For
these, and several knives of European form, they are probably indebted
to an indirect communication with our factories in Hudson's Bay. The
same may be observed of the best of their women's knives (_ooloo_), on
one of which, of a larger size than usual, were the names of "Wild and
Sorby." When of their own manufacture, the only iron part was a little
narrow slip let into the bone and secured by rivets.
Of the horn of the musk-ox they make also very good spoons, much like
ours in shape; and I must not omit to mention their marrow spoons
(_patt=ekniuk_, from _p=att~ek_, marrow), made out of long,
narrow, hollowed pieces of bone, of which every housewife has a bunch of
half a dozen or more tied together, and generally attached to her
needle-case.
For the purpose of obtaining fire, the Esquimaux use two lumps of common
iron pyrites, from which sparks are struck into a little leathern case
containing moss well dried and rubbed between the hands. If this tinder
does not readily catch, a small quantity of the white floss of the seed
of the ground-willow is laid above the moss. As soon as a spark has
caught, it is gently blown till the fire has spread an inch around,
when, the pointed end of a piece of oiled wick being applied, it soon
bursts into a flame--the whole process having occupied perhaps two or
three minutes.
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