inflections to indicate the relations of the words to each other. It
will not do to omit "O-kee-chuck" from this enumeration--a word
signifying trade, barter, or sale, and one most commonly heard among
these people. When they wish to say a thing is bad they use "A-shu-ruk,"
and when disapproval is meant they say "pe-chuk." The latter word also
expresses general negation. For instance, on looking into several
unoccupied houses a native informs us "Innuit pechuk," meaning that the
people are away or not at home; "Allopar" is cold, and "allopar pechuk"
is hot. Persons fond of tracing resemblances may find in "Ignik" (fire)
a similarity to the Latin _ignis_ or the English "ignite," and from
"Un-gi doo-ruk" (big, huge) the transition down to "hunky-dory" is easy.
Those who see a sort of complemental relation to each other of
linguistic affinity and the conformity in physical characters may infer
from "Mikey-doo-rook" (a term of endearment equivalent to "Mavourneen"
and used in addressing little children) that the inhabitants within the
Polar Circle have something of the Emerald Isle about them. But no, they
are not Irish, for when they are about to leave the ship or any other
place for their houses they say "to hum"; consequently they are Yankees.

I do not wish to be thought frivolous in my notions regarding the noble
science of philology; but when one considers the changes that language
is constantly undergoing, the inability of the human voice to articulate
more than twenty distinct sounds, and the wonderful amount of ingenious
learning that has been wasted by philologists on trifling subjects, one
is disposed to associate many of their deductions with the savage
picture-writing on Dighton Rock, the Cardiff Giant, and the old
wind-mill at Newport.


ESKIMO DIETETICS.