le has imported a number of words from coming in contact with
another language, just as the French have incorporated into their speech
"le steppeur," "l'outsider," "le high life," "le steeple chase," "le
jockey club," etc.--words that have no correlatives in French--so the
Eskimo has appropriated from the whalers words which, as verbal
expressions of his ideation, are undoubtedly better than anything in his
own tongue. One of these is "by and by," which he uses with the same
frequency that a Spaniard does his favorite _manana por la manano_. In
this instance the words express the state of development and habits of
thought--one the lazy improvidence of the Eskimo, and the other the
"to-morrow" of the Spaniard, who has indulged that propensity so far
that his nation has become one of yesterday.

The change of the Eskimo language brought about by its coming in contact
with another forms an important element in its history, and has been
mentioned by the older writers, also by Gilder, who reports a change in
the language of the Iwillik Eskimo to have taken place since the advent
among them of the white men. Among other peculiarities of their
phraseology occurs the word "tanuk," signifying whiskey, and it is said
to have originated with an old Eskimo employed by Moore as a guide and
dog-driver when he wintered in Plover bay. Every day about noon that
personage was in the habit of taking his appetizer and usually said to
the Eskimo, "Come, Joe, let's take our tonic." Like most of his
countrymen, Joe was not slow to learn the meaning of the word, and to
this day the firm hold "tanuk" has on the language is only equalled by
the thirst for the fluid which the name implies. Among the Asiatic
Eskimo the word "um-muck" is common for "rum," while "em-mik" means
water. Even words brought by whalers from the South Sea islands have
obtained a footing, such as "kow-kow" for food, a word in general use,
and "pow" for "no," or "not any." They also call their babies
"pick-a-nee-nee," which to many persons will suggest the Spanish word or
the Southern negro idiom for "baby." The phrase "pick-a-nee-nee kowkow"
is the usual formula in begging food for their children. An Eskimo,
having sold us a reindeer, said it would be "mazinkah kow-kow" (good
eating), and one windy day we were hauling the seine, and an Eskimo
seeing its empty condition when pulled on to the beach, said, "'Pow'
fish; bimeby 'pow' wind, plenty fish."

The fluency with which