is also noticeable that leather
articles do not mildew as they generally do at sea, some shoes kept in a
locker on board the _Corwin_ having retained their polish during the
entire cruise.

The food of the Eskimo satisfies their instinctive craving for a
hydrocarbon, but they do not allow themselves to be much disturbed or
distracted in its preparation, as most of it is eaten raw. They
occasionally boil their food, however, and some of them have learned the
use of flour and molasses, of which they are very fond.

Their aversion to salt is a very marked peculiarity, and they will not
eat either corned beef or pork on this account. It may be that
physiological reasons exist for this dislike.

SOCIAL AND DOMESTIC RELATIONS.

Omitting other ethnographic facts relative to the Eskimo, which might be
treated in a systematic way except for their triteness, we pass from the
means of the renewal of the animal economy to its reproduction.
Courtship and marriage, which, it is said, are conducted in the most
unsentimental manner possible, are for that reason not to be discussed;
and for obvious reasons many of the prenatal conditions cannot here be
dwelt upon. Having never witnessed the act of parturition in an Eskimo
my knowledge of the subject is merely second-hand, and consequently not
worth detailing. It appears, though, that parturition is a function
easily performed among them, and that it is unattended by the
post-partum accidents common to civilization. As a rule the women are
unprolific, it being uncommon to find a family numbering over three
children, and the mortality among the new-born is excessive, owing to
the ignorance and neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene. They seem,
however, to be kind to their children, who in respect to crying do not
show the same peevishness as seen in our nurseries; indeed, the social
and demonstrative good nature of the race seems to crop out even in
babyhood, as I have often witnessed under such circumstances as a baby
enveloped in furs in a skin canoe which lay along side the ship during a
snowstorm; its tiny hands protruding held a piece of blubber, which it
sucked with apparent relish, the unique picture of happy contentment. It
was quick to feel itself an object of attraction, and its chubby face
returned any number of smiles of recognition.

The manner of carrying the infant is contrary to that of civilized
custom. It is borne on the back under the clothes of the mother, wh