Chapter XIII: Religious Ideas (3)

The Greenlanders believe that children born in secrecy, or murdered after birth, become dangerous spectres (_angiak_). Among other things, they are in the habit of seeking out a dog's skull, which they use as a kaiak, in order to persecute and kill their kinsfolk--either their mother's later-born children, or, it may be, their mother's brothers, who, by reproaching her for her misconduct, have led her to conceal the birth. Sometimes, too, they pursue people in the form of a feather, a mitten, &c.[158] This conception is very like the belief in what is called _utburden_, which is very widespread in Norway. These are children who, being born in concealment and killed, have not received a name. They cannot rest, but, in the form of visible or invisible ghosts, they pursue either the mother or people who pass by the place where they have been laid.[159] The resemblance between this Norwegian conception and the Greenland superstition is so great that there is every probability of its having been imported into Greenland by the old Scandinavians.[160]

Passing on to their fairy tales, we find many which resemble Norwegian and other European legends. For example we have in Norway an as yet unpublished tale[161] of three sisters who were bent upon getting married. The one said, 'I am minded to marry even if I got only a fox for a husband;' the second said she would marry if she got only a goat, and the third if she got only a squirrel. Thereupon there came a fox, a goat, and a squirrel, and took each his wife. Their father afterwards paid a visit to each of his sons-in-law. When he came to the squirrel's house, the squirrel bade his wife hang a pot over the fire, and then all three went out and came to a river, into which the squirrel dived and brought up a trout. When the man reached home he bade his wife put a pot on the fire and go out with him. On reaching a river, the man tried to dive as he had seen the squirrel do, but was drowned. In Greenland we find this story split into two. In the one it is two sisters who go down to the shore and wish, the one for an eagle, the other for a whale, as a husband; and these animals at once come and carry them off.[162] In the other we are told of a pair of old people who live alone with their daughter. One day there comes a big unknown man, who says that he lives near them to the southward, and asks for their daughter in marriage. He obtains her, and on leaving her home asks his father-in-law to come and pay them a visit. This the father-in-law does. When he enters the house, his daughter hangs a kettle over the fire and her husband goes out. The old man looks after him through the window, but sees only a cormorant which flies over the water, dives, and comes up with a sea-scorpion. Presently the son in-law comes in with the sea-scorpion, which he gives to his father-in-law to eat. On the old man's return home he asks his wife to hang the pot over the lamp, then rows with her a little way out from the land, and ties a stone round his neck and a long rope round his waist, saying to his wife: 'I will dive into the water, and when I tug at the rope you must haul me up again.' He jumps overboard and sinks, and when his wife hauls him up again he is drowned.[163] The resemblance between this story and the latter part of the Norwegian one is so great that there can scarcely be any doubt as to its origin. We must, however, take into account the possibility that it did not come through the old Scandinavians, but through Hans Egede and his people, or even later.

The following story resembles both Asiatic and European legends. A reindeer-hunter once saw a number of women bathing in a lake. He took away the clothes of the fairest of them, who had therefore to follow him home and become his wife, whilst the others rushed to the shore, put on their clothes, and were transformed into geese or mergansers and flew away. His wife bore him a son; but presently she set to work collecting feathers, by means of which she changed both herself and her son into birds, and flew away with him one fine day, when the man was out hunting. He set forth to search for them, and came upon a man who was cutting chips of wood which were transformed into fishes. This man placed him upon the tail of a big salmon which he made out of a chip, and told him to close his eyes, whereupon the fish brought him to his wife and son.[164] The American Eskimos have an altogether similar story. Among the Samoyedes it is related that a man went out on a journey and came upon an old woman who was felling birch trees. He helped her, and went with her to her tent, where he hid himself. Then in came seven girls, who talked to the old woman and went away again. She said to him: 'In the darkest part of yonder wood there is a lake; there the seven girls will bathe; take away the clothes of one of them'--and he did so. The remainder is quite different from the Greenland story, and there is nothing at all about their being changed into birds, though their home was in air or in the sky.[165] This story, whose likeness to the Greenland legend is remarked by Dr. Rink,[166] is not, however, so like it as an Icelandic story, in which we are told that a man was walking early one morning beside the sea and came to the mouth of a cave. He could hear sounds of dancing and merriment from inside the cave, and outside it lay a heap of seal-skins, one of which he took home with him. Later in the day he came again to the mouth of the cave; there sat a fair young woman quite naked, and weeping. She was the seal who owned the skin. He gave her clothes, took her home with him, married her, and they had children. But one day when the man was out fishing his wife found the old seal-skin; the temptation was too strong for her, she said good-bye to her children, put on the skin and threw herself into the sea.[167] The Greenland story, for the rest, resembles the swan legends which are spread over almost the whole world, and of which we have several in Europe. That it cannot have been introduced into Greenland of recent years is proved by the fact that Paul Egede heard it there so long ago as 1735. The possibility that it may have been brought to Greenland by the old Scandinavians seems to me strengthened by the fact that swan legends and stories of a like nature do not seem to have been common in America. Powers, for example, in his book about the Indians of California, says that he can find no stories of this nature among them.[168]

If space permitted I could adduce several other remarkable coincidences between the folk-lore of Greenland and that of Europe, and especially of Scandinavia. It appears, then, that the intercourse between the old Scandinavians and the natives must have been greater than has generally been believed.[169]

Footnotes.

[54: As to the constitution of the soul see also Paul Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 149, and Cranz, _Historie von Grönland_, p. 258.]

[55: Paul Egede says expressly (_Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 126) that the natives make no distinction between _tarrak_ and _tarnek_ (_tarnik_), and he himself uses the two words indifferently. See also the same work, p. 92.]

[56: _Historie von Grönland_, p. 257.]

[57: See Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, pt. 10, p. 112.]

[58: A similar idea is also current on the west coast (compare _Meddelelser om Grönland_, pt. 10, p. 342), but seems there to have reference to the ordinary soul of the deceased. The distinction between the soul and the name cannot, therefore, be sharply drawn among the different tribes.]

[59: Throughout the foot-notes to this chapter, Dr. Nansen is profuse in his acknowledgments of the assistance rendered him by Professor Moltke Moe. I have ventured to concentrate these recurrent acknowledgments into this one note, and shall refer to Professor Moe only where he figures as the authority for a statement of fact.--_Trans._]

[60: See also Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 311.]

[61: Klemm, _Culturgeschichte_, iii. p. 77; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_ (1873), ii. p. 4; _Antiquarisk Tidsskrift_, 1861-63, p. 118.]

[62: It appears to me that exogamy between two of the same surname, which is found among many races (see p. 175), can easily be explained on this principle, since the same name creates a close spiritual affinity, which may, like blood-affinity, act as a bar to marriage.]

[63: See Holm, _op. cit._ p. 111, where examples of such re-christenings are given. Holm thinks that 'the old names reappear when the deceased is quite forgotten.' It seems to me more natural to suppose that this occurs as soon as a child has been called after the dead man.]

[64: Nyrop, _Mindre Afhandlinger udgivne af det philologisk-historiske Samfund_, Copenhagen, 1887, pp. 147-150.]

[65: Nyrop, _op. cit._ pp. 136 & 137.]

[66: Liebrecht, _Academy_, iii. (1872), p. 322.]

[67: _Meddelelser om Grönland_, pt. 10, p. 113.]

[68: See Schoolcraft, in _Antiquarisk Tidsskrift_, 1861-63, p. 119, &c., also Andrée, _Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche_, p. 180; Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_, p. 142.]

[69: The reluctance prevailed among our forefathers. 'Sigurd concealed his name because people believed in the old days that a dying man's curse had great power, when he called his enemy by name.'--_Sæmundar Edda_, ed. by Sophus Bugge, p. 219.]

[70: Information received from Prof. Moltke Moe.]

[71: The way in which name and thing melt into one appears clearly, to mention one instance, in the Swabian custom of 'throwing the names of three shrewish women' into the wine, in order to turn it into good vinegar.]

[72: Compare Nansen: _The First Crossing of Greenland_, i., p. 328; abridged edit., p. 160.]

[73: As to the significance of the name and its mention among the different races, compare Kristoffer Nyrop's comprehensive essay, 'The Power of the Name,' in _Mindre Afhandlinger udgivne af det philologisk-historiske Samfund_, Copenhagen, 1887, pp. 119-209. See also B. Gröndahl in _Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed_, 1863, p. 127, &c.; Moltke Moe, in _Letterstedtske Tidsskrift_, 1879, p. 286, &c.; S. Grundtvig, _Danmarks gamle Folkeviser_, ii. p. 339, &c.; H. Spencer, _Principles of Sociology_, vi. p. 701.]

[74: Compare Rink, _Aarböger for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie_, 1868, iii. p. 202.]

[75: Compare Paul Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 149.]

[76: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 113.]

[77: Communicated to me by Moltke Moe.]

[78: See on the same subject Paul Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 117. According to some accounts, witches and 'wicked people' go to the over-world.]

[79: Communicated by Moltke Moe. Compare also J. Flood, _Grönland_, Kristiania, 1873, p. 10, note. Similar notions are said to be current in Bavaria and in the Marquesas islands. Compare Liebrecht, in the _Academy_, iii. (1872), p. 321.]

[80: P. Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 109. See also H. Egede, _Det gamle Grönlands nye Perlustration_, p. 84. Cranz, _Historie von Grönland_, p. 301.]

[81: _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 106, note.]

[82: Tylor, _Primitive Culture_ (1873), i. p. 472.]

[83: This conception of a second death, or the death of the soul, is found among many races: Hindus, Tartars, Greeks, Kelts, Frenchmen, Scandinavians, Germans, &c.]

[84: Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii. p. 44.]

[85: Knortz, _Aus dem Wigwam_, Leipzig, 1880, p. 133; compare p. 142.]

[86: It is interesting to note that the Alaska Eskimos seem to believe in a being similar to this tornarssuk of the east coast of Greenland, with long tentacles, &c. See Holm: _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 115, note 1.]

[87: _Tartok_ means properly 'dark.' Among the Eskimos of Southern Alaska, the same word, _taituk_, means 'mist.' In East Greenland _târtek_ means 'black.' (Compare Rink: _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, p. 152.)]

[88: Rink: _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 44. In Scotland a singing in the ears is called 'the dead-bell,' and portends the death of a friend. Hogg: _Mountain Bard_, 3rd ed. p. 31.]

[89: _Tredie Continuation_, &c., p. 74.]

[90: Holm, however, tells us (_Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 105), that on the east coast the body is sometimes dragged out through the house-passage by means of a thong looped around the legs. In such cases, I take it, the dread of touching the body must have conquered the dread of taking it out through the passage, for if it is taken through the window it must be lifted and handled. By dragging it with the feet foremost and pointing outwards they probably think to hinder the soul from effecting a re-entrance.]

[91: From information given me by Moltke Moe. Compare also Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 372.]

[92: Morris and Magnússon, _The Saga Library_, vol ii. 'The Ere-Dwellers,' p. 88.]

[93: See Moltke Moe's paper in the _Norske Universitets-og Skoleannaler_, 1880, and the works there cited.]

[94: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 107.]

[95: Hans Egede, _Det gamle Grönlands nye Perlustration_, p. 83.]

[96: See P. A. Gödecke's translation of the _Edda_, p. 170, and notes on p. 335.]

[97: Paul Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, &c., p. 45; Hans Egede, _Grönlands nye Perlustration_, p. 118; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, pp. 40, 466.]

[98: The Dakota Indians relate that on the way to Wanaratebe there is a wheel which rolls with frightful velocity along the bottom of the abyss below the mountain ridge mentioned on p. 239. To this wheel are bound those who have treated their parents despitefully. See Liebrecht, _Gervasius Otia Imperialia_ (1856), p. 91, note.]

[99: Reference communicated by Moltke Moe.]

[100: See Sophus Bugge, _Mythologiske Oplysninger til Draumekvædi_, in _Norsk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur_, 1854-55, p. 108-111; Grimm, _Mythologie_, p. 794; Liebrecht, _Gervasius Otia Imperialia_, p. 90. Compare also H. Hübschmann, _Die parsische Lehre vom Jenseits und jüngsten Gericht_, in _Jahrbücher für protestantische Theologie_, v. (Leipzig, 1879), p. 242.]

[101: Compare H. Hübschmann, _op. cit._, pp. 216, 218, 220, 222.]

[102: Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, ii. 50. Compare, too, the Indians' conception of a mountain ridge as sharp as the sharpest knife (see p. 239). It is of course possible that the Indians may have got this idea from the Eskimos, or more probably, perhaps, from the Europeans after the discovery of America.]

[103: Sophus Bugge, _op. cit._, p. 114.]

[104: Tylor, _op. cit._, p. 50. Compare Knortz, _Aus dem Wigwam_, p. 142.]

[105: Communicated by Moltke Moe, from his unpublished collection of folk-tales. See also a tale reported from Flatdal in _Fedraheimen_, 1877, No. 18; a Hardanger tale (watered down) in Haukenæs's _Natur, Folkeliv og Folketro i Hardanger_, ii., 233. Danish variants in Kl. Berntsen, _Folke-Æventyr_, I. (Odense, 1873) p. 116; Et. Kristensen, _Jyska Folkeminder_, v. 271.]

[106: Rink, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, p. 17. Compare Boas, _Petermann's Mittheilungen_, 1887, p. 303; Rink and Boas, 'Eskimo Tales and Songs,' in _Journal of American Folk-Lore_, 1889 (?), p. 127.]

[107: Note by Glahn in Crantz's _Historie von Grönland_, Copenhagen, 1771, p. 348. Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 440; Danish edit. pp. 87, 166, suppl. p. 44.]

[108: Communicated by Moltke Moe.]

[109: I. 551, 553.]

[110: Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 440; Danish edit. p. 87.]

[111: Compare Sophus Bugge, _op. cit._, p. 115.]

[112: Noted by Moltke Moe.]

[113: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 144.]

[114: Compare K. Knortz, _Aus dem Wigwam_, p. 130. H. de Charencey (_Melusine_, i. 225) mentions (quoting from Malthæus, _Hidatsa Grammar_, 1873, Intr. p. xvii.) that the forefathers of the Minnetarees, a tribe belonging to the Missouri region, lived at the bottom of a great lake, and climbed up to the surface of the earth by help of a big tree, which ultimately broke, so that many of them had to remain below. (From an unpublished manuscript by Moltke Moe.) This legend presents an even closer analogy to that of the ignerssuit, who dwell under the sea.]

[115: See J. Krohn, _Finska Litteratur-Historie_, 1st Part, _Kalevala_ (1891), p. 165. Moltke Moe has directed my attention to this similarity, and has lent me the MS. of an as yet unpublished essay on legends of this class. As a rule, the connection between earth and heaven is effected by a great tree, by which people climb up and down. The myth of such heaven-trees is to be found in almost every quarter of the world. We find it in Scandinavia (Ygdrasil) no less than in Polynesia, Celebes, Borneo, New Zealand, &c. Among the Vogulians, the son of the first two human beings (see above) transforms himself into a squirrel, climbs up a tree to heaven, and afterwards climbs down again. (Compare A. Lang, _Myth, Ritual and Religion_ (1887). i. 182, note 2.) Among the Indians the first man climbs into a tree, in chase of a squirrel, and so reaches heaven, whence he returns with the elements of civilisation, or, according to some, in order to take his sister up with him again. (Compare Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_ (2nd ed.), p. 349.) The gipsies on the borders of Transylvania have a legend of a great tree from which flesh fell down to earth, and from whose leaves human beings sprang forth (H. von Wlislocki, _Märchen und Sagen der transsilvanischen Zigeuner_, No. 1.) There is probably some connection between these myths and the Greenland legend; it is quite natural that in the Eskimo version the tree should have disappeared.]

[116: Compare A. Lang, _Myth, Ritual, and Religion_, i. 181.]

[117: Compare J. Krohn, _op. cit._, pp. 163-173.]

[118: Communicated by Moltke Moe. Others relate that it was the ugly children whom Eve concealed, or that she was ashamed of having so many. (See Faye, _Norske Folkesagn_, 2nd ed. p. xxv.; Söegaard, _Fra Fjeldbygderne_, p. 102; _Dölen, 1862_ (III.) No. 17; Storaker and Fuglestedt, _Folkesagn fra Lister og Mandals Amt_, p. 51; Finn Magnusen, _Eddalæren_, iii. p. 329; Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed. iii. 163, &c.) The legend is originally Jewish, and may be traced to the Rabbis; see, for example, Liebrecht on _Gervasius Tilberiensis Otia Imperialia_, p. 70.]

[119: Paul Egede gives a somewhat different account of the ignerssuit's fall from human estate. They 'formerly dwelt upon earth, until the time of the great flood, which caused the earth to capsize, so that what had formerly been uppermost was now below.'--_Continuation af Relationerne_, p. 96.]

[120: This suggests our Norwegian 'draug' which sails in a half boat (_i.e._ a boat split in two longitudinally); and it does not seem impossible that we may here trace the influence of the old Scandinavian settlers.]

[121: Paul Egede: _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 172.]

[122: Legends of dog-men being widely spread over the world (they are found, for instance, among the Greeks), it is possible that the Eskimos may have received them from some other quarter, and applied them to the Indians, who, they knew, claimed descent from a dog.]

[123: Compare Tobler: 'Ueber sagenhafte Völker des Altertums,' &c., in _Zeitschrift der Völkerpsychologie_, vol. xviii. (1888), p. 225.]

[124: See Hammer, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 8, p. 22; E. Skram in _Tilskueren_, October, 1885, p. 735. As to kivitut, see also Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_.]

[125: See Arnasen, _Íslenzktar thjódsogur_, ii. 160-304, translation by Powell and Magnússon (London, 1866), pp. cxlvi, and 101-231. Maurer _Isländische Volkssagen_, p. 240; Carl Andersen, _Islandske Folkesagn_, 2nd ed., p. 258.]

[126: P. Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 172; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i. 391; Tobler, _op. cit._, p. 238; Liebrecht in _The Academy_, iii. (1872), 321.]

[127: P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, p. 97; H. Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 117.]

[128: Compare Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 332, and the authorities there cited. See also Moltke Moe in _Letterstedtske Tidsskrift_, 1879, pp. 277-281.]

[129: H. Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 117; P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, p. 47; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 471; _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, pp. 290, 342.]

[130: Rink and Boas, _Journal of American Folklore_ (1888?) p. 124.]

[131: F. Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, 1879, pp. 17-25; J.C. Müller, _Geschichte der americanischen Urreligionen_, pp. 134, 65.]

[132: P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, pp. 32, 80; _Efterretninger om Grönland_, pp. 127, 106. H. Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 117.]

[133: Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i. 355; A. Lang, _La Mythologie_ (Paris, 1886), pp. 204, 206; Smithsonian Institute, _Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology_, 1879-80, p. 45. The choice between day and night in the Greenland form of the myth may possibly be borrowed, directly or indirectly, from the biblical cosmogony.]

[134: Christaller in _Zeitschrift für afrikanischen Sprachen_, I. 1887-88, pp. 49-62. Compare also Bleek, _Reineke Fuchs in Afrika_ (Weimar, 1870): Tylor, _op. cit._, p. 355; A. Lang, _op. cit._, p. 203.]

[135: Hans Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 117; P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, pp. 20, 60. As to washing in urine (see p. 29), I may remark that it seems to have been a custom of untold antiquity. We find allusions to it even in the sacred writings of the Parsees. Thus it is said (_Vendidad_, 8, 13) that corpse-bearers shall wash themselves with urine 'not of men or women, but of small animals or beasts of draught.']

[136: P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, p. 16; H. Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 121; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 236; Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 268.]

[137: A. Lang, _Custom and Myth_, p. 132; Tylor, _Primitive Culture_ i. 288.]

[138: Compare Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, pp. 237, 440. Danish ed. suppl. p. 44. Liebrecht in _Germania_, vol. 18 (1873), p. 365.]

[139: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 142.]

[140: This myth is so strikingly like the Greenland legend that there can scarcely be a doubt of their having sprung from the same source. Among the Khasias to love your mother-in-law is the direst sin, while among the Greenlanders it is worst to love your sister.]

[141: Tylor, _Primitive Culture_, i. 354. See also A. Lang, _Myth Ritual, and Religion_, i. p. 128.]

[142: P. Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, pp. 150, 206.]

[143: Holm, _Geografisk Tidsskrift_ (Copenhagen, 1891), xi. 16. The idea that rain is due to the overflow of a lake in the over-world may possibly be traceable to more southern regions, where agriculture and artificial irrigation are practised, and where accordingly the mountain lakes have been dammed up. In the Greenland myth there is also mention of the lake being closed by a dam. (Compare Egede and Cranz.)]

[144: See Schwartz, _Die poetischen Naturanschauungen_, i. pp. 138, 259; ii. p. 198; Schmidt, _Das Volksleben der Neugriechen_, i. p. 31; _Belgisch. Museum_, v. p. 215; Ign. Goldziher, _Der Mythos bei den Hebräern_, p. 88.]

[145: This idea recurs in several parts of the world. Compare Christ's forty days' solitude in the wilderness.]

[146: So in original (_Trans._).]

[147: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 131.]

[148: Angekoks, too, might be of either sex, but women seem always to have been in the minority among them.]

[149: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 135; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, pp. 53, 151, 201, 461; N. Egede, _Tredie Continuation af Relationerne_, pp. 43, 48; P. Egede, _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 18, &c.]

[150: Compare Carl Andersen, _Islandske Folkesagn og Eventyr_, 2nd edit. (1877) pp. 144-149. It is interesting to compare these Icelandic tales with the East Greenland legend related by Holm (_Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 303), which is very similar in matter, though of course adapted to the conditions of life in Greenland. Analogous tales are also to be found in Norway, according to Moltke Moe, who has directed my attention to this remarkable similarity.]

[151: Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimos_, p. 42.]

[152: One of the characteristics of the ilisitsoks, as well as of the angekoks, is that they breathe fire. In the mediæval legends, and even in more recent European folk-lore, this faculty was attributed to the Devil, and was often extended to those who had sold themselves to him. The Greenland fire-breathing is probably connected with this mediæval superstition. The ilisitsoks, moreover, when seen by the angekoks during their exorcisms, are observed to be black from the hands up to the elbows--a trait which may also have its origin in the popular European conception of the Devil and his host as black in colour.]

[153: Hans Egede, _Grönlands Perlustration_, p. 116.]

[154: Compare Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 118.]

[155: Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part. 10, p. 119.]

[156: _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 51; Danish ed. suppl. p. 194.]

[157: As regards the greater part of these myths, the theory that they were invented independently in different parts of the world seems quite inadmissible; the coincidences are too numerous and too characteristic. Examples may be cited, indeed, of the same invention having been made independently by different races remotely situated from each other; but they are remarkably rare. On the other hand, it is surprising how certain tools, cultivated plants, and arts or accomplishments have been handed on from people to people over immense tracts of the earth. (Compare Peschel, _Abhandlungen zur Erd-und Völkerkunde_, 1877, i. p. 468).]

[158: Glahn, _Nye Samling af det kongelige norske Videnskabelige Selskabs Skrifter_, i. 1784, p. 271. Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, pp. 45, 391, 439; Kleinschmidt, _Den grönlandske Ordbog_, p. 33.]

[159: See Moltke Moe's Introduction to Qvigstad and Sandberg: _Lappiske Eventyr og Folkesagn_, p. vii; _Nyrop, Mindre Afhandlinger udgivne af det philologisk-historiske Samfund_, Copenhagen, 1887, p. 193; Liebrecht, _Zur Volkskunde_, p. 319.]

[160: I must not omit to note, however, that similar conceptions are to be found in different parts of the world. In Tahiti, Oromatus, the mightiest of spirits, is said to have come into existence in this way, and among the Polynesians generally the souls of children are regarded as being especially dangerous. (Compare F. Liebrecht, in _The Academy_, iii. 1872, p. 321.) One of my reasons for thinking that the Greenlanders may have borrowed their angiak from the Scandinavians is that, so far as I can ascertain, other Eskimo tribes have no such belief--at least it cannot be common among them. There is no mention of the angiak even among the legends collected by Holm on the east coast. On the other hand, there are several apparently more primitive myths of ordinary children who are turned into monsters. (Compare _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 287; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 258; Danish ed. suppl. p. 125.) One of these, who on the east coast is the child of the moon by a human mother (_Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 281), has on the west coast become an angiak. This is, no doubt, a late recasting of the legend--a theory which is borne out by the fact that variants occur on the west coast in which the angiak is an ordinary child.]

[161: Communicated by Moltke Moe.]

[162: Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 126; Holm, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 10, p. 276.]

[163: Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, Danish ed. suppl. p. 119.]

[164: P. Egede, _Continuation af Relationerne_, p. 19; _Efterretninger om Grönland_, p. 55; Rink, _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, p. 145; _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, p. 20, Suppl. p. 117.]

[165: Castrén, _Ethnologiske Foreläsningar_, Helsingfors, 1857, p. 182.]

[166: _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, Suppl. p. 117.]

[167: C. Andersen, _Islandske Folkesagn_, 1877, p. 205.]

[168: The Iroquois, however, have a legend of seven boys who were transformed into birds and flew away from their parents. They have also a tale of a young man who goes out fishing and comes upon some boys who have put off their wings and are swimming. They give him a pair of wings which enable him to fly away with them; but they afterwards take his wings away from him and leave him helpless. Compare Rink, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, p. 21.]

[169: It has hitherto been supposed that there are no traces of such intercourse except in the Eskimo legends (mentioned in Chapter I.), of their encounters with the old Scandinavians, and in the three following words: _nîsa_ for nise (porpoise), _kuánek_ for kvanne (angelica) and _kalâlek_ (meaning Greenlander). The derivation of _nîsa_ (old Norse nisa) and _kuánek_ seems probable enough, though some doubt is thrown on the latter by the fact that in Labrador the word is applied to an eatable seaweed. _Kalâlek_ was supposed to be the same as the Norwegian skrælling--the name given by our forefathers to the Eskimos, which in an Eskimo's mouth would sound something like kalalek. It is rather surprising, however, to find the same word among the Eskimos of Alaska in the form of _katlalik_ or _kallaaluch_, meaning an angekok or chieftain (Rink, _Meddelelser om Grönland_, part 11, Suppl. p. 94; _Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo_, Danish ed. suppl. p. 200). It is possible, however, that the word may have been imported into Alaska from Greenland in modern times. Another thing which, as it seems to me, may possibly be a relic of the old Scandinavians, is the cross-bow which Holm found upon the east coast, and which was formerly in use on the west coast also. So far as I know, it is not found among the Indians.]