They are so different in the amulets or charms they hang on people,
that one laughs at another’s. These powerful preventives consist in
a bit of old wood hung around their necks, or a stone, or a bone, or
a beak or claw of a bird, or else a leather strap tied round their
forehead, breast, or arm.
[Footnote N634: History of Greenland, vol. I, p. 216.]
Parry speaks[N635] of what he supposes were amulets at Iglulik,
consisting of teeth of the fox, wolf, and musk-ox, bones of the
“kablĕĕarioo” (supposed to be the wolverine), and foxes’ noses.
Kumlien says[N636] that at Cumberland Gulf, “among the many
superstitious notions, the wearing of charms about the person is one
of the most curious. These are called _angoouk_ or _amusit_, and may
be nothing but pieces of bone or wood, birds’ bills or claws, or an
animal’s teeth or skin.” A little girl “had a small envelope of
sealskin that was worn on the back of her inside jacket” containing
two small stones.
[Footnote N635: Second voyage, p. 497.]
[Footnote N636: Contributions, p. 45.]
Such little pockets of skin sewed to the inner jacket are very common
at Point Barrow, but we did not succeed in any case in learning their
contents. At Kotzebue Sound, Beechey saw ravens’ skins on which the
natives set a high value, while the beaks and claws of these birds
were attached to their belts and headbands.[N637] Petitot
describes[N638] the amulets used in the Mackenzie district, in the
passage already quoted, as “défroques empaillées de corbeau, de faucon
ou d’hermine.” It is not likely that the use of these is confined to
the women, as his words, “Elles y portent,” would seem to imply. Among
the sedentary Chukches of Siberia amulets were seen consisting of
wooden forks and wood or ivory carvings.[N639] A wolf’s skull, hung up
by a thong; the skin, together with the whole cartilaginous portion of
a wolf’s nose, and a flat stone, are also mentioned.[N640] Capt. Holm
also found wonderfully similar customs among the East Greenlanders. He
says,[N641] “bære alle Folk Amuletter af de mest forskjelligartede
Ting” to guard against sickness and to insure long life, and also for
specific purposes. The men wear them slung round the neck or tied
round the upper arm, the women in their knot of hair or “i Snippen
foran paa Pelsen.”
[Footnote N637: Voyage, p. 333.]
[Footnote N638: Monographie, etc., p. xv.]
[Footnote N639: Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 126.]
[Footnote N640: Vega, vol. 1, p. 503.]
[Footnote N641: Geografisk Tidskrift, vol. 8, p. 94.]