96.—ESQUIMAUX CHIEF.
Seal-hunting is the chief occupation of the Esquimaux. The seal is a providential animal to the wild inhabitants of the shores of the Frozen Ocean of America, as the reindeer is the godsend of the Laplanders, inhabitants of the shores of the same seas in the north of Europe.
97.—ESQUIMAUX BIRD-CATCHER.
The eggs of the seabirds, particularly of the penguin, are a second source of food to these people. The Esquimaux run all sorts of risks to gather the eggs of these birds on the steep and giddy cliffs where their nests are found ([fig. 97]).
The Esquimaux can only count up to ten, the number of their fingers. They have no system of notation, and can assign no date to past events. They have no annals of any kind or sort, and do not even know their own age.