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APPENDIX.
57

No. VI.

EXTRACT of a Letter from Madame Duplessis de Sainte Helene, to Madame H——t, of date the 30th of October 1751, in which mention is made of the Esquimaux nation.

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 quantitiesof