It is happy, perhaps, when people,
possessing so few of the good things of this life, can be thus contented
with the little allotted them.
The men, though low in stature, are not wanting in muscular strength in
proportion to their size, or in activity and hardiness. They are good
and even quick walkers, and occasionally bear much bodily fatigue, wet,
and cold, without appearing to suffer by it, much less to complain of
it. Whatever labour they have gone through, and with whatever success in
procuring game, no individual ever seems to arrogate to himself the
credit of having done more than his neighbour for the general good. Nor
do I conceive there is reason to doubt their personal courage, though
they are too good-natured often to excite others to put that quality to
the test. It is true, they will recoil with horror at the tale of an
Indian massacre, and probably cannot conceive what should induce one set
of men deliberately and without provocation to murder another. War is
not their trade; ferocity forms no part of the disposition of the
Esquimaux. Whatever manly qualities they possess are exercised in a
different way, and put to a far more worthy purpose. They are
fishermen, and not warriors; but I cannot call that man a coward who,
at the age of one-and-twenty, will attack a polar bear single-handed, or
fearlessly commit himself to floating masses of ice, which the next puff
of wind may drift for ever from the shore.
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