Generosity and hospitality are characteristic. There is no such thing up North as individual poverty and riches. It is an unwritten law that when one man has been particularly fortunate in a hunting expedition, his tribe will share the net results. It is this feeling of good fellowship which preserves the race. In other matters, each family is practically independent. Each man for himself, a Jack-of-all-trades. As a rule no Eskimo family lives in one place more than two consecutive years. The reasons are several; perhaps the most important being a natural feeling of unrest. The Eskimo feels more keenly than any other people that it is not possession, but acquisition which gives men pleasure and sense of power. Then, too, there is the desire for change of food. A prolonged diet of bear flesh has quite as much irksome sameness for him, as hard tack has for the sailor. Scarcity of game is another vital consideration. After a siege of several months’ duration, the food supply is likely to become exhausted and then nothing is left for the man to do, but shift. The seal is the Eskimo’s staple food. It is also his most valuable resource in that it supplies him with material for clothing, boots, tents, harpoon lines, heat, light, and food for his dogs. Winter is calculated upon as nicely in the northern parts, as in any thrifty community. The Eskimo moderates his appetite during these months of animal hibernation, according to the supplies on hand—cuts the coat after the cloth, as it were. One is grieved to note a state of reckless abandon in the matter of dirt. It is quite beyond the comprehension of these simple folk why washing should be considered necessary for the comfort of humans. When we were caught using a tooth-brush, this was too much. We must indeed be a filthy tribe! “If the mouth is unclean, what part of us is clean?” Was ever injured innocence expressed in more sober language? In the very water in which a walrus feast is about to be prepared, may often be found the drippings of greasy garments hanging above: or perhaps excited by civilisation, the good woman of the place will take to washing her hands at this moment. We despair of ever civilising these people, permanently. While we are in their midst, they seem to be progressing. But out of sight, out of mind—so far as civilisation (and hair-combing!) are concerned. “From many children and little bread, good Lord deliver us.” This would seem to be the Eskimo’s prayer, for in no family will be found more than six children. Though not lacking in warmth of blood they are not a prolific people. “The females arrive at the age of puberty neither very early nor very late, but according to their own statements they rarely have children, even with every possible provocation, till at least three years later, and I am inclined to think the statement is substantially correct.