The food and shelter which the needy are allowed to take is not a charity bestowed; the aid which the hunter gives to the dogless man who jumps upon his sledge for a lift on a journey is not a kindness. He would drop him or give him the slip if occasion offered, even if in a place from whence he could not reach his home. He would drive off and leave him with the greatest unconcern, never so much as giving him a thought. If he should change his abode, the family that had sought his protection would not be invited to accompany him. They might come if able, he could not and would not drive them away; indeed, his language contains no word that would suit the act; but, if not able to travel, they would be left to starve with as much unconcern as if they were decrepit dogs which the hunt had rendered useless. [Sidenote: ESQUIMAU TRAITS.] They neither beg, borrow, nor steal. They do not make presents, and they never rob each other; though this does not hold good of their disposition toward the white man, for from him they make it a habit to filch all they can. I cannot imagine any living thing so utterly callous as they. Why, even my Esquimau dogs exhibit more sympathetic interest in each other's welfare. They at least hang together for a common object; sometimes fighting, it is true, but they make friends again after the contest is over. But these Esquimaux never fight, by any chance. They stealthily harpoon a troublesome rival in the hunt, or an old decrepit man or woman who are a burden; or a person who is supposed to be bewitched, or a lazy fellow who has no dogs, and lives off his more industrious neighbors. They even destroy their own offspring when there happen to be too many of them brought into the world, or one should chance to be born with some deformity which will make it incapable of self-support; but they never meet in open combat; at least, such are the habits of the tribes who have not yet been reached in some degree by the influences of Christian civilization, or who have not had ingrafted upon them some of the aggressive customs of the old Norsemen, who, from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries, lived and fought in Southern Greenland. [Sidenote: ESQUIMAU TRAITS.] With such traits of character they are naturally disinclined to be amiable toward any one who is particularly fortunate, and it is not surprising, therefore, that Hans should be envious of Peter. Even had I given the latter no more clothing than was sufficient to cover his nakedness, it would have been all the same. Had I crowded upon Hans the best of every thing in the vessel, without respect to quantity or usefulness, it would not be more than he covets. But the fellow is especially jealous of my personal kind attentions to Peter, for he sees in that the guaranty of still further gifts.