Chapter XXII: Introduction (21)

They have a very tender Love for their Children, and the Mother
always carries the infant Child about with her upon her back. * * *
They suck them till they are three or four years old or more,
because, in their tender Infancy, they cannot digest the strong
Victuals that the rest must live upon. The Education of their
Children is what they seem little concerned about, for they never
make use of whipping or hard words to correct them when they do
anything amiss, but leave them to their own Discretion.
Notwithstanding which, when they are grown, they never seem inclined
to Vice or Roguery, which is to be admired. It is true, they show no
great Respect to their Parents in any outward Forms, but always are
very willing to do what they order them, though sometimes they will
bid their Parents do it themselves.

[Footnote N555: Greenland, p. 146.]

According to Capt. Holm,[N556] in East Greenland, “De opvoxe i den mest ubundne Frihed. Forældrene nære en ubeskrivelig Kjærlighed til dem og straffe dem derfor aldrig, selv om de ere nok saa gjenstridige. Man maa imidlertid beundre, hvor velopdragne de smaa alligevel ere.”

[Footnote N556: Geografisk Tidskrift, vol 8, p. 91.]

Parry speaks still more strongly:[N557]

The affection of parents for their children was frequently displayed
by these people, not only in the mere passive indulgence and
abstinence from corporal punishment for which Esquimaux have been
before remarked, but by a thousand playful endearments also, such as
parents and nurses practice in our own country. Nothing, indeed can
well exceed the kindness with which they treat their children. * * *
It must be confessed, indeed, that the gentleness and docility of
the children are such as to occasion their parents little trouble
and to render severity towards them quite unnecessary. Even from
their earliest infancy, they possess that quiet disposition,
gentleness of demeanor, and uncommon evenness of temper, for which
in more mature age they are for the most part distinguished.
Disobedience is scarcely ever known; a word or even a look from a
parent is enough; and I never saw a single instance of that
frowardness and disposition to mischief which, in our youth, so
often requires the whole attention of a parent to watch over and to
correct. They never cry from trifling accidents, and sometimes not
even from very severe hurts, at which an English child would sob for
an hour. It is, indeed, astonishing to see the indifference with
which, even as tender infants, they bear the numerous blows they
accidentally receive when carried at their mothers’ backs.

[Footnote N557: Second Voyage, p. 529.]

I should be willing to allow this passage to stand as a description of the Point Barrow children. It is interesting to compare with these passages Nordenskiöld’s account[N558] of the children at Pitlekaj, who, if not as he and other writers believe, of pure Chukch blood, are at any rate of mixed Chukch and Eskimo descent:

The children are neither chastised nor scolded. They are, however,
the best behaved I have ever seen. Their behavior in the tent is
equal to that of the best brought up European children in the
parlor. They are not perhaps so wild as ours, but are addicted to
games which closely resemble those common among us in the country.
Playthings are also in use. * * * If the parents get any delicacy
they always give each of their children a bit, and there is never
any quarrel as to the size of each child’s portion. If a piece of
sugar is given to one of the children in a crowd it goes from mouth
to mouth round the whole company. In the same way the child offers
its father and mother a taste of the bit of sugar or piece of bread
it has got. Even in childhood the Chukchs are exceedingly patient.
A girl who fell down from the ship’s stairs head foremost and thus
got so violent a blow that she was almost deprived of hearing
scarcely uttered a cry. A boy three or four years of age, much
rolled up in furs, who fell down into a ditch cut in the ice on the
ship’s deck, and in consequence of his inconvenient dress could not
get up, lay quietly still until he was observed and helped up by one
of the crew.

[Footnote N558: Vega, vol. 2, p. 140.]

The only extraordinary thing about the Chukch children is their large number, mentioned by the same author.[N559] This looks as if the infusion of new blood had increased the fertility of the race. All authors who have described Eskimo of unmixed descent agree in regard to the generally small number of their offspring. Other accounts of Eskimo children are to be found in the writings of Bessels,[N560] Crantz,[N561] Schwatka,[N562] Gilder,[N563] J. Simpson,[N564] and Hooper.[N565]

[Footnote N559: Vega, vol. 1, p. 449.]

[Footnote N560: Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 874.]

[Footnote N561: History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 162.]

[Footnote N562: Science, vol. 4, No. 98, p. 544.]

[Footnote N563: Schwatka’s Search, p. 287.]

[Footnote N564: Op. cit., p. 250.]

[Footnote N565: Tents, etc., pp. 24, 201.]

The custom of adoption is as universal at Point Barrow as it appears to be among the Eskimo generally, and the adopted children are treated by the parents precisely as if they were their own flesh and blood. Orphans are readily provided for, as there are always plenty of families ready and willing to take them, and women who have several children frequently give away one or more of them. Families that have nothing but boys often adopt a girl, and, of course, vice versa, and we know of one case where a woman who had lost a young infant had another given her by one of her friends.

This very general custom of giving away children, as well as the habit already mentioned of temporarily exchanging wives, rendered it quite difficult to ascertain the parentage of any person, especially as it seems to be the custom with them to speak of first cousins as “mĭlu ataúzĭk” (“one breast,” that is, brothers and sisters). While a boy is desired in the family, since he will be the support of his father when the latter grows too old to hunt, a girl is almost as highly prized, for not only will she help her mother with the cares of housekeeping when she grows up, but she is likely to obtain a good husband who may be induced to become a member of his father-in-law’s family.[N566]

[Footnote N566: Accounts of this custom of adoption are to be
found in Crantz, vol. 1, p. 165; Parry, Second Voyage, p. 531;
Kumlien, Contributions, p. 17; Gilder, Schwatka’s Search, p. 247,
and the passage concerning children quoted above, from Dr.
Simpson.]

RIGHTS AND WRONGS.

I have already spoken of the feelings of these people in regard to offenses against property and crimes of violence. As to the relations between the sexes there seems to be the most complete absence of what we consider moral feelings. Promiscuous sexual intercourse between married or unmarried people, or even among children, appears to be looked upon simply as a matter for amusement. As far as we could learn unchastity in a girl was considered nothing against her, and in fact one girl who was a most abandoned and shameless prostitute among the sailors, and who, we were told, had had improper relations with some of her own race, had no difficulty in obtaining an excellent husband.

Remarks of the most indecent character are freely bandied back and forth between the sexes in public, and are received with shouts of laughter by the bystanders. Nevertheless, some of the women, especially those of the wealthier class, preserve a very tolerable degree of conjugal fidelity and certainly do not prostitute themselves to the sailors. I believe that prostitution for gain is unknown among themselves, but it is carried to a most shameless extent with the sailors of the whaling fleet by many of the women, and is even considered a laudable thing by the husbands and fathers, who are perfectly willing to receive the price of their wives’ or daughters’ frailty, especially if it takes the form of liquor. Dr. Simpson[N567] says: “It is said by themselves that the women are very continent before marriage, as well as faithful afterward to their husbands; and this seems to a certain extent true.” But he goes on to add: “In their conduct toward strangers the elderly women frequently exhibit a shameless want of modesty, and the men an equally shameless indifference, except for the reward of their partner’s frailty.” It seems to me that he must have been deceived by the natives concerning the first statement, since the immorality of these people among themselves, as we witnessed it, seems too purely animal and natural to be of recent growth or the result of foreign influence. Moreover, a similar state of affairs has been observed among Eskimo elsewhere, notably at Iglulik at the time of Parry’s visit.[N568]

[Footnote N567: Op. cit., p. 252.]

[Footnote N568: Second Voyage, p. 529.]

SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS.

_Personal habits, cleanliness, etc._--Though the idea of cleanliness among these people differs considerably from our ideas, they are as a rule far from being as filthy as they appear at first sight. Considering the difficulty of obtaining water, even for purposes of drinking, in the winter season, the iglu, unless dirty work, like the dressing of skins, etc., is going on, is kept remarkably clean. The floor and walls are scrupulously scraped and all dirt is immediately wiped up. They are particularly careful not to bring in any snow or dirt on their feet, and the snow and hoar frost is carefully brushed off from the outer garment, which is often removed before entering the room and left in the passage. They are also careful not to spit on the floor or in the passage, but use for this purpose the large urine tub. This is practically the only offensive object in the house, as it is freely used by both sexes in the presence of the rest. This is done, however, with less exposure and immodesty than one would suppose.[N569]

[Footnote N569: Compare Nordenskiöld’s account of the comparative
cleanliness of the Chukch dwellings at Pitlekaj: “On the other
hand it may be stated that in order not to make a stay in the
confined tent chamber too uncomfortable certain rules are strictly
observed. Thus, for instance, it is not permitted in the interior
of the tent to spit on the floor, but this must be done into a
vessel which, in case of necessity, is used as a night utensil. In
every outer tent there lies a specially curved reindeer horn, with
which snow is removed from the clothes; the outer _pesk_ is
usually put off before one goes into the inner tent, and the shoes
are carefully freed from snow. The carpet of walrus skins which
covers the floor of the inner tent is accordingly dry and clean.
Even the outer tent is swept clean and free from loose snow, and
the snow is daily shoveled away from the tent doors with a spade
of whalebone. Every article, both in the outer and inner tent, is
laid in its proper place, and so on.” (Vega, vol. 2, p. 104.)]

The contents of this vessel, being mixed with feces, is not fit for tanning skins, etc., and is consequently thrown out doors. The men use a small tub (kuovwĭñ) as a urinal, and the contents of this is carefully saved. Though the interior of the house is thus kept clean, as much can not be said for its surroundings. All manner of rubbish and filth is simply thrown out upon the ground, without regard to decency or comfort, and this becomes exceedingly offensive when the snow melts in summer. The only scavengers are the dogs, who greedily devour old pieces of skin, refuse meat, and even feces. In regard to personal cleanliness, there is considerable difference between individuals. Some people, especially the poorer women and children, are not only careless about their clothes, going about dressed in ragged, greasy, filthy garments, but seldom wash even their faces and hands, much less their whole persons. One of these women, indeed, was described by her grown-up daughter as “That woman with the black on her nose.”

On the other hand most of the wealthier people appear to take pride in being neatly clad, and, except when actually engaged in some dirty work, always have their faces and hands, at least, scrupulously clean and their hair neatly combed. Even the whole person is sometimes washed in spite of the scarcity of water. Many are glad to get soap (íɐkăkun) and use it freely. Lieut. Ray says that his two guides, Mû´ñialu and Apaidyào, at the end of a day’s march would never sit down to supper without washing their faces and hands with soap and water, and combing their hair, and I recollect that once, when I went over to the village to get a young man to start with Lieut. Ray on a boat journey, he would not start until he had hunted up a piece of soap and washed his face and hands. These people, of course, practice the usual Eskimo habit of washing themselves with freshly passed urine. This custom arises not only from the scarcity of water and the difficulty of heating it, but from the fact that the ammonia of the urine is an excellent substitute for soap in removing the grease with which the skin necessarily becomes soiled.[N570] This fact is well known to our whalemen, who are in the habit of saving their urine to wash the oily clothes with. The same habit is practiced by the “Chukches” of eastern Siberia.[N571] All, however, get more or less shabby and dirty in the summer, when they are living in tents and boats. All are more or less infested with lice, and they are in the habit of searching each others’ heads for these, which they eat, after the fashion of so many other savages. They have also another filthy habit--that of eating the mucus from the nostrils. A similar practice was noticed in Greenland by Egede,[N572] who goes on quaintly to say: “Thus they make good the old proverb, ‘What drips from the nose falls into the mouth, that nothing may be lost.’”

[Footnote N570: Compare Dall, Alaska, p. 20.]

[Footnote N571: See Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 104.]

[Footnote N572: Greenland, p. 127.]

_Salutation._--We had no opportunity of witnessing any meeting between these people and strange Eskimo, so that it is impossible to tell whether they practice any particular form of salutation on such occasions. We saw nothing of the kind among themselves. White men are saluted with shouts of “Nakurúk!” (good), and some Eskimo have learned to shake hands. They no longer practice the common Eskimo salutation of rubbing noses, but say that they once did. Sergt. Middleton Smith, of our party, informs me that he once saw a couple of natives in Capt. Herendeen’s trading store give an exhibition of the way this salutation was formerly practiced.

This custom was perhaps falling into disuse as early as 1837, since Thomas Simpson,[N573] in describing his reception at Point Barrow, says: “We were not, however, either upon this or any other occasion, favored with the kooniks or nose-rubbing salutations that have so annoyed other travelers.” Mr. Elson, however, expressly states that the people, probably Utkiavwĭñmiun, whom he met at Refuge Inlet eleven years before, rubbed noses and cheeks with him[N574] and Maguire[N575] narrates how the head of the party of visitors from Point Hope saluted him. He says: “He fixed his forehead against mine and used it as a fulcrum to rub noses several times.”

[Footnote N573: Narrative, p. 155.]

[Footnote N574: Beechy’s Voyage p. 312.]

[Footnote N575: N. W. Passage, p. 385.]

_Healing._--As is the case with Eskimo generally, these people rely for curing disease chiefly upon the efforts of certain persons who have the power of exorcising the supernatural beings by whom the disease is caused. A large number of men and, I believe, some women were supposed to have this power and exercise it in cases of sickness, in some instances, at least, upon the payment of a fee. These people correspond closely to the angekut of the Greenlanders and Eastern Eskimo, and the so-called “shamans” of southern Alaska, but, as far as we could see, do not possess the power and influence usually elsewhere ascribed to this class.

It was exceedingly difficult to obtain any definite information concerning these people, and we only discovered casually that such and such a person was a “doctor” by hearing that he had been employed in a certain case of sickness, or to perform some ceremony of incantation. We did not even succeed in learning the name of this class of people, who, in talking with us, would call themselves “tûktĕ,” as they did our surgeon. On one occasion some of the party happened to visit the house of a sick man where one of these “doctors” was at work. He sat facing the entrance of the house, beating his drum at intervals, and making a babbling noise with his lips, followed by long speeches addressed to something down the trapdoor, bidding it “go!” We were given to understand that these speeches were addressed to a tuɐña or supernatural being.[N576] Their only idea of direct treatment of disease is apparently to apply a counterirritant by scarification of the surface of the part affected.

[Footnote N576: Dr. Simpson says (op. cit., p. 275): “Diseases are
also considered to be turn´gaks.”]

We know of one case where a sufferer from some liver complaint had inflicted on himself, or had had inflicted upon him, quite a considerable cut on the right side with a view of relieving the pain. We also know of several cases where the patients had themselves cut on the scalp or back to relieve headache or rheumatism, and one case where the latter disorder, I believe, had been treated by a severe cut on the side of the knee. A similar practice has been observed at Plover Bay, Siberia, by Hooper,[N577] who also mentions the use of a kind of seton for the relief of headache.

[Footnote N577: Tents, etc., p. 185.]

They also practice a sort of rough-and-ready surgery, as in the case of the man already mentioned, whose feet had both been amputated. One of the men who lost the tip of his forefinger by the explosion of a cartridge was left with a stump of bone protruding at the end of the finger. Our surgeon attempted to treat this, but after two unsuccessful trials to etherize the patient he was obliged to give it up. When, however, the young man’s father-in-law, who was a noted “doctor,” came home he said at once that the stump must come off, and the patient had to submit to the operation without ether. The “doctor” tried to borrow Dr. Oldmixon’s bone forceps, and when these were refused him cut the bone off, I believe, with a chisel. They appear to have no cure for blindness. We heard nothing of the curious process of “couching” described by Egede in Greenland, p. 121. We had no opportunity of observing their methods of treating wounds or other external injuries. Sufferers were very glad to be treated by our surgeon, and eagerly accepted his medicines, though he had considerable difficulty in making them obey his directions about taking care of themselves.

After they had been in the habit of receiving the surgeon’s medicine for some time, one of the Utkiavwĭñ natives gave Capt. Herendeen what he said was their own medicine. It is a tiny bit of turf which they called nuna kĭñmölq, and which, therefore, probably came from the highland of the upper Meade River, which region bears the name of Kĭñmölq. We were able to get very little information about this substance, but my impression is that it was said to be administered internally, and I believe was specially recommended for bleeding at the lungs. Possibly this is the same as “the black moss that grows on the mountain,” which, according to Crantz[N578] was eaten by the Greenlanders to stop blood-spitting.

[Footnote N578: Vol. 1, p. 235.]

CUSTOMS CONCERNING THE DEAD.

_Abstentions._--From the fact that we did not hear of any of the deaths until after their occurrence, we were able to learn very few of their customs concerning the dead. The few observations we were able to make agree in the main with those made elsewhere. For instance, we learned with tolerable certainty that the relatives of the dead, at least, must abstain from working on wood with an ax or hammer for a certain period--I believe, four or five days. According to Dall,[N579] in the region about Norton Sound the men can not cut wood with an ax for five days after a death has occurred. In Greenland the household of the deceased were obliged to abstain for a while from certain kinds of food and work.[N580]

[Footnote N579: Alaska, p. 146.]

[Footnote N580: Egede, Greenland, p. 150.]

A woman from Utkiavwĭñ, who came over to the station one day in the autumn of 1881, declined to sew on clothing, even at our house, because, as she told Lieut. Ray, there was a dead man in the village who had not yet been carried out to the cemetery and “he would see her.” After consulting with her husband, however, she concluded she could protect herself from him by tracing a circle about her on the floor with a snow-knife. In this circle she did the sewing required, and was careful to keep all her work inside of it.

One of the natives informed me that when a man died his labrets were taken out and thrown away. I remember, however, seeing a young man wearing a plug labret of syenite, which he said had belonged to an old man who died early in the winter of 1881-’82. It was perhaps removed before he actually died.

_Manner of disposing of the dead._--The corpse is wrapped up in a piece of sailcloth (deerskin was formerly used), laid upon a flat sled, and dragged out by a small party of people--perhaps the immediate relatives of the deceased, though we never happened to see one of these funeral processions except from a distance--to the cemetery, the place where “they sleep on the ground.” This place at Utkiavwĭñ is a rising ground about a mile and a half east of the village, near the head of the southwest branch of the Isûtkwa lagoon. At Nuwŭk the main cemetery is at “Nexeurá,” between the village and Pernyû. The bodies are laid out upon the ground without any regular arrangement apparently, though it is difficult to be sure of this, as most of the remains have been broken up and scattered by dogs and foxes. With a freshly wrapped body it is almost impossible to tell which is the head and which the feet. We unfortunately never noticed whether the heads were laid toward any particular point of the compass, as has been observed in other localities. Dr. Simpson says that the head is laid to the east at Point Barrow.

Various implements belonging to the deceased are broken and laid beside the corpse, and the sled is sometimes broken and laid over it. Sometimes, however, the latter is withdrawn a short distance from the cemetery and left on the tundra for one moon, after which it is brought back to the village. Most people do not seem to be troubled at having the bodies of their relatives disturbed by the dogs or other animals,[N581] but we know of one case where the parents of two children who died very nearly at the same time, finding that the dogs were getting at the bodies, raised them on stages of driftwood about 4 or 5 feet high. Similar stages were observed by Hooper at Plover Bay;[N582] but this method of disposing of the dead appears to have gone out of use at the present day, since Dall[N583] describes the ordinary Siberian method of laying out the dead in ovals of stone as in use at Plover Bay at the time of his visit.

[Footnote N581: Compare Lyon, Journal, p. 269.]

[Footnote N582: Tents, etc., p. 88.]

[Footnote N583: Alaska, p. 382.]

The cemetery at Utkiavwĭñ is not confined to the spot I have mentioned, though most of the bodies are exposed there. A few bodies are also exposed on the other side of the lagoon, and one body, that of a man, was laid out at the edge of the higher tundra, about a mile due east from the station. The body was covered with canvas, staked down all round with broken paddles, and over it was laid a flat sledge with one runner broken.[N584] At one end of the body lay a wooden dish, and under the edge of the canvas were broken seal-darts and other spears. The body lay in an east and west line, but we could not tell which end was the head. All sorts of objects were scattered round the cemetery--tools, dishes, and even a few guns--though we saw none that appeared to have been serviceable when exposed, except one Snider rifle. If, as is the case among Eskimo in a good many other places, all the personal property of the deceased is supposed to become unclean and must be exposed with him, it is probable that his friends manage to remove the more valuable articles before he is actually dead.[N585]

[Footnote N584: Compare Samoyed grave described and figured by
Nordenskiöld (Vega, vol. 1, p. 98), where a broken sledge was laid
upside down by the grave.]

[Footnote N585: Compare Holm, Geografisk Tidskrift, vol. 8, p. 98:
“kun Kostbarheder, saasom Knive eller lignende Jærnsager beholde
den afdødes efterladte.”--East Greenland.]

The method of disposing of the dead varies slightly among the Eskimo in different localities, but the weapons or other implements belonging to the deceased are always laid beside the corpse. The custom at Smith Sound, as described by Bessels,[N586] is remarkably like that at Point Barrow. The corpse was wrapped in furs, placed on a sledge, and dragged out and buried in the snow with the face to the west. The sledge was laid over the body and the weapons of the deceased were deposited beside it. Unlike the Point Barrow natives, however, they usually cover the body with stones. In the same passage Dr. Bessels describes a peculiar symbol of mourning, not employed, so far as I can learn, elsewhere. The male mourners plugged up the right nostril with hay and the females the left, and these plugs were worn for several days. The custom of covering the body with stones appears to be universally prevalent east of the Mackenzie region.[N587]

[Footnote N586: Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 877.]

[Footnote N587: See the passage quoted from Bessels, for Smith
Sound; Egede, Greenland, p. 148; Crantz’s History of Greenland,
vol. 1, p. 237; East Greenland, Holm, Geografisk Tidskrift, vol.
8, p. 98, and Scoresby, Voyage to Northern Whalefishery, p. 213
(where he speaks of finding on the east coast of Greenland graves
_dug_ and covered with slabs of stone. _Digging_ graves is very
unusual among the Eskimo, as the nature of the ground on which
they live usually forbids it. Parry mentions something similar at
Iglulik: “The body was laid in a regular, but shallow grave, * * *
covered with flat pieces of limestone” (Second Voyage, p. 551);
Lyon, Journal, p. 268 (Iglulik); Kumlien, Contribution, p. 44
(Cumberland Gulf); Hall, Arctic Researches, p. 124 (Baffin Land);
Rae Narrative, pp. 22 and 187 (northwest shore of Hudson Bay), and
Ellis, Voyage to Hudson’s Bay, p. 148 (Marble Island). I myself
have noticed the same custom at the old Eskimo cemetery near the
Hudson Bay post of Rigolette, Hamilton Inlet, on the Labrador
coast. Chappel, however, saw a body “closely wrapt in skins and
laid in a sort of a gully,” Hudson’s Bay, p. 113 (north shore
Hudson Strait), and Davis’s account of what he saw in Greenland is
as follows: “We found on shore three dead people, and two of them
had their staues lying by them and their olde skins wrapped about
them.” Hakluyt, Voyages, 1589, p. 788.]

The bodies seen by Dr. Richardson in the delta of the Mackenzie were wrapped in skins and loosely covered with driftwood,[N588] and a similar arrangement was noticed at Kotzebue Sound by Beechey, who figures[N589] a sort of little wigwam of driftwood built over the dead man. At Port Clarence Nordenskiöld[N590] saw two corpses “laid on the ground, fully clothed, without protection of any coffin, but surrounded by a close fence consisting of a number of tent-poles driven crosswise into the ground. Alongside one of the corpses lay a _kayak_ with oars, a loaded double-barreled gun with locks at half-cock and caps on, various other weapons, clothes, tinder-box, snowshoes, drinking-vessels, two masks, * * * and strangely shaped animal figures.” On the Siberian coast the dead are sometimes burned.[N591]

[Footnote N588: Franklin, Second Expedition, p. 192.]

[Footnote N589: Voyage, pl. opposite p. 332.]

[Footnote N590: Vega, vol. 2, p. 238, and figure of grave on
p. 239.]

[Footnote N591: See Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 88, and Dall,
Alaska, p. 382.]

Nordenskiöld believes that the coast Chukches have perhaps begun to abandon the custom of burning the dead, but I am rather inclined to think that is a custom of the “deermen,” which the people of the coast of pure or mixed Eskimo blood never fully adopted. Dall, indeed, was explicitly informed that the custom was only used with the bodies of “good” men, and at the time of Nordenskiöld’s visit he found it “at least certain that the people of Pitlekaj exclusively bury their dead by laying them out on the tundra.” The body is surrounded by an oval of stones, but apparently not covered with them as in the east.[N592] The Krause brothers observed by the bodies, besides “die erwähnten Geräthschaften” [Lanzen, Bogen und Pfeile für die Männer, Koch- und Hausgeräthe für die Weiber], “unter einen kleinen Steinhaufen ein Hunde-, Renthier-, Bären- oder Walross-Schädel.” This custom shows a curious resemblance to that described by Egede[N593] in Greenland: “When little Children die and are buried, they put the Head of a Dog near the Grave, fancying that Children, having no Understanding, they can not by themselves find the Way, but the Dog must guide them to the Land of the Souls.” The body is usually laid out at full length upon the ground. Among the ancient Greenlanders,[N594] however, and in the Yukon region the body was doubled up. In the latter region the body was laid on its side in a box of planks four feet long and raised on four supports[N595] or wrapped up in mats and covered with rocks or driftwood.[N596] The custom of inclosing the dead in a short coffin, to judge from the figures given by the latter writer in P1. VI. of his report, appears also to prevail at the mouth of the Kuskokwim. In the island of Kadiak, according to Dall and Lisiansky,[N597] the dead were buried.

[Footnote N592: See Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, pp. 88-9
(Pitlekaj), and 225 (St. Lawrence Bay); Krause Bros.,
Geographische Blätter, vol. 5, p. 18 (St. Lawrence Bay, East Cape,
Indian Point, and Plover Bay) and Dall, Alaska, p. 382.]

[Footnote N593: Greenland, p. 151. See also Crantz, vol. 1,
p. 237.]

[Footnote N594: Egede, Greenland, p. 149, and Crantz, vol. 1,
p. 287.]

[Footnote N595: Dall, Alaska, pp. 19, 145, and 227.]

[Footnote N596: Petroff, Report, p. 127.]

[Footnote N597: Alaska, p. 403, and Voyage, p. 200.]

GOVERNMENT.

_In the family._--I can hardly do better than quote Dr. Simpson’s words, already referred to (op. cit. page 252), on this subject: “A man seems to have unlimited authority in his own hut.” Nevertheless, his rule seems to be founded on respect and mutual agreement, rather than on despotic authority. The wife appears to be consulted, as already stated, on all important occasions, and, to quote Dr. Simpson again (ibid.): “Seniority gives precedence when there are several women in one hut, and the sway of the elder in the direction of everything connected with her duties seems never disputed.” When more than one family inhabit the same house the head of each family appears to have authority over his own relatives, while the relations between the two are governed solely by mutual agreement.

_In the village._--These people have no established form of government nor any chiefs in the ordinary sense of the word, but appear to be ruled by a strong public opinion, combined with a certain amount of respect for the opinions of the elder people, both men and women, and by a large number of traditional observances like those concerning the whale fishery, the deceased, etc., already described. In the ordinary relations of life a person, as a rule, avoids doing anything to his neighbor which he would not wish to have done to himself, and affairs which concern the community as a whole, as for instance their relations with us at the station, are settled by a general and apparently informal discussion, when the opinion of the majority carries the day. The majority appears to have no means, short of individual violence, of enforcing obedience to its decisions, but, as far as we could see, the matter is left to the good sense of the parties concerned. Respect for the opinions of elders is so great that the people may be said to be practically under what is called “simple elder rule.”[N598] Public opinion has formulated certain rules in regard to some kinds of property and the division of game, which are remarkably like those noticed among Eskimo elsewhere, and which may be supposed to have grown up among the ancestors of the Eskimo, before their separation.

[Footnote N598: Compare, among other instances, Capt. Holm’s
observations in East Greenland: “Som Overhoved i Huset [which is
the village] fungerer den ældeste Mand, naar han er en god Fanger,
etc.” (Geogr. Tids., vol. 8, p. 90.)]

For instance, in Greenland,[N599] “Anyone picking up pieces of driftwood or goods lost at sea or on land was considered the rightful owner of them; and to make good his possession he had only to carry them up above high-water mark and put stones upon them, no matter where his homestead might be.” Now, at Point Barrow we often saw the natives dragging driftwood up to the high-water mark, and the owner seemed perfectly able to prove his claim. Lieut. Ray informs me that he has seen men mark such sticks of timber by cutting them with their adzes and that sticks so marked were respected by the other natives. On one occasion, when he was about to have a large piece of drift-timber dragged up to the station, a woman came up and proved that the timber belonged to her by pointing out the freshly cut mark. I have myself seen a native claim a barrel which had been washed ashore, by setting it up on end.

[Footnote N599: Rink, Tales and Traditions, p. 28. Compare also
Crantz, vol. 1, p. 181.]

As far as we could learn, the smaller animals, as for instance, birds, the smaller seals, reindeer, etc., are the property of the hunter, instead of being divided as in some other localities, for example at Smith Sound.[N600] The larger seals and walruses appeared to be divided among the boat’s crew, the owner of the boat apparently keeping the tusks of the walrus and perhaps the skin. A bear, however, both flesh and skin, is equally divided among all who in any way had a hand in the killing. We learned this with certainty from having to purchase the skin of a bear killed at the village, where a number of men had been engaged in the hunt. When a whale is taken, as I have already said, the whalebone is equally divided among the crews of all the boats in sight at the time of killing. All comers, however, have a right to all the flesh, blubber, and blackskin that they can cut off.[N601]

[Footnote N600: Bessels, Naturalist, vol. 23, pt. p. 873.]

[Footnote N601: Compare Rink, Tales, etc., p. 29: “But if an
animal of the largest size, more especially a whale, was captured,
it was considered common property, and as indiscriminately
belonging to every one who might come and assist in flensing it,
whatever place he belonged to and whether he had any share in
capturing the animal or not.” (Greenland). Gilder (Schwatka’s
Search, p. 190) says that on the northwest shore of Hudson Bay all
who arrive while a walrus is being cut up are entitled to a share
of it, though the man who struck it has the first choice of
pieces. At East Cape, Siberia, the Krause Brothers learned: “Wird
nämlich ein Walfisch gefangen, so hat jeder Ortsbewohner das
Recht, so viel Fleisch zu nehmen, als er abzuschneiden vermag.”
(Geographische Blätter, vol. 5, pt. 2, p. 120).]

Dr. Rink, in describing the social order of the ancient Greenlanders,[N602] says: “Looking at what has been said regarding the rights of property and the division of the people into certain communities, in connection with the division of property into the classes just given, we are led to the conclusion that the right of any individual to hold more than a certain amount of property was, if not regulated by law, at least jealously watched by the rest of the community, and that virtually the surplus of any individual or community, fixed by the arbitrary rate which tradition or custom had assigned, was made over to those who had less.” At Point Barrow, however, the idea of individual ownership appears to be much more strongly developed. As far as we could learn, there is no limit to the amount of property which an individual, at least the head of a family, may accumulate. Even though the whalebone be, as already described, divided among all the boats’ crews “in at the death,” no objection is made to one man buying it all up, if he has the means, for his own private use.

[Footnote N602: Tales, etc., p. 29.]

This has given rise to a regular wealthy and aristocratic class, who, however, are not yet sufficiently differentiated from the poorer people to refuse to associate on any terms but those of social equality. The men of this class are the umialiks, a word which appears in many corrupted forms on the coast of Western America and is often supposed to mean “chief.” Dr. Simpson[N603] says: “The chief men are called O-mé-liks (wealthy),” but “wealthy” is an explanation of the position of these men, and not a translation of the title, which, as we obtained it, is precisely the same as the Greenland word for _owner of a boat_, umialik (from umia(_k_), and the termination lĭk or lĭ-ñ. This is one of the few cases in which the final _k_ is sounded at Point Barrow as in Greenland).

[Footnote N603: Op. cit., p. 272.]

Dr. Rink has already observed[N604] that the word used by Simpson “no doubt must be the same as the Greenlandish umialik, signifying owner of a boat,” and as I heard the title more than once carefully pronounced at Point Barrow it was the identical word. The umialiks, as Simpson says,[N605] “have acquired their position by being more thrifty and intelligent, better traders, and usually better hunters, as well as physically stronger and more daring.”[N606] They have acquired a certain amount of influence and respect from these reasons, as well as from their wealth, which enables them to purchase the services of others to man their boats, but appear to have absolutely no authority outside of their own families.[N607] Petroff[N608] considers them as a sort of “middlemen or spokesmen,” who make themselves “prominent by superintending all intercourse and traffic with visitors.”

[Footnote N604: Tales, etc., p. 25.]

[Footnote N605: Op. cit.]

[Footnote N606: Compare what the Krause Brothers say of the
“chiefs” on the Siberian coast (Geographische Blätter, vol. 5, pt.
1, p. 29): “Die Autorität, welche die obenerwähnten Männer
augenscheinlich ausüben, ist wohl auf Rechnung ihres grösseren
Besitzes zu setzen. Der “Chief” is jedes Mal der reichste Mann,
ein ‘big man.’”]

[Footnote N607: See, also, Dr. Simpson, op. cit., p. 273.]

[Footnote N608: Report, etc., p. 125.]

This sort of prominence, however, appears to have been conferred upon them by the traders, who, ignorant of the very democratic state of Eskimo society, naturally look for “chiefs” to deal with. They pick out the best looking and best dressed man in the village and endeavor to win his favor by giving him presents, receiving him into the cabin, and conducting all their dealings with the natives through him. The chief, thus selected, is generally shrewd enough to make the most of the greatness thrust upon him, and no doubt often pretends to more influence and power than he actually possesses.[N609]

[Footnote N609: Compare the case of the alleged “chiefs” of the
Chukches, in Nordenskiöld’s Vega, vol. 1, pp. 449 and 495.]

As to the story of the whalemen, that the “chieftainship” is the reward of the best fighter, who holds it like a “challenge cup,” subject to being called out at any time to defend his rank in a duel, as far as concerns Point Barrow, this is a sheer fable, perhaps invented by the Eskimo to impose upon the strangers, but more likely the result of misunderstanding and a vivid imagination on the part of the whites. Among umialiks, one or two appear to have more wealth and influence than the rest. Tcuñaura in Utkiavwĭñ and the late Katiga at Nuwŭk were said, according to Captain Herendeen, to be “great umialiks” and Tcuñaura was always spoken of as the foremost man in Utkiavwĭñ. We knew of one party coming up from Sidaru with presents for Tcuñaura, and were informed that the other Eskimo never sold to him, but only gave him presents. It was also said that Katiga’s infant son would one day be a “great umialik.”

All these men are or have been captains of whaling umiaks, and the title umialiks appears to be applied to them in this capacity, since many of the poorer men, who, as far as we could learn, were not considered umialiks, own umiaks which they do not fit out for whaling, but use only to transport their families from place to place in the summer.

RELIGION.

_General ideas._--It was exceedingly difficult to get any idea of the religious belief of the people, partly from our inability to make ourselves understood in regard to abstract ideas and partly from ignorance on our part of the proper method of conducting such inquiries. For instance, in trying to get at their ideas of a future life, we could only ask “Where does a man go when he dies?” to which we, of course, received the obvious answer, “To the cemetery!” Moreover, such a multitude of other and easier lines of investigation presented themselves for our attention that we were naturally inclined to neglect the difficult field of religion, and besides under the circumstances of our intercourse it was almost impossible to get the attention of the natives when their minds were not full of other subjects.

Nevertheless, many of the fragments of superstition and tradition that we were able to collect agree remarkably with what has been observed among the Eskimo elsewhere, so that it is highly probable that their religion is of the same general character as that of the Greenlanders, namely, a belief in a multitude of supernatural beings, who are to be exorcised or propitiated by various observances, especially by the performances of certain specially gifted people, who are something of the nature of wizards. So much has been written by many authors about these wizards or “doctors,” the angekut of the eastern Eskimo, the so-called “shamans” of Alaska and Siberia, that I need make no special reference to their writings except where they happen to throw light on our own observations. Dr. Simpson succeeded in obtaining more information concerning the religious belief of these people than our party was able to do, and his observations,[N610] to which ours are in some degree supplementary, tend to corroborate the conclusion at which I have arrived.

[Footnote N610: Op. cit., p. 273 et seq.]

Our information in regard to the special class of wizards was rather vague. We learned that many men in the village, distinguishable from the rest by no visible characteristics, were able to heal the sick, procure good weather, favorable winds, plenty of game, and do other things by “talking” and beating the drum. We did not learn the number of these men in either village, but we heard of very many different men doing one or the other of these things, while others of our acquaintance never attempted them. Neither did we learn that any one of these men was considered superior to the rest, as appears to be the case in some regions, nor how a man could attain this power. Some of these men, who appeared to give particular attention to curing the sick, called themselves “tû´ktĕ” (“doctor”), but, probably for want of properly directed inquiries, we did not learn the Eskimo name of these people. We were definitely informed, however, that their “talk,” when treating disease or trying to obtain fair weather, etc., was addressed to “tu´ɐña,” or a supernatural being. This name, of course, differs only in dialectic form from that applied in other places to the universal familiar spirits of Eskimo superstition.

We at first supposed that “tuɐña” meant some particular individual demon, but Dr. Simpson is probably right in saying that the Point Barrow natives, like the rest of the Eskimo, recognize a host of tuɐñain, since “tuɐña” was described to us under a variety of forms. Most of the natives whom we asked if they had seen tuɐña, said that they had not, but that other men, mentioning certain “doctors,” had seen him. One man, however, said that he had seen tuɐña in the kûdyĭgĭ, when the people “talked” sitting in the dark, with their heads bowed and faces covered, and tuɐña came with a noise like a great bird.[N611] He had raised his head and saw tuɐña, like a man with bloodless cheeks.[N612] Tuɐña again was called “a bad man, dead” (apparently a ghost), sometimes as large as a man and sometimes dwarfish, sometimes a fleshless skeleton, while one man, to describe him, made the same grimace that a white man would use to indicate a hobgoblin, with staring eyes, gaping mouth, and hands outstretched like claws. Apparently “tuɐña” in conversation with us was used to designate all the various supernatural objects of their belief, ghosts as well as familiar spirits. For instance, in Greenland, according to Rink,[N613] a ghost “manifests himself by whistling or singing in the ears.” Now, Lieut. Ray was walking rapidly one day in the winter with an Eskimo and his wife, and the woman suddenly stopped and said she “heard tuɐña”--that he made a noise like _singing in the ears_.

[Footnote N611: Compare Graah’s account of the ceremony of
summoning a _torngak_ in East Greenland (Narrative, p. 123). “Come
he did, however, at last, and his approach was announced by a
strange rushing sound, very like the sound of a _large bird_
flying beneath the roof.” (The italics are my own.) The _angekut_
evidently have some juggling contrivance, carefully concealed from
laymen, perhaps of the nature of a “whizzing-stick.”]

[Footnote N612: Compare Rink’s description of the ceremony of
summoning a tornak to ask his advice, in Greenland (Tales, etc.,
p. 60). This was performed before a company in a darkened house.
The angekok lay on the floor, beside a suspended skin and drum,
with his hands tied behind his back and his head between his legs.
A song was sung by the audience, and the angekok invoked his
tornak, beating on the skin and the drum. The spirit announced his
arrival by a peculiar sound and the appearance of a light or
fire.]

[Footnote N613: Tales, etc., p. 14.]

The people generally have a great dread of “tuɐña,” who they say would kill them, and are very averse to going out alone in the dark. One of each party that came over from the village in the evening usually carried a drawn knife, preferably one of the large double-edged knives, supposed to be Siberian and already described, in his hand as defense against tuɐña, and a drawn knife was sometimes even carried in the daylight “nanumunlu tuɐñamunlu,” “for bear and demon.” Notwithstanding their apparently genuine dread of “tuɐña,” they are by no means averse to talking or even joking about him.

The knife also serves as a protection against the aurora, which most of them agree is bad, and when bright likely to kill a person by striking him in the back of the neck. However, brandishing the knife at it will keep it off. Besides, as a woman told me one night, you can drive off a “bad” aurora by throwing at it dog’s excrement and urine.[N614]

[Footnote N614: Compare Rink (Tales, etc. p. 56): “Several fetid
and stinking matters, such as old urine, are excellent means for
keeping away all kinds of evil-intentioned spirits and ghosts.”]

Lieut. Ray saw in one of the houses in Utkaiwiñ, a contrivance for frightening away a “tuɐña” from the entrance to a house should he try to get in. The man had hung in the trapdoor the handle of a seal-drag by means of a thong spiked to the wall with a large knife, and told Lieut. Ray that if “tuɐña” tried to get into the house he would undoubtedly catch hold of the handle to help himself up, which would pull down the knife upon his head and frighten him off. We never had an opportunity of witnessing the ceremony of summoning “tuɐña,” nor did we ever hear of the ceremony taking place during our stay at the station, but we were fortunate enough to observe several other performances, though they do not appear to be frequent. The ceremony of healing the sick and the ceremonies connected with the whale-fishery have already been described.

On the 21st of February, 1883, Lieut. Ray and Capt. Herendeen happened to be at the village on time to see the tuɐña, who had been causing the bad weather, expelled from the village. Some of the natives said the next day that they had _killed_ the tuɐña, but they said at the same time he had gone “a long way off.” When Lieut. Ray reached the village, women were standing at the doors of the houses armed with snow-knives and clubs with which they made passes over the entrance when the people inside called out. He entered one house and found a woman vigorously driving the tuɐña out of every corner with a knife. They then repaired to the kûdyĭgi, where there were ten or twelve people, each of whom, to quote from Lieut. Ray’s note book, “made a charge against the evil spirit, telling what injuries they had received from it.” Then they went into the open air, where a fire had been built in front of the entrance, and formed a half circle around the fire. Each then went up and made a speech, bending over the fire (according to Simpson, who describes a similar ceremony at Nuwŭk on p. 274 of his paper, coaxing the tuɐña to come under the fire to warm himself). Then they brought out a large tub full of urine, to which, Simpson says, each man present had contributed, and held it ready near the fire, while two men stood with their rifles in readiness, and a boy stood near the fire with a large stone in his hands, bracing himself firmly with his feet spread apart for a vigorous throw. Then they chanted as follows (the words of this chant were obtained afterward by the writer):

Tâk tâk tâk tohâ!
Nìju´a hâ!
He! he! he!
Haiyahe!
Yaiyahe!
Hwi!

And instantly the contents of the tub were dashed on the fire, the stone thrown into the embers, and both men discharged their rifles, one into the embers, and one into the cloud of steam as it rose. Then all brushed their clothes violently and shouted, and the tuɐña was killed. By a fortunate coincidence, the next day was the finest we had had for a long time.

Sacrifices are also occasionally made to these supernatural beings as in Greenland “gifts were offered to the inue of certain rocks, capes and ice firths, principally when traveling and passing those places.”[N615]

[Footnote N615: Rink, Tales, etc., p. 56.]