An Account of a Savage Girl, Caught Wild in the Woods of Champagne/Appendix VI
No. VI.
MADAM, and my dearest friend, your savages shall be sent you this year, &c. The Esquimaux are the most savage of savages. Tho' the manners of the other nations appear extraordinary, they still retain some tincture of humanity; but among the Esquimaux, an almost incredible barbarism universally prevails. The bulk of their nation inhabits about Hudson's Bay in the north; some of them are likeways be found along the coasts of the country of Labrador, an excessively cold country, bounded on one side by that bay, and on the other, by part of the river St. Lawrence. They are a nation of Anthropophagi, who devour men whenever they can get them. They are of a low stature, white, and very fat. In spite of the severity of the climate they hardly ever light a fire: It is thought they worship that element. They eat their flesh raw, and their usual food is the flesh of seals. They dress themselves in the skins of those animals, of which they likeways make bags, wherein they lay up quantities of their flesh cut into small pieces, as provision for the stormy season, They are as fond of the oil which they draw from this flesh, as drunkards are of wine. They have holes under ground where they lodge, and into which they creep on all four like beasts. Sometimes, in winter, they make themselves huts of snow, upon the ice, of some bays, under which the water is, perhaps, more than 100 feet deep: There they live without fire, only wearing a double covering of seals skins. Their women, who sew very neatly, make themselves small vests of the skins of birds, with the feathers on the inside, to keep them warm. They also have another kind of vests made of the guts of white bears, which they open after having scraped them, as if to make puddings of them; these they join together in the form of a shirt, which they put on above their vest of skins, to prevent the water from penetrating it. They carry their children on their back, between their skin and vest, so that when they give them the breast, they must either haul the poor infants under their arm, or over their shoulder, for that purpose. They give them no other clothing, except a bit of blanket about their lower parts, which they change when dirty. What the men use by way of breeches, has no opening in it, being nearly of the form of a brewer's apron, but more tight; they tie it about their loins with a string. That of their women is open; and when they sit on the ground, their usual seat, they draw the end of their garment, which is long, between their thighs, from a sense of modesty.
Since the French have made settlements on the coast of Labrador, for fishing seals, the Esquimaux approach them sometimes, and even traffic with them. No body understands their language; but they are very expert at expressing their meaning by signs. They are ingenious, and make all their own instruments themselves. They work in iron, and tan skins. They make leather canoes, which are water-proof, and are covered above in such a way, as to have only one opening in the middle, like a purse, capable of containing a single man, who, tying this purse round his waist, and seizing an oar in each hand of the form subjoined, he in that manner faces the most stormy weather, and the strongest fishes. The overturning this canoe is of no consequence; for it instantly recovers its right position. They sail equally well by either end, as occasion requires. They make likewise small boats of wood, which their women row with their faces to the stern, like our sailors.
The French, upon these savages approaching them in the night, give them a discharge or two of small cannon, which disperses them like birds; for they are afraid of shot, and of men, for which reason they never light fire, lest the flame or smoke should discover them. They have formerly eaten several of our countrymen; but others whom they had attacked told me, that having repulsed and killed some of the savages, and in order to conceal the slaughter, for fear of exasperating the nation, having thrown the dead bodies into the sea, they did not sink, like those of other men, but floated on the surface, like cork. This peculiarity they attributed to their feeding on the fat and oil of fishes.
Several young Esquimaux girls have been caught and tamed in this town, of whom I have seen some die in our hospital. They were extremely well made, white, cleanly, and very good Christians, having nothing savage about them. They spoke good French; and though they seemed happy in the houses where they staid, yet they were but short-lived, like the other savages who reside with the French. They pay very dear for this kind of slaves here, on account of the scarcity of servants; but they get little use of them, as they very soon die.