Part 3

The seal's flesh supplies the natives with their most palatable and substantial food, which however has a fishy flavour, as the creatures feed chiefly on fish. Seals are sometimes taken on land, when surprised basking in the sun, with their young. As soon as they are alarmed by the sight of their enemies, they scuttle away, and make for the sea. It is on the great deep that the Esquimaux, driven by hunger, chiefly seeks his precarious food. In his light canoe, which is made of seal-skins stretched over a slight framework of wood, he hunts, in all weathers, for his prey, especially for the much-prized Narwhal.

There, tumbling in their seal-skin boat, Fearless, the hungry fishers float, And from the teeming seas supply The food their niggard plains deny.

The Narwhal

The same intrepid boldness is shown in their chase of the reindeer, the bear, and the fox. Over the boundless deserts of snow they are borne rapidly along by their faithful dogs, which are harnessed to a sledge, six or seven to the team, and which scamper away, often in seeming confusion, but with a precision of aim and object which is perfectly surprising. No country presents a finer specimen of that honest, affectionate, much-enduring creature, the dog. Kindness to animals is always praiseworthy, and to the honour of the Esquimaux women it must be said, that they are remarked for their humane treatment of these dogs. They take care of them when they are ill, and use them better than the men do. Still under blows and hard usage the dogs are faithful, and willing to labour.

Sir W. Edward Parry's Account

The Esquimaux sometimes use slabs of ice for the walls of their huts, cementing them together with snow and water. Kennels for their dogs are also made of the same material. The late Admiral Sir W. Edward Parry, in the course of a voyage commenced in May, 1821, the chief object of which was the discovery of the North-West passage, availed himself of a winter's imprisonment in the ice, to observe and record the ways and manners of the Esquimaux, whose guest he was. His account is on the whole satisfactory. "I can safely affirm," said he, "that, whilst thus lodged beneath their roof, I know no people whom I would more confidently trust, as respects either my person or my property, than the Esquimaux."

He also described their domestic character. The affection of the parents towards their children showed itself in a thousand ways, and the children on their part have so much gentleness and docility as to render any kind of chastisement unnecessary. Even from their earliest infancy, they are said to possess that quietness of disposition, gentleness of demeanour, and uncommon evenness of temper, for which in more mature age they are for the most part distinguished. Disobedience is scarcely ever known; a word or even a look from a parent is enough.

These traits, added to industry and endurance of various kinds of difficulty, form the fair side of the picture, such as that amiable and distinguished officer was fond of presenting. The exhibition of these features of character was probably called forth, in a great degree, by his own kindness and good management, whilst living among them.

Need of Christian Instruction

But doubtless there are other and less favourable points of view in which these people must be sometimes considered. At all events, it is sad to learn, from the silence of some travellers, and the actual statements of others, that the Esquimaux do not appear to have any idea of the existence of a Supreme Being, or to hold any notion of religion. Separated from the whole civilized world, and frequently finding it a struggle to live, even with the help of their faithful dogs, they are objects of pity and concern, rather than of sanguine hope and expectation to the Christian mind. But were an opportunity to occur of carrying the Gospel to their snow-clad land, there is little doubt that the remark of Parry, applied to an individual of one of their tribes, might be used of all: "On dispositions thus naturally charitable, what might not Christian education, and Christian principles effect?"

Kallihirua's Tribe

Certainly, the instance now before the reader affords a good illustration of this view of the Esquimaux character. It is Captain Ommanney's opinion that Kallihirua's tribe may be regarded as a remnant of the pure race which, no doubt, in ages past migrated from Asia along the coasts of the Parry Group of Islands and Barrow's Straits. The features, and formation of skull, bespeak Tartar extraction. "Their isolated position," he adds, "being far north of the Danish settlements in Greenland, and far removed from the American continent, has kept them uncontaminated with any of the various mixed breeds of which the Esquimaux in those regions must be composed."

Kallihirua in England

Captain Ommanney, soon after his arrival in England, brought young Kallihirua to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. At that time he could only speak a few words, such as "Ship," "Sea," "Very sick;" "England, things very nice," "Captain very good". From his language and gesture it was gathered, that he had suffered much from sea-sickness on the voyage; that he had been treated with the utmost care and kindness on board, and that he was highly pleased with English fare, and with the reception which he had met with in this country.

His manners were so gentle, and even polite, without any seeming effort, as to excite astonishment in those who knew how short a time he had enjoyed the advantages of education. It was clear that great pains had been taken with him on board the "Assistance," where his great study had been to adapt himself to the habits and manners of those among whom his lot was so singularly cast. "In this," says Captain Ommanney, "he succeeded; for people were surprised at his good address, when he reached England."

His Fondness for Prints and Drawings

He was always much pleased with the company of young people, and appeared quite at home with them. Some books and prints were placed in the hands of the youth, and he expressed the greatest delight in seeing views of ships in the ice, and the figure of an Esquimaux watching for a seal. After gazing for a few moments at the latter, he uttered a cry of pleasure, and said, "This one of my people!" It seemed as if, for the time, he had been carried back to his own land, which, however homely, was once his home. Had any proof been wanting of the faithfulness of the representation, his hearty and joyous approval of it would have afforded sufficient evidence of its accuracy.

The reader shall see the engraving of the lonely seal-hunter which so much pleased poor Kalli.

Seal Hunter

In this situation, we are told, a man will sit quietly for ten or twelve hours together, at a temperature of thirty or forty degrees below zero, watching for the opportunity of killing and taking the seal, which is supposed to be at work making its hole beneath in the ice. The Esquimaux, partly sheltered from the "winter's wind," and fast-falling snow, by a snow-wall, has got his spear and lines ready, and he has tied his knees together, to prevent his disturbing the seal by making the slightest noise.

Sights in England

Kalli, whilst in London, on a visit to the author, was taken to the British Museum. With some of the objects there he was much gratified. The antiquities, sculpture, and specimens of art and science, had not such charms in his sight as had the life-like forms of stuffed animals in that great national collection. With the seals, reindeer, and a gigantic walrus, with bright glass eyes, he was especially struck and amused, lingering for some time in the attractive apartment which contained them.

He had now and then much to bear from rudeness and incivility on the part of some thoughtless persons, who derided his personal appearance, though they were not successful in putting him out of temper. The author recollects an instance of this in a street in London. He was walking with Kalli, when two young men, who ought to have known better, stared at the youth in passing, and laughed in his face: then presently turning round, they said, as they pointed at him, "There goes a Chinese!" He merely looked up, smiling, as if at their ignorance, and want of proper feeling.

It has been observed of the people of his nation, that they evince little or no surprise or excitement at such things as occasion admiration in others. When Kalli first came up the river Thames with Captain Ommanney, and travelled from Woolwich by the railway, thence proceeding through the wonderful thoroughfare from London Bridge to the West End of the town, passing St. Paul's Cathedral, and Charing Cross, he merely said, It was all very good.

"I took him with me," said the Captain, "to the Great Exhibition, the Crystal Palace, in Hyde Park. He beheld all the treasures around him with great coolness, and only expressed his wonder at the vast multitude of people."

Great Exhibition of 1851

This is natural enough. Many of our readers may recall the feelings of astonishment with which they viewed that large assemblage. On one of the shilling days, in October, 1851, ninety-two thousand human beings were collected together in the Crystal Palace at one time. The force of contrast could perhaps go no further than in this instance. A young stranger who, in his own country, in a space of hundreds of miles around him, had only three families (probably twelve persons) to count, makes one of a multitude of more than ninety thousand of his fellow-creatures, in a building of glass, covering only eighteen acres of ground!

He was taken to see the Horse Guards' Stables. On seeing a trooper mount his charger, (both being fully accoutred,) Kalli was puzzled. He could not account for the perfect order and discipline of the animal, and the mutual fitness of the man and his horse, the one for the other.