgust of the Greenlander eagerly swallowing whale-oil and
blubber; but in his country, it is precisely what is best adapted to
sustain vital energy. Europeans in the position of Franklin's crew
would become acclimatised, and gradually accustomed to the food of the
natives, even before their own provisions were exhausted; and after
that, we may be very sure their appetites would lose all delicacy, and
they would necessarily and easily conform to the usages, as regards
food, of the natives around them. We may strengthen our opinion by the
direct and decisive testimony of Sir John Boss himself, who says: 'I
have little doubt, indeed, that many of the unhappy men who have
perished from wintering in these climates, and whose histories are
well known, might have been saved had they conformed, as is so
generally prudent, to the usages and the experience of the natives.'
Undoubtedly they might!

Secondly, as to the Europeans being unable to capture the beasts,
birds, and fishes so dexterously as the natives, we have reason to
know that the reverse is the case. It is true that the latter know the
habits and haunts of wild cr