ous occasions among the Eskimo I have
visited, that instead of being great gluttons, they are, on the
contrary, moderate eaters. It is, perhaps, the revolting character of
their food--rancid oil, a tray of hot seal entrails, a bowl of
coagulated blood, for example--that causes overestimation of the
quantity eaten. Persons in whom nausea and disgust are awakened at
tripe, putrid game, or moldy and maggoty cheese affected by so-called
epicures, not to mention the bad oysters which George I. preferred to
fresh ones, would doubtless be prejudiced and incorrect observers as to
the quantity of food an Eskimo might consume. From some acquaintance
with the subject I therefore venture to say that the popular notion
regarding the great appetite of the Eskimo is one of the current
fallacies. The reported cases were probably exceptional ones, happening
in subjects who had been exercising and living on little else than
frozen air for perhaps a week. Any vigorous man in the prime of life who
has been shooting all day in the sharp, crisp air of the Arctic will be
surprised at his gastronomic capabilities; and personal knowledge of
some almost incredible instances amongst civilized men might be related,
were it not for fear of being accused of transcending the bounds of
veracity.

ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT.

There is so much about certain parts of Alaska to remind one of Scotland
that we wonder why some of the more southern Eskimo have not the
intrepidity and vigor of Scotchmen, since they live under almost the
same topographical conditions amid fogs and misty hills. Perhaps if they
were fed on oatmeal, and could be made to adopt a few of the Scotch
manners and customs, religious and otherwise, they might, after infinite
ages of evolution, develop some of the qualities of that excellent race.
It is probably not so very many generations ago that our British
progenitors were like these original and primitive men as we find them
in the vicinity of Bering straits. Here the mind is taken back over
centuries, and one is able to study the link of transition between the
primitive men of the two continents at the spot where their geographical
relations lead us to suspect it. Indeed, the primitive man may be seen
just as he was thousands of years ago by visiting the village perched
like the eyry of some wild bird about 200 feet up the side of the cliff
at East cape, on the Asiatic side of the straits. This bold, rocky
cliff, rising sheer from t