In bodily strength, the Esquimaux present a great contrast to the Andamaners, who, though short, are possessed of gigantic muscular powers. Captain Lyon found that the natives could not raise burdens that were easily lifted by his sailors, whereas an ordinary Andamaner is often a match for two powerful sailors. The neck is strangely thin and feeble, however well-proportioned the chest may be, and it is a curious fact that the Esquimaux are almost wholly ignorant of running and jumping. There is but little beard, and the hair is black, coarse, straight, and lanky.
The general character of the dress is alike in both sexes, so that at a little distance it is not easy to tell whether the spectator be looking at a man or a woman, both sexes wearing trousers, and jackets with a large hood, which can either be drawn over the head or allowed to fall on the shoulders. The jacket of the man is made something like a broad-tailed dress coat, hanging behind as far as the middle of the calf, and cut away in front just below the waist. It is mostly made of deer-hide, and the hood is lined and turned up with white fur, which forms a curious contrast to the dark, broad face within it. The edge of the coat is generally bordered with a lighter-colored fur, and is often decorated with little strips of fur hanging like tassels.
Under this coat is another of similar shape, but of lighter material, and having the furry side turned inward. The legs are clothed in two pairs of trousers, the outer pair being often made of strips of differently colored deer-skins arranged in parallel stripes, and having the fur outward, while the other has the fur inward, as is the case with the coats. They only come as low as the knee, so that the joint is often frost-bitten; but nothing can induce the Esquimaux to outrage fashion by adding a couple of inches to the garment.
The boots are made of the same materials as the other parts of the dress. In winter time the Esquimaux wear first a pair of boots with the fur inward, then slippers of soft seal-skin so prepared as to be waterproof, then another pair of boots, and, lastly, strong seal-skin shoes. In the summer time one pair of boots is sufficient protection. The soles are made of thicker material than the rest of the garment, and it is the duty of the women to keep the soles flexible by chewing or “milling” them, an operation which consumes a considerable part of their time.
Mittens are made of various skins, the hairy side being inward; and if the wearer be engaged in fishing, he uses mittens made of watertight seal-skin. During the summer, light dresses are worn, made of the skins of ducks, with the feathers inward. Over all there is sometimes a very thin and light waterproof garment made of the intestines of the walrus.
The jackets worn by the women have a much longer and narrower tail than those of the men, and a tolerably deep flap in front. The hood is of enormous size, being used as a cradle as well as a hood, in which a child of nearly three years old is carried. The trousers, or rather leggings, are tied to a girdle that passes round the waist, and are so cut away at the top, that they allow a portion of the skin to be visible between them and the sides of the jacket, an exposure from which the wearers do not seem to suffer. The oddest article of the female apparel is, however, the boots, which more resemble sacks or buckets than boots, and are simply tied to the girdle by a broad strap that passes up the front of the leg. The boots are used as receptacles for all kinds of portable property, food included, and in consequence impart a most singular walk, or rather waddle, to the wearers, who are obliged to keep their feet widely apart, and, as they walk, to swing one foot round the other, rather than to use the ordinary mode of walking.
The Esquimaux women use the tattoo, called by them the kakeen, and in some places cover their limbs and a considerable portion of their persons with various patterns. There are some who mark the forehead, cheeks, and chin, these being mostly proof that the woman is married, though they are sometimes worn by unmarried females. The mode in which the kakeen is performed is amusingly told by Captain Lyon, who courageously submitted to the operation.
“My curiosity determined me on seeing how the kakeen was performed, and I accordingly put myself into the hands of Mrs. Kettle, whom I had adopted as my amama, or mother.
“Having furnished her with a fine needle, she tore with her teeth a thread off a deer’s sinew, and thus prepared the sewing apparatus. She then, without a possibility of darkening her hands beyond their standard color, passed her fingers under the bottom of the stove pot, from whence she collected a quantity of soot. With this, together with a little oil and much saliva, she soon made a good mixture, and taking a small piece of whalebone well blackened, she then drew a variety of figures about my arm, differing, as I easily saw, from those with which she herself was marked; and, calling her housemates, they all enjoyed a good laugh at the figures, which perhaps conveyed some meaning that I could not fathom.
“I had, however, only determined on a few strokes, so that her trouble was in some measure thrown away. She commenced her work by blackening the thread with soot, and taking a pretty deep but short stitch in my skin, carefully pressing her thumb on the wound as the thread passed through it, and beginning each stitch at the place where the last had ceased. My flesh being tough, she got on but slowly, and, having broken one needle in trying to force it through, I thought fit, when she had completed forty stitches, or about two inches, to allow her to desist; then, rubbing the part with oil in order to stanch the little blood which appeared, she finished the operation. I could now form an idea of the price paid by the Esquimaux females for their embellishments, which for a time occasion a slight inflammation and some degree of pain. The color which the kakeen assumes when the skin heals is of the same light blue as we see on the marked arms of seamen.”