tion is, however, brought against them by earlier writers, so that such actions are probably very rare, and the result perhaps, as among the Feegeeans, of misdirected affection rather than of deliberate cruelty.

They had no money; and though it was easy to obtain the necessaries of life, to accumulate property was almost impossible. Again, the absence of spirituous liquors, and the relations between the sexes (however unsatisfactory in other respects) took away from them some of the principal incentives to crime. On the whole, then, if we judge them by a South Sea standard, the natives of the Society Islands appear to have been very free from crime.

In spite of the differences which sometimes arose in consequence of their thievish disposition, and also perhaps in great measure from their not being able perfectly to understand each other, Captain Cook and his officers lived with the natives "in the most cordial friendship," and took leave of them with great regret. Mr. Ellis, on the contrary, assures us that "no portion of the human race was ever perhaps sunk lower in brutal licentiousness and moral degradation than this isolated people."* Such a statement is surely quite inconsistent with the account he gives of their anxiety to possess copies of the Bible when it was translated into their language. "They were," he says, "deemed by them more precious than gold-yea, than much fine gold," and "became at once the constant companion of their possessors, and the source of their highest enjoyment.Ӡ

The inhabitants of the Friendly, or Tonga, and of the Sandwich Islands are also very well described by Capt. Cook, but they belonged to the same race as those of Tahiti and New Zealand, and resembled them in religion, language, canoes, houses, weapons, food, habits, etc. It is somewhat remarkable that the Sandwich Islanders in many respects, as for instance * Ellis, l.c. vol. ii. p. 25. † Ellis, .c. vol. i. pp. 393–408.

in their dances, houses, tattooing, etc., resembled the New Zealanders even more than their nearer neighbours in the Society and Friendly Islands. In the Friendly Islands Capt. Cook observed a very singular luxury in which the chiefs indulged themselves. When one of them wished to go to sleep, two women came and sat by him, "beating briskly on his body and legs with both fists, as on a drum, till he fell asleep, and continuing it the whole night, with some short intervals." When the chief is sound asleep they sometimes rest themselves a little, "but resume it if they observe any appearance of his waking." A similar statement is made by Wilson in his Missionary Voyage.† In all the islands the chiefs appear to have been treated with respect none the less profound, because shown in ways which seem to us peculiar. One of them was to uncover the body from the waist, and it seems to have been a matter of indifference, or rather of convenience, whether this was done upwards or downwards. + In the Friendly Islands it was accounted a striking mark of rudeness to speak to the king while standing up.

There was also a certain amount of commerce between the different islands. Bora-bora and Otahaw produced abundance of cocoa-nut oil, which was exchanged at Tahiti for cloth. The Low Islands again could not successfully grow the mulberry; but they had a breed of dogs with long silky hair, which was much prized in the other islands.

paper

Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 323.

tl.c. p. 237.

Cook's First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 125.

CHAPTER XII.

MODERN SAVAGES continued.

Esquimaux.

HE Esquimaux, and the Esquimaux alone among savage

races, occupy both the Old and the New World. They inhabit the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Siberia to Greenland; and throughout this great extent of country the language, appearance, occupations, weapons, and habits of the natives are very similar, and it must be added that the latter are most ingenious. The language of the Innuit or Esquimaux is akin to that of the North American Indians in structure, while their appearance has a decided likeness, particularly about the eyes, to the Chinese and Tartars.

Their dwellings are of two kinds. The summer they pass in tents or wigwams, with the entrance to the south or south-east. In those observed by Captain Parry, the tentpoles were, in the absence of wood, formed of stags' horns, or bones lashed together. The lower borders of the skins were held down by large stones. These were sometimes built up into regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter and four or five feet high. These circles were at first supposed to be the remains of winter-houses, but it was subsequently ascertained that they were exclusively used for extending the skins of the summer-tents. Near these "hut circles" long rows of standing stones were several times observed. The winter-houses, in the southern districts are constructed of • Parry's Voyage, 1821-3, pp. 17, 51. †le. pp. 62, 285, 363.

ESQUIMAUX.

*

393

earth or drift-timber, which is very abundant in some places. In the north, however, wood becomes extremely rare. The Esquimaux at the northern end of Baffin's Bay, who had no wood, excepting twigs of a dwarfish heath, were so little acquainted with the nature of timber that several of them successively seized on the spare top-mast of the Isabella, evidently with the intention of stealing it, and quite unconscious of its weight. In the absence of wood their houses were built of ice and snow; those of ice are beautiful, and almost transparent, so that even at some little distance it is possible to see everything that takes place in them. They are much colder than those of snow, which therefore are generally preferred. West of the Rocky Mountains, the winter houses were usually underground. A Kamskatchadale "yourt" is thus described by Captain Cook: "An oblong square, of dimensions proportionate to the number of persons for whom it is intended (for it is proper to observe that several families live together in the same jourt), is dug into the earth to the depth of about six feet. Within this space strong posts, or wooden pillars, are fastened in the ground, at proper distances from each other, on which are extended the beams for the support of the roof, which is formed by joists resting on the ground with one end and on the beams with the other. The interstices between the joists are filled up with a strong wickerwork, and the whole covered with turf; so that a jourt has externally the appearance of a low round hillock. A hole is left in the centre, which serves for chimney, window, and entrance, and the inhabitants pass in and out by means of a strong pole (instead of a ladder) notched deep enough to afford a little holding for the toe." More often, however, the entrance consisted of an underground passage.

Ross, Baffin's Bay, p. 122.

+ Cook's Voyages to the Pacific Ocean, vol. iii. p. 374. See also vol. iii. p. 450.

As a general rule we may say that the western yourts are subterranean, while those of the tribes who live east of the Rocky Mountains are generally above ground. The manner in which the Esquimaux construct their snow igloos has been well described by Captain Parry. They choose* a drift of hard and compact snow, and from this they cut oblong slabs, six or seven inches thick and about two feet in length. With these they build a circular wall, inclining inwards so as to form a dome, which is sometimes as much as nine or ten feet high and from eight to fifteen feet in diameter. A small door is then cut on the south side. It is about three feet high, two and a half wide at the bottom, and leads into a passage, about ten feet long, and with a step in the middle, the half next the hut being lower than either the floor of the hut or the outer passage. For the admission of light a round hole is cut on one side of the roof and a circular plate of ice, three or four inches thick and two feet in diameter, is let into it. If several families intend to live together, other chambers are constructed which open into the first, and then after a quantity of snow has been shovelled up on the outside, the shell of the building is regarded as finished. The next thing is to raise a bank of snow two and a half feet high all round the interior of the building, except on the side next the door. This bank forms the bed. Over it is laid some gravel, upon that again paddles, tent-poles, pieces of whalebone, twigs of birch and of andromeda, etc., and finally a number of deer-skins, which form a soft and luxurious couch. They have no fireplace, properly so called, that is to say no hearth, but each family has a separate lamp or shallow vessel of lapis ollaris, in which they burn seal'soil, with a wick made of dry moss.

Although they had no knowledge of pottery, Captain Cook saw at Unalashka vessels "of a flat stone, with sides of clay,

Parry, l.c. p. 500.