The peninsula is chiefly inhabited on the coast, where the Moravians have now four settlements. The natives style themselves _Innuit_, _i.e._ men; and foreigners, _Kablunat_ or inferior beings. Their original national name is Karalit, also denoting superiority, and the term Esquimaux, by which they are now so generally known, was given them by their neighbours the Indians, in whose language it signifies "men's raw meat," and probably imports that the Indians were, or it may be, are cannibals, and devoted their captives for this horrible repast. In lowness of stature, in their flat features, and dark colour, they exactly resemble the Greenlanders. Their language is a dialect of the same tongue, intelligible by both; but from their intercourse with foreigners, and their adopting some foreign customs, and becoming possessed of foreign utensils, a number of strange words have been introduced into each, only the former borrowed Danish or English phrases, while the latter had learned many French words. Their dress is nearly similar, being seal-skin coats and breeches, except the outer garment of the women ends behind in a train that reaches to the ground, and their boats are sufficiently large to carry their children if they are mothers--or provisions, or any other packages, if they are not. Their winter houses are low, long, ill-constructed huts, inhabited by several families, and abominably filthy; they are dug deep in the earth, but the walls above the surface never exceed three feet in height, the roof is elevated in the middle, and the windows are placed to look to the south: the entry can only admit a person to crawl in; on one side of it is placed the kitchen, and on the other the dog-kennel, but no partition separates the biped from the quadruped inhabitant. If constrained to travel in winter, or to remain at a distance from their usual homes, they build houses of snow, which afford them a tolerably comfortable temporary abode. These habitations are very ingeniously constructed; they first search out a heap of firmly frozen snow, next they trace out a circular figure, of whatever size they think requisite, and then proceed with their long thin knives, to cut out square slabs, about three feet in length, two in breadth, and one in thickness, and gradually contracting as they rise, they form a dome about eight feet high; within, they leave an elevation all round the walls of about twenty inches, which, when covered with skins, serves both for a seat and a sleeping place; a piece of ice serves for a window, and in the evening they close their door with a board of snow; a lamp suspended from the roof gives light and heat to the apartment.