The Eskimos are sometimes spoken of as if they were dwarfs or Lilliputians, but such is not the case. They are shorter than the average Frenchman or Englishman, but individuals measuring from five feet ten inches to six feet have been found in Camden Bay. Dr. Kane speaks of Eskimos in Smith Strait who were fully a foot taller than himself. It is true of the females, however, that they are comparatively little.
The Eskimos are a stalwart, broad-shouldered race, considerably stronger than any other of the races of North America. In both sexes the hands and feet are small and well-shaped. Their muscles are strongly developed, owing to constant exercise in hunting the seal and the walrus. They are also powerful wrestlers, and on no unequal terms could compete with the athletic celebrities of Devon and Cornwall. Their physiognomy, notwithstanding its lack of beauty, is far from displeasing; its expression is cheerful and good-tempered, and the long winter night does not seem to sadden their spirits or oppress their energies. The females are well made, and though not handsome, are scarcely to be stigmatized as ugly. Their teeth are very white and regular; and their complexion is warm, clear, and good. It is true that it cannot be seen to advantage, owing to the layers of dirt by which it is obscured; but it is not much darker than a dark brunette, and as for the dirt—well, perhaps, it is preferable to cosmetics!
Even in the Arctic World, woman seems conscious of the influence of her charms, and man seems willing to recognize it. They plait their black and glossy hair—these Eskimo beauties!—with much care and taste; and they tattoo their forehead, cheeks, and chin with a few curved lines, which produce a not altogether unpleasant effect.
From Behring Straits eastward, as far as the river Mackenzie, the males pierce the lower lip near each angle of the mouth, in order to suspend to it ornaments of blue or green quartz, or of ivory, shaped like buttons. Some insert a small ivory quill or dentalium shell in the cartilage of the nose. They decorate themselves, moreover, with strings of glass beads; or when and where these cannot be obtained, with strings of the teeth of the musk-ox, wolf, or fox; hanging them to the tail of the jacket, or twining them round the waist like a girdle.
The influence of climate upon dress is a subject which we commend to the notice of art-critics and æsthetic philosophers. Within the Arctic Circle the problem to be solved is, how to obtain the greatest amount of protection for the person, without rendering the costume too heavy or cumbrous; and the Eskimos have succeeded in solving it satisfactorily. They can defy the rigour of the Arctic winter, its extreme cold, its severest gales, and pursue their avocations in the open air even in the dreariness of the early winter twilight, so cleverly adapted is their garb to the conditions under which they live. Their boots, made of seal-skin, and lined with the downy skins of birds, are thoroughly waterproof; their gloves are large, but defend the hands from frost-bite: they wear two pair of breeches, made of reindeer or seal-skin, of which the under pair has the close, warm, stimulating hair close to the flesh; and two jackets, of which the upper one is provided with a large hood, completely enveloping the head and face, all but the eyes. The women are similarly attired, except that their outer jacket is a little longer, and the hood, in which they carry their children, considerably larger; and that, in summer, they substitute for the skin-jacket a water-tight shirt, or kamleika, made of the entrails of the seal or walrus. They sew their boots so tightly as to render them impervious to moisture, and so neatly that they may almost be included in the category of works of art. In Labrador the women carry their infants in their boots, which have a long pointed flap in front for the purpose.
In a preceding chapter we have spoken incidentally of the Eskimo huts. These, like the Eskimo dress, are admirably adapted to the circumstances of the country and the nature of the climate. The materials used are either frozen snow, earth, stones, or drift-wood. The snow-hut is a dome-shaped edifice, constructed in the following manner:—
First, the builders trace a circle on the smooth level surface of the snow, and the snow gathered within the area thus defined is cut into slabs, and used for building the walls, leaving the ice underneath to serve as the flooring.
The crevices between the slabs, and any accidental fissures, are closed up by throwing a few shovelfuls of loose snow over the building. Two men are generally engaged in the work; and when the dome is completed, the one within cuts a low door, through which he creeps. As the walls are not more than three or four inches thick, they admit a soft subdued light into the interior, but a window of transparent ice is generally added. Not only the hut, but the furniture inside it, is made of snow; snow seats, snow tables, snow couches—the latter rendered comfortable by coverings of skins. To exclude the cold outer air, the entrance is protected by an antechamber and a porch; and for the purposes of intercommunication, covered passages are carried from one hut to another.
BUILDING AN ESKIMO HUT.