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tvansferred the contents to their own mouths; and cleansing their
fingers upon the earth, gave the vessel to one of the women.
The whole village then assembled, better dressed than they had
been on our first visit, and ranged themselves in a semicircle in front
of us, preparatory to an exhibition of one of their dances, which merits
a description, as it was the best of the kind we saw. A double ring
was formed in front of us by men seated upon the grass, and by w'omen
and children in the back ground, who composed the orchestra. The
music at the beginning was little better than a buzz of “Ungna-ayii,
Amna-aya!”—W'ords which always constitute the burthen of an Esquimaux
song. The leader of the party, a strong athletic man, jumped
into the ring and threw himself into various attitudes, which would
have better become a pugilist than a performer on the light fantastic
toe ! As his motions became violent, he manifested his inspiration by
loud exclamations of Ah ! Ah ! until he became exhausted and withdrew,
amidst shouts from all present of approbation, and the signal was
given for new performers. Five younger men then leaped into the
area, and again exhibited feats of activity, which, considering the heavy
clothing with which they were encumbered, were very fair. A simple
little girl about eight years of age, dressed for the occasion, joined the
jumpers, but did not imitate their actions. Her part consisted in
waving her arms and inclining her body from side to side. The poor
little thing was so abashed that she did not even lift her head or open
her eyes during the whole of her performance, and seemed glad when
it was over, though she w'as not unmindful of the praise bestowed
upon her exertions.
The violent action of the male performers required that they
should occasionally take breath, during which time the music was
lowered; but as soon as the ring was furnished it again became loud
and animated. A grown-up female now formed one of the party,
and appeared to be the prize of contention among several young men,
who repeatedly endeavoured to ingratiate themselves with her, but she
as often rejected their offers and waved them away. At last an old
man, all but naked, jumped into the ring, and was beginning some
indecent gesticulations, when his appearance not meeting with our
approbation, he withdrew, and the performance having been wrought
to its highest pitch of noise and animation, ceased. — v—■
Such is the rude dance of these people, in which, as may be seen f g f f
from the above description, there was neither elegance nor grace; but
on the contrary it was noisy, violent, and as barbarous as themselves.
The dancers were dressed for the occasion in their best clothes, which
they considered indispensable, as they would not sell them to us until
the performance was over. In addition to their usual costume, some had
a kind of tippet of ermine and sable skins thrown over their shoulders,
and others wore a band on their heads, with strips of skin suspended
to it at every two inches, to the end of which were attached the nails of
seals.
YVhen the dance was over, they presented us with dried salmon,
and each person brought his bag of goods, which produced a brisk bar-
ter, with great fairness on all sides, and with a more than ordinary
sense of propriety on theirs, in never raising or lowering their prices;
and by their testifying their disapprobation of it by a groan, when it
was attempted by one of our party. But though so strict in this particular,
they were not exempt from that failing so unaccountably innate
in all uncivilized people, which they endeavoured to gratify in various
wavs, by engaging our attention at a moment when some of our trinkets
were exposed to them for the purpose of selection. Suspecting their
designs, however, we generally detected their thefts, and immediately
received back our goods, with a hearty laugh in addition. They understood
making a good bargain quite as well as ourselves, and were very
wary how they received our knives and hatchets, putting their metal to
the test by hacking at them with their own. If they stood the blow' they
were accepted; but if, on the contrary, they were notched, they were
refused. A singular method of deciding a bargain was resorted to by
one of their party, almost equivalent to that of tossing up a coin. YY"e
had offered an adze for a bundle of skins; but the owmer, who at first
seemed satisfied with the bargain, upon reflection became doubtful
whether he would not be the loser by i t ; and to decide the doubtful
point, he caught a small beetle, and set it at liberty upon the palm of
his hand, anxiously watching which direction the insect should take.
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