In the summer, when the absence of snow prevents the use of sledges, the dogs are still made useful, on journeys and hunting excursions, by being employed to carry burdens in a kind of saddle-bags laid across their shoulders. A stout dog thus accoutred will accompany his master laden with a weight of about twenty or twenty-five pounds.
The scent of the Esquimaux dog is excellent, and this property is turned to account in finding the seal-holes, which they will discover entirely by the smell at a very great distance. The track of a single deer upon the snow will in like manner set them off at full gallop at least a quarter of a mile before they arrive at it, and with the same alacrity they pursue the bear or the musk-ox. Indeed, the only animal which they are not eager to chase is the wolf, of which they seem to have an instinctive dread, giving notice at night of their approach to the huts by a loud and continued howl.
In spite of their invaluable services, they are treated with great severity by their masters, who never caress them, and, indeed, scarcely ever take any notice of them except to punish them. But notwithstanding this rough treatment, the attachment of the dogs to their masters is very great, and this they display, after a short absence, by jumping up and licking their faces all over with extreme delight.
It may be supposed that among so cheerful a people as the Esquimaux there are many games or sports practised. One of their exhibitions consists in making hideous faces by drawing both lips into the mouth, poking forward the chin, squinting frightfully, occasionally shutting one eye, and moving the head from side to side as if the neck had been dislocated.
Another performance consists in repeating certain words with a guttural tone resembling ventriloquism, staring at the same time in such a manner as to make their eyes appear ready to burst out of their sockets with the exertion. Two or more will sometimes stand up face to face, and, with great quickness and regularity, respond to each other, keeping such exact time that the sound appears to come from one throat instead of several. They are fond of music, both vocal and instrumental, but their singing is not much better than a howl.
The Esquimaux have neither magistrates nor laws, yet they are orderly in their conduct towards each other. The constitution of their society is patriarchal, but there is no recognition of mastership except such as may be claimed by superior prowess. The rule of the head of a family lasts only as long as he has vigor enough to secure success in hunting. When his powers of mind and body are impaired by age, he at once sinks in the social scale, associates with the women, and takes his seat in the oomiak. They rarely quarrel among themselves, and settle their disputes either by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately until one of them gives in, or before a court of honor, where, after the accuser and the accused have richly abused and ridiculed each other, the case is decided by the priests or “angekoks.” These wonder-workers, who enjoy a great reputation as sorcerers, soothsayers, or medicine-men, employ ventriloquism, swallow knives, extract stones from various parts of their bodies, and use other deceptions to impress their dupes with a high opinion of their supernatural powers. Like the members of the learned professions elsewhere, they have a certain language or jargon of their own, in which they communicate with each other. The heathen Esquimaux do not appear to have any idea of the existence of one Supreme Being, but believe in a number of spirits, with whom on certain occasions the angekoks pretend to hold mysterious intercourse. Even in Old Greenland the influence and teachings of the missionaries have not entirely obliterated the old superstitions, and the mysteries of the angekok, though not openly recognized near the Danish settlements, still hold their secret power over many a native who is professedly a Christian.
Captain Hall highly praises the good-nature of the Esquimaux; but in their behavior to the old and infirm they betray the insensibility, or rather inhumanity, commonly found among savage nations, frequently abandoning them to their fate on their journeys, and allowing them to perish in the wilderness.
Among themselves “Tiglikpok” (he is a thief) is a term of reproach, but they steal without scruple from strangers, and are not ashamed when detected, nor do they blush when reproved. Parry taxes them with want of gratitude; and though they have no doubt rendered good services to many of our Arctic navigators, yet sometimes, when they fancied themselves the stronger party, they have not hesitated to attack or to murder the strangers, and their good behavior can only be relied upon as long as there is the power of enforcing it.
One of the most amiable traits of their character is the kindness with which they treat their children, whose gentleness and docility are such as to occasion their parents little trouble, and to render severity towards them quite unnecessary. Even from their earliest infancy they possess that quiet disposition, gentleness of demeanor, and uncommon evenness of temper for which, in mature age, they are for the most part distinguished. “They are just as fond of play,” says Parry, “as any other young people, and of the same kind, only that while an English child draws a cart of wood, an Esquimaux of the same age has a sledge of whalebone; and for the superb baby-house of the former, the latter builds a miniature hut of snow, and begs a lighted wick from her mother’s lamp to illuminate the little dwelling.”
When not more than eight years old, the boys are taken by their fathers on their sealing excursions, where they begin to learn their future business; and even at that early age they are occasionally intrusted to bring home a sledge and dogs from a distance of several miles over the ice. At the age of eleven we see a boy with his water-tight boots, a spear in his hand, and a small coil of line at his back, accompanying the men to the fishery under every circumstance; and from this time his services daily increase in value to the whole tribe.