SLEDGES, DOGS.

11

also for draught. They quietly submit to be harnessed for their work, and are treated with little mercy by the savages, who make them do hard duty upon a small allowance of food. In fastening them to the sledge, they are not suffered to go abreast, but are tied by separate thongs, of unequal length, to a horizontal bar on the fore-part of the vehicle. An old knowing one leads the way, running ten or twenty paces a-head, directed by the driver's whip, which is very long, and can be properly managed only by an Esquimaux; the others follow, like a flock of sheep; if one of them receives a lash, he generally bites his neighbour, and the bite goes round. Their strength and speed, even with a hungry stomach, are truly astonishing.

The Esquimaux shew little providence in the management of their supplies. The instant that tidings transpire of the capture of a walrus, shouts of exultation are raised through the village, and its inhabitants share the prize in common. On its arrival, slices are instantly cut off,-every lamp is supplied with oil, the houses are in a blaze,—and all

the pots are filled with flesh. The feast prepared, one man takes up a large piece, and, tearing a quantity from it with his teeth, he then hands it to his neighbour, and he to the next, till the whole is consumed. These degraded people have no idea of temperance: one day they are labouring under fever, and all the maladies produced by gluttony-a few days after, they are without a morsel to eat. It is to be deeply lamented, that many who call themselves Christians, should bear a near resemblance to these poor savages; for surely they who expend their money in procuring such delicacies as may tempt a fastidious appetite to eat more than the necessities of nature demand, are not in the sight of the Lord a whit better than they: of both it may be truly said, "whose god is their belly." Let it be recollected, that "temperance" is one of the fruits of the spirit, where this grace exists it will moderate all our sensual desires; the truly temperate man will eat, not merely to satisfy an animal appetite but to strengthen his body for the Lord's service, and thus he complies with the command, "Whether ye

INTELLECT, MORALS.

13

eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

Considered as to their intellectual condition, the Esquimaux have not the least tincture of what goes by the name of learning, they can form no abstract ideas, nor count above ten, the number of their fingers; yet they shew considerable skill in the construction of their huts, and in the pursuit of the various animals upon which their subsistence depends. They also possess a considerable talent for humour and mimicry.

In their moral qualities, the Esquimaux differ little from the inhabitants of other countries; the consideration of self-interest, the fear of man, and various other motives having their root in earth, place some restraint upon those corrupt passions, which, in common with the rest of the human family, they inherit from their first father. Public opinion is the law by which the actions of man in his natural state are ordinarily regulated, and as the tone of moral sentiment is elevated or depressed among any people, according to their knowledge of the Scriptures, we usually

find those nations which are left to the darkness of heathenism, practising without remorse or shame, such things as even a natural man, living under the reflected light of Christianity, would blush to avow. The annals of paganism furnish abundant illustrations of this assertion. To say nothing of the abominations of the ancient heathen, the shocking practice of burning the widow upon the funeral pile of her deceased husband, prevalent among the Hindoos, and the infanticide practiced in the Sandwich Islands, where, before the introduction of the Gospel, two thirds of the children perished by the hands of their own parents, are instances of heathen abomination fully authenticated; while, among the Esquimaux, the cruelty with which the aged, the infirm, and the unprotected are treated, as if by general consent, is another striking evidence of the depth to which the standard of public opinion may be sunk, among a people destitute of Scripture light.

The great and glaring defect in the Esquimaux morality, which has been mentioned above, is so strikingly characteristic of this

NATURAL DEPRAVITY.

15

savage race, that it has attracted the observation of all classes of persons who have had much intercourse with them; some of our modern navigators who have visited the polar regions in search of a north-west passage, have noticed with much abhorrence, particular instances of it, which, even during their short and desultory intercourse with the natives, came under their observation.

That

We now come to consider the inhabitants of the polar regions in the most interesting point of view in which man can be considered, namely, in his relation to his Creator. The Gospel reveals the universal and total depravity of human nature before God. there is none that doeth good, no, not one, and that every one is become altogether filthy The mind of man and impure. Rom. iii. 12. is sunk into carnality, and needs renewingthe conscience is defiled, every man is by nature under the dominion and power of a carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be: man unrenewed by divine grace is not capable of relishing the things of God, the