11. The oomiak, or woman's boat, is usually about twenty feet long, five feet broad and three feet deep. It is sometimes built so as to accommodate twenty persons. It is made of slender laths fastened with whalebone and covered with dressed seal-skin. These boats are generally managed by three or four women together, who in fair weather row them very rapidly. In any danger a man with his kayak keeps them in sight to aid them if required. 12. The next object of importance to the Esquimaux is the sledge, which finds occupation during at least three-fourths of the year. A native who possesses both a kayak and a sledge is considered a person of property. To give a particular description of the sledge would be impossible, as there are no two exactly alike, and the materials of which they are composed are as various as their form. The best have their runners made of the jawbones of the whale, the upper part consisting of bones, pieces of wood or deer horns lashed across. The length of a bone sledge is from four to fourteen feet and the breadth about twenty inches. 13. The skin of the walrus is also often used in winter, when frozen, to make sledge-runners, and another ingenious contrivance is by putting moss and earth into a seal's skin and pouring a little water into it. The whole soon becomes frozen into one solid piece, and an excellent sledge-runner is thus easily formed. Across both these kinds of runners there is the same arrangement as in the bone sledge. The surface of the runners is coated with ice by pouring water over them mixed with snow; this makes them slide forward with ease, and greatly assists in lightening the load for the dogs. 14. In the second voyage of Sir John Ross to the Arctic regions it is related of the steward that he purchased a sledge of the Esquimaux, and on examining it, found it to be made of salmon with skins sewed over them, but the cross pieces were the leg bones of the reindeer. It sometimes happens that when these poor creatures are driven to extremity for food they break up their sledges and make a dainty meal of them. ... ... Felici SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Arrange: F. arranger; fr. rang, a row, a rank; fr. the old Ger. hring, a circle, a ring; h., de-range, harangue (fr. the It. arenga, a public set speech; fr. arringere, to set the audience in a ring for hearing), range, rank, etc. . . . Average: Ger. haverei (haʼve-ri), sea damage; fr. the Scandinavian hav, the open sea; applied to the money paid by those who have received their goods in safety to indemnify the others whose goods had been thrown overboard in a storm. . . . Celerity: L. celer'itas; fr. cel'er, swift, . . . Dexterous: L. dex'těr, right-handed, skillful.... Division: v. INDIVIDUAL. . . . Encroach: F. accrocher (akkro-shā), to hook on to; fr. croc, crochet (kro-sha'), a hook. tate: fr. L. fe'lix, feli'cis, fertile, happy; h., felicity, in-felicitous. Festivity: L. festiv'itas; fr. fes'tum, a feast; h., feast, festive. . . . Formidable: L. formida'bilis; fr. formi'do, I fear. Furious: L. furio'sus; fr. fur'ia, rage; h., in-furiate. . . . Garment: fr. the F. garnir (gar-neer), to deck; h., garnish. . . . Large: L. lar'gus; h., en-large. . . . Mix: fr. L.. mis'ceo, mix'tum; h., ad-mix, com-mingle, inter-mix, mingle, miscellany, miscible, pro-miscuous, etc. . . . Nautilus: Gr. nau'tilõs, a sailor; fr. naus, a ship. Persuade: L. persua'deo; fr. per and sua'deo, sua'sum, to advise; h., dis-suade, per-suasion, suasion, etc. . . . Purchase: F. pourchasser, to pursue eagerly; fr. pur pour, for, and chasser, to chase. Rare: L. ra'rus, not thick or dense; h., rarefy, rarity.... Retard: L. retar'do; fr. tar'dus, slow; h., tardy.. Retrieve: F. retrouver (rě-troo-vā), to find again; fr. L. re, again, and F. trouver, to find; h,, con-trive, ir-retrievable. Succumb: L. succum'bo, I lie down under, I submit to; fr. sub, under, and cub'o, cub'itum, to lie down; h., cumbent, in-cubate, in-cubus, incumbent, re-cumbent, super-in-cumbent. Vast: L. vas'tus, waste, desolate, immense; h., de-vastate, waste. ... ... ... ... LXXX.--THE LIGHTHOUSE. I. THE rocky ledge runs far into the sea, II. And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright, III. Not one alone; from each projecting cape And perilous reef along the ocean's verge, Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape, Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge. IV. And the great ships sail outward and return, Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells; And ever joyful, as they see it burn, They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. V. The mariner remembers when a child, On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink, VI. The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din VII. The startled waves leap over it; the storm Press the great shoulders of the hurricane. VIII. Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same Year after year, through all the silent night, Burns on for evermore that quenchless flame, Shines on that unextinguishable light! IX. "Sail on!" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships! |