expected to imitate what they see others do. A boy very early has a bow and arrow put into his hands that he may practice shooting at a mark. He also throws stones at some particular object at a little distance to determine the correctness of his aim. Toward his tenth year his father provides him with a kayak that he may initiate him in the acts of rowing, rising, oversetting and coming up again, fowling, fishing, and all those dexterous feats in which he is himself skilled. In his sixteenth year the boy is expected to accompany his father in seal-catching, and the capture of his first seal is made the occasion of great felicitation and festivity. The girls at fourteen years of age are required to sew, cook and dress leather, and two or three years later they must learn to row the woman's boat and build houses. 6. The perfection to which the Esquimaux carry such work as they attempt is quite wonderful when we consider the scarcity of material and the want of emulation and of any division of labor among them. Their arts are handed down from father to son, and remain with no perceptible change from generation to generation. Their houses are built with mathematical regularity, and are well adapted for securing warmth and protection against the encroachments of the weather. But still greater skill is shown, perhaps, in the construction of their boats, the kayak or man's boat, and the oomiak or woman's boat. 7. It is acknowledged that the intelligence of the civilized artisan could not produce a result of greater symmetry and finish than the kayak of the Greenlander, and the same vessel which William Baffin mentioned with so much admiration in 1607 is described by Dr. Kane as "beautiful in model and graceful as the nautilus." With the exception of a hole in the centre, it is perfectly water and air-tight, and is propelled by a double-bladed oar grasped in the middle. The rapidity, ease and lightness with which it follows the motion of the wave are wonderful, and the man and his boat seem to be one creature passing like a sea-bird over the waters. 8. The kayak, or man's boat, has a canoe-shaped frame work from eighteen to twenty feet in length, tapering to a point at the head and stern, so that it is shaped like a weaver's shuttle. The breadth at the centre is from one foot and a half to two feet, and the depth about one foot. The under surface of the vessel is rounded just enough to allow a person to sit with his feet extended on the bottom, and as each man is his own boat-builder, it is always constructed with a nice adaptation to his particular size and weight. When completed, the whole weight of the vessel is not more than sixty pounds, and can be easily carried on the head without the assistance of the hands. 9. In front of the kayaker lies his line, rolled up on a little raised seat made for it, and behind him rests his seal-skin bladder, an air-tight sack which is always kept inflated and fastened to the sealing-line. This is said to answer the double purpose of a buoy and a break or drag to retard the motion of the prey after it has been struck. The double-bladed oar is about seven feet in length. It is made of solid red deal, if that can be procured, with inlaid bones at the sides. The navigator takes it with both hands in the middle, striking the water on both sides with great rapidity and regularity, as if he were beating time. 10. As already stated, the speed which the kayakers make in their shell-like vessels is very great. One has been known to go at the rate of from sixty to seventy miles a day. These men become so habituated to the changes of the sea that they glide with celerity over the roughest billows. If a formidable wave threatens to upset them, they counteract it by their oar and maintain an upright position; or if overturned, they swing round and retrieve themselves at once, coming up again to the surface as they have taught themselves by long practice to do. It is only when they lose their oar, or when the ice or driftwood drives furiously against them, that they succumb to the elements. The kayak is covered with new seal-skin once a year, and is so expeditious and convenient that the Danish authorities of Greenland use this kind of boat as an express for communication between different posts. 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. ... 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 (ha've-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. . Felicitate: 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. nautilos, 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. 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, deso ... late, immense; h., de-vastate, waste. ... ... Rare: 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, |