8. Esquimaux Foot-ball
BY RICHARD HAKLUYT (ABOUT 1590)
I FIND that in the manner of living the people of the northeast and
those of the northwest are alike.[46] They
have an olive complexion, are very active and nimble men, and are a
strong, warlike people; for even in our sight on the tops of the hills
they
would muster themselves, and in a mimic skirmish scamper over the
ground very nimbly. They man. age their bows and arrows with great
dexterity.
They go about clad in skins of beasts such as seals, deer, bears,
foxes, and hares.[47] They have also some
garments of feathers, finely sewed and
fastened together. In summer they wear the hairy side of the skins
outward, and in winter they wear four or five thicknesses with the
hairy sides turned inward.
These people are by nature subtle and sharp-witted, ready to
understand our meaning by signs and make answers that can be well
understood. If they have not seen the thing whereof we ask, they will
wink or cover their eyes with their hands as if to say it had been hid
from sight. If they do not understand what you ask them, they will stop
their ears. They are willing to teach us the names of anything in their
language which we desire to know, and are quick to learn anything of us.
They delight in music and will keep time and stroke to any tune which we
may sing, both with their voice, head, hands, and feet, and will sing
the same tune after us.
They live in caves in the earth and hunt for their dinners just
as the bears and other wild beasts do. They eat raw flesh and fish.
On the twenty-first of August the captain of our ship sent a boat
on shore for wood with six of our men who had friendly dealings with
these Esquimaux. After that, they beckoned us on shore several times to
play foot-ball with them, and some of our company went on shore to play
with them; but nimble as they were, as often as they struck at the ball
our men won the game.
[[46]]
That is, of two ports of the northern lands visited by
English explorers.
[[47]]
The Esquimaux still wear such garments.
