It is winter and the natives are established in their warm snow houses.
At this time of the year it is necessary to make use of the short
daylight and twilight for hunting. Long before the day begins to dawn
the Eskimo prepares for hunting. He rouses his housemates; his wife
supplies the lamp with a new wick and fresh blubber and the dim light
which has been kept burning during the night quickly brightens up and
warms the hut. While the woman is busy preparing breakfast the man fits
up his sledge for hunting. He takes the snow block which closes the
entrance of the dwelling room during the night out of the doorway and
passes through the low passages. Within the passage the dogs are
sleeping, tired by the fatigues of the day before. Though their long,
heavy hair protects them from the severe cold of the Arctic winter, they
like to seek shelter from the piercing winds in the entrance of the hut.
The sledge is iced, the harnesses are taken out of the storeroom by the
door, and the dogs are harnessed to the sledge. Breakfast is now ready
and after having taken a hearty meal of seal soup and frozen and cooked
seal meat the hunter lashes the spear that stands outside of the hut
upon the sledge, hangs the harpoon line, some toggles, and his knife
over the antlers, and starts for the hunting ground. Here he waits
patiently for the blowing seal, sometimes until late in the evening.
Meanwhile the women, who stay at home, are engaged in their domestic
occupations, mending boots and making new clothing, or they visit one
another, taking some work with them, or pass their time with games or in
playing with the children. While sitting at their sewing and at the same
time watching their lamps and cooking the meat, they incessantly hum
their favorite tunes. About noon they cook their dinner and usually
prepare at the same time the meal for the returning hunters. As soon as
the first sledge is heard approaching, the pots, which have been pushed
back during the afternoon, are placed over the fire, and when the hungry
men enter the hut their dinner is ready. While hunting they usually open
the seals caught early in the morning, to take out a piece of the flesh
or liver, which they eat raw, for lunch. The cut is then temporarily
fastened until the final dressing of the animal at home.
In the western regions particularly the hunters frequently visit the
depots of venison made in the fall, and the return is always followed by
a great feast.
After the hunters reach home they first unharness their dogs and
unstring the traces, which are carefully arranged, coiled up, and put
away in the storeroom. Then the sledge is unloaded and the spoils are
dragged through the entrance into the hut. A religious custom commands
the women to leave off working, and not until the seal is cut up are
they allowed to resume their sewing and the preparing of skins. This
custom is founded on the tradition that all kinds of sea animals have
risen from the fingers of their supreme goddess, who must be propitiated
after being offended by the murder of her offspring (see p. 583). The
spear is stuck into the snow at the entrance of the house, the sledge is
turned upside down, and the ice coating is removed from the runners.
Then it is leaned against the wall of the house, and at last the hunter
is ready to enter. He strips off his deerskin jacket and slips into his
sealskin coat. The former is carefully cleaned of the adhering ice and
snow with the snowbeater and put into the storeroom outside the house.
This done, the men are ready for their dinner, of which the women do not
partake. In winter the staple food of the Eskimo is boiled seal and
walrus meat, though in some parts of the western districts it is musk ox
and venison, a rich and nourishing soup being obtained by cooking the
meat. The natives are particularly fond of seal and walrus soup, which
is made by mixing and boiling water, blood, and blubber with large
pieces of meat.
[Illustration: FIG. 517. Forks. _a_, _b_ (From Iglulik.) (National
Museum, Washington, _a_, 10395; _b_, 10393.)]
The food is not always salted, but sometimes melted sea water ice, which
contains a sufficient quantity of salt, is used for cooking. Liver is
generally eaten raw and is considered a tidbit. I have seen the
intestines eaten only when there was no meat.
[Illustration: FIG. 518. Ladle of musk ox horn. (National Museum.
Washington. 10382.) ½]
Forks (Fig. 517)[6] are used to take the meat out of the kettle and the
soup is generally poured out into a large cup. Before the introduction
of European manufactures these vessels and dishes generally consisted of
whalebone. One of these has been described by Parry (I, p. 286). It was
circular in form, one piece of whalebone being bent into the proper
shape for the sides and another flat piece of the same material sewed to
it for a bottom, so closely as to make it perfectly watertight. A ladle
or spoon (Fig. 518) is sometimes used in drinking it, but usually the
cup is passed around, each taking a sip in turn. In the same way large
pieces of meat are passed round, each taking as large a mouthful as
possible and then cutting off the bit close to the lips. They all smack
their lips in eating. The Eskimo drink a great deal of water, which is
generally kept in vessels standing near the lamps. When the men have
finished their meal the women take their share, and then all attack the
frozen meat which is kept in the storerooms. The women are allowed to
participate in this part of the meal. An enormous quantity of meat is
devoured every night, and sometimes they only suspend eating when they
go to bed, keeping a piece of meat within reach in case they awake.
[Footnote 6: The fork first represented in this figure is
evidently broken, a series of knobs having originally formed the
handle.]
After dinner the seals, which have been placed behind the lamps to thaw,
are thrown upon the floor, cut up, and the spare meat and skins are
taken into the storerooms. If a scarcity of food prevails in the village
and a hunter has caught a few seals, every inhabitant of the settlement
receives a piece of meat and blubber, which he takes to his hut, and the
successful hunter invites all hands to a feast.
The dogs are fed every second day after dinner. For this purpose two men
go to a place at a short distance from the hut, taking the frozen food
with them, which they split with a hatchet or the point of the spear.
While one is breaking the solid mass the other keeps the dogs off by
means of the whip, but as soon as the food is ready they make a rush at
it, and in less than half a minute have swallowed their meal. No dog of
a strange team is allowed to steal anything, but is kept at a distance
by the dogs themselves and by the whip. If the dogs are very hungry they
are harnessed to the sledge in order to prevent an attack before the men
are ready. They are unharnessed after the food is prepared, the weakest
first, in order to give him the best chance of picking out some good
pieces. Sometimes they are fed in the house; in such a case, the food
being first prepared, they are led into the hut singly; thus each
receives his share.
All the work being finished, boots and stockings are changed, as they
must be dried and mended. The men visit one another and spend the night
in talking, singing, gambling, and telling stories. The events of the
day are talked over, success in hunting is compared, the hunting tools
requiring mending are set in order, and the lines are dried and
softened. Some busy themselves in cutting new ivory implements and seal
lines or in carving. They never spend the nights quite alone, but meet
for social entertainment. During these visits the host places a large
lump of frozen meat and a knife on the side bench behind the lamp and
every one is welcome to help himself to as much as he likes.
The first comers sit down on the ledge, while those entering later stand
or squat in the passage. When any one addresses the whole assembly he
always turns his face to the wall and avoids facing the listeners. Most
of the men take off their outer jacket in the house and they sit
chatting until very late. Even the young children do not go to bed
early.
[Illustration: FIG. 519. Skull used in the game ajegaung, from
Ungava Bay. (From L. M. Turner’s collection.) (National Museum,
Washington. 90227.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 520. Ivory carving representing head of fox,
used in the game ajegaung. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A
6820.) 1/1]
The women sit on the bed in front of their lamps, with their legs under
them, working continually on their own clothing or on that of the men,
drying the wet footgear and mittens, and softening the leather by
chewing and rubbing. If a bitch has a litter of pups it is their
business to look after them, to keep them warm, and to feed them
regularly. Generally the pups are put into a small harness and are
allowed to crawl about the side of the bed, where they are tied to the
wall by a trace. Young children are always carried in their mothers’
hoods, but when about a year and a half old they are allowed to play on
the bed, and are only carried by their mothers when they get too
mischievous. When the mother is engaged in any hard work they are
carried by the young girls. They are weaned when about two years old,
but women suckle them occasionally until they are three or four years of
age. During this time they are frequently fed from their mothers’
mouths. When about twelve years old they begin to help their parents,
the girls sewing and preparing skins, the boys accompanying their
fathers in hunting expeditions. The parents are very fond of their
children and treat them kindly. They are never beaten and rarely
scolded, and in turn they are very dutiful, obeying the wishes of their
parents and taking care of them in their old age.
[Illustration: FIG. 521. Ivory carvings representing polar bear,
used in the game ajegaung. _a_ (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A
6819.) _b_ (National Museum, Washington. 34078.) ⅔]
In winter gambling is one of the favorite amusements of the Eskimo.
Figs. 519-521 represent the ajegaung, used in a game somewhat similar to
our cup and ball. The most primitive device is Fig. 519, a hare’s skull
with a number of holes drilled through it. A specimen was kindly lent to
me by Lucien M. Turner, who brought it from Ungava Bay; but in Baffin
Land exactly the same device is in use. Fig. 520 represents the head of
a fox, in ivory; Fig. 521, a polar bear. The specimen shown in Fig. 521
_b_ was brought from Cumberland Sound by Kumlien. The neck of the bear
is more elaborate than the one shown in _a_. The attachment of the part
representing the hind legs is of some interest. The game is played as
follows: First, the skull or the piece of ivory must be thrown up and
caught ten times upon the stick in any one of the holes. Then, beginning
with the hole in front (the mouth), those of the middle line must be
caught. The three holes on the neck of the bear are double, one crossing
vertically, the other slanting backward, but both ending in one hole on
the neck. After the mouth has been caught upon the stick the vertical
hole in the neck is the next, then the oblique one, and so on down the
middle line of the animal’s body. If, in the first part of the game, the
player misses twice he must give up the pieces to his neighbor, who then
takes his turn. In the second part he is allowed to play on as long as
he catches in any hole, even if it be not the right one, but as soon as
he misses he must give it up. After having caught one hole he proceeds
to the next, and the player who first finishes all the holes has won the
game.
[Illustration: FIG. 522. Figures used in playing tingmiujang, a game
similar to dice. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6823.) 1/1]
A game similar to dice, called tingmiujang, i.e., images of birds, is
frequently played. A set of about fifteen figures like those represented
in Fig. 522 belong to this game, some representing birds, others men or
women. The players sit around a board or a piece of leather and the
figures are shaken in the hand and thrown upward. On falling, some stand
upright, others lie flat on the back or on the side. Those standing
upright belong to that player whom they face; sometimes they are so
thrown that they all belong to the one who tossed them up. The players
throw by turns until the last figure is taken up, the one getting the
greatest number of the figures being the winner.
[Illustration: FIG. 523. Game of nuglutang. (Museum für Völkerkunde,
Berlin. IV A 6821.)]
A favorite game is the nuglutang (Fig. 523). A small, rhomboidal plate
of ivory with a hole in the center is hung from the roof and steadied by
a heavy stone or a piece of ivory hanging from its lower end. The Eskimo
stand around it and when the winner of the last game gives a signal
every one tries to hit the hole with a stick. The one who succeeds has
won. This game is always played amid great excitement.
The sāketān resembles a roulette. A leather cup with a rounded bottom
and a nozzle is placed on a board and turned round. When it stops the
nozzle points to the winner. At present a tin cup fastened with a nail
to a board is used for the same purpose (Fig. 524).
[Illustration: FIG. 524. The sāketān or roulette. (Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6854.)]
Their way of managing the gain and loss is very curious. The first
winner in the game must go to his hut and fetch anything he likes as a
stake for the next winner, who in turn receives it, but has to bring a
new stake, in place of this, from his hut. Thus the only one who loses
anything is the first winner of the game, while the only one who wins
anything is the last winner.
[Illustration: FIG. 525. The ajarorpoq or cat’s cradle. _a_
representing deer; _b_, hare; _c_, hill and ponds.]
The women are particularly fond of making figures out of a loop, a game
similar to our cat’s cradle (ajarorpoq). They are, however, much more
clever than we in handling the thong and have a great variety of forms,
some of which are represented in Fig. 525.
As an example I shall describe the method of making the device
representing a deer (Fig. 525 _a_): Wind the loop over both hands,
passing it over the back of the thumbs inside the palms and outside the
fourth fingers. Take the string from the palm of the right hand with the
first finger of the left and vice versa. The first finger of the right
hand moves over all the parts of the thong lying on the first and fourth
fingers of the right hand and passes through the loop formed by the
thongs on the thumb of the right hand; then it moves back over the
foremost thong and takes it up, while the thumb lets go the loop. The
first finger moves downward before the thongs lying on the fourth finger
and comes up in front of all the thongs. The thumb is placed into the
loops hanging on the first finger and the loop hanging on the first
finger of the left hand is drawn through both and hung again over the
same finger. The thumb and first finger of the right and the thumb of
the left hand let go their loops. The whole is then drawn tight. A few
other devices from Hudson Bay are represented by Klutschak (p. 139).
[Illustration: FIG. 526. Ball. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A
6822.)]
The ball (Fig. 526) is most frequently used in summer. It is made of
sealskin stuffed with moss and neatly trimmed with skin straps. One man
throws the ball among the players, whose object it is to keep it always
in motion without allowing it to touch the ground. Another game of ball
I have seen played by men only. A leather ball filled with hard clay is
propelled with a whip, the lash of which is tied up in a coil. Every man
has his whip and is to hit the ball and so prevent his fellow players
from getting at it.
A third game at ball called igdlukitaqtung is played with small balls
tossed up alternately from the right to the left, one always being in
the air. Songs used in the game will be found in the last pages of this
paper.
An amusement of women and children is to point successively on the
forehead, the cheek, and the chin and to pronounce as rapidly as
possible sulubautiχu´tika, tudliχu´tika, tadliχu´tika, tudliχú´tika,
i.e., the forehead, the cheek, the chin, the cheek.
[Illustration: FIG. 527. Dolls in dress of the Oqomiut. (Museum für
Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6702.) 1/1]
[Illustration: FIG. 528. Dolls in dress of the Akudnirmiut. (Museum
für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6702.) 1/1]
Young children play with toy sledges, kayaks, boats, bows and arrows,
and dolls. The last are made in the same way by all the tribes, a wooden
body being clothed with scraps of deerskin cut in the same way as the
clothing of men. Fig. 527 shows dolls in the dress of the Oqomiut; Fig.
528, in that of the Akudnirmiut.
In summer children and grown up people exercise by sitting down on their
knees in a large circle and simultaneously jumping up and down, by
kneeling and holding their toes in their hands and trying to outdo one
another in running in this position, &c.
A favorite amusement during the long winter nights is telling tales and
composing songs. Old traditions are always related in a highly
ceremonious manner. The narrator takes off his outer jacket, pulls the
hood over his head, and sits down in the rear part of the hut, turning
his face toward the wall, and then tells the story slowly and solemnly.
All the stories are related in a very abridged form, the substance being
supposed to be known. The form is always the same, and should the
narrator happen to say one word otherwise than is customary he will be
corrected by the listeners.
Children tell one another fables and sing short songs. Comic songs
making fun of any person are great favorites. Details on the poetry and
music of the Eskimo will be found further on.
Parry’s description of the games and sports practiced by the Iglulirmiut
is so interesting that I insert it here (II, p. 538):
On an occasion when most of the men were absent from the huts on a
sealing excursion, the women joined in playing, one of them being
the chief performer. Being requested to amuse the rest, she
suddenly unbound her hair, platted it, tied both ends together to
keep it out of her way, and then stepping out into the middle of
the hut, began to make the most hideous faces that can be
conceived, by drawing both lips into her mouth, poking forward her
chin, squinting frightfully, occasionally shutting one eye, and
moving her head from side to side as if her neck had been
dislocated. This exhibition, which they call ajokitarpoq, and
which is evidently considered an accomplishment that few of them
possess in perfection, distorts every feature in the most horrible
manner imaginable, and would, I think, put our most skillful
horse-collar grinners quite out of countenance.
This performance is identical with one described later (p. 578) as
practiced during the meals in summer.
The next performance consists in looking steadfastly and gravely
forward and repeating the words tăbā’-tăbā’; kjaibo, kjaibo;
kebang inutovik, kebang inutovik; amatama, amatama, in the order
in which they are here placed, but each at least four times, and
always by a peculiar modulation of the voice speaking them in
pairs as they are coupled above. The sound is made to proceed from
the throat in a way much resembling ventriloquism, to which art it
is indeed an approach. After the last amatama she always pointed
with her finger toward her body, and pronounced the word angakoq,
steadily retaining her gravity for five or six seconds, and then
bursting into a loud laugh, in which she was joined by all the
rest. The women sometimes produce a much more guttural and
unnatural sound, repeating principally the word ikeri-ikeri,
coupling them as before, and staring in such a manner as to make
their eyes appear ready to burst out of their sockets with the
exertion. Two or more of them will sometimes stand up face to
face, and with great quickness and regularity respond to each
other, keeping such exact time that the sound appears to come from
one throat instead of several. Very few of the females are
possessed of this accomplishment, which is called pitkusiraqpoq,
and it is not uncommon to see several of the younger females
practising it. A third part of the game, distinguished by the word
kaitikpoq, consists only in falling on each knee alternately,
a piece of agility which they perform with tolerable quickness,
considering the bulky and awkward nature of their dress. * * *
Then the same woman came forward, and letting her arms hang down
loosely and bending her body very much forward, shook herself with
extreme violence, as if her whole frame had been strongly
convulsed, uttering at the same time, in a wild tone of voice,
some of the unnatural sounds before mentioned.
This being at an end, a new exhibition was commenced in which ten
or twelve women took a part, and which our gentlemen compared to
blind man’s buff. A circle being formed, and a boy dispatched to
look out at the door of the hut, a woman placed herself in the
center, and, after making a variety of guttural noises for about
half a minute, shut her eyes, and ran about till she had taken
hold of one of the others, whose business it then became to take
her station in the center, so that almost every woman in her turn
occupied this post, and in her own peculiar way, either by
distortion of countenance or other gestures, performed her part in
the game. This continued three-quarters of an hour, and, from the
precaution of placing a lookout who was withdrawn when it was
over, as well as from some very expressive signs which need not
here be mentioned, there is reason to believe that it is usually
followed by certain indecencies, with which their husbands are not
to be acquainted. * * *
The most common amusement however, and to which their husbands
made no objection, they performed at Winter Island expressly for
our gratification. The females, being collected to the number of
ten or twelve, stood in as large a circle as the hut would admit,
with a man in the center. He began by a sort of half howling, half
singing noise, which appeared as if designed to call the attention
of the women, the latter soon commencing the Amna Aya song. This
they continued without variety, remaining quite still while the
man walked round within the circle; his body was rather bent
forward, his eyes sometimes closed, his arms constantly moving up
and down, and now and then hoarsely vociferating a word or two as
if to increase the animation of the singers, who, whenever he did
this, quitted the chorus and rose into the words of the song. At
the end of ten minutes they all left off at once, and after one
minute’s interval commenced a second act precisely similar and of
equal duration, the man continuing to invoke their muse as before.
A third act which followed this, varied frequently towards the
close only in his throwing his feet up before and clapping his
hands together, by which exertion he was thrown into a violent
perspiration. He then retired, desiring a young man (who as we
were informed was the only individual of several then present thus
qualified) to take his place in the center as master of the
ceremonies, when the same antics as before were again gone
through. After this description it will scarcely be necessary to
remark that nothing can be poorer in its way than this tedious
singing recreation, which, as well as in everything in which
dancing is concerned, they express by the word mumipoq. They seem,
however, to take great delight in it; and even a number of the men
as well as all the children crept into the hut by degrees to peep
at the performance.
The Eskimo women and children often amuse themselves with a game
not unlike our “skip-rope.” This is performed by two women holding
the ends of a line and whirling it regularly round and round,
while a third jumps over it in the middle according to the
following order. She commences by jumping twice on both feet, then
alternately with the right and left, and next four times with the
feet slipped one behind the other, the rope passing once round at
each jump. After this she performs a circle on the ground, jumping
about half a dozen times in the course of it, which bringing her
to her original position, the same thing is repeated as often as
it can be done without entangling the line. One or two of the
women performed this with considerable agility and adroitness,
considering the clumsiness of their boots and jackets, and seemed
to pride themselves in some degree on the qualification. A second
kind of this game consists in two women holding a long rope
by its ends and whirling it round in such a manner over the heads
of two others standing close together near the middle of the
bight, that each of these shall jump over it alternately. The art
therefore, which is indeed considerable, depends more on those
whirling the rope than on the jumpers, who are, however, obliged
to keep exact time in order to be ready for the rope passing under
their feet.
Of all these games I observed only the one called pitkusiraqpoq by
Parry, which I saw played several times at Cumberland Sound. (See
Appendix, Note 3.)
* * *
While in times of plenty the home life is quite cheerful, the house
presents a sad and gloomy appearance if stormy weather prevents the men
from hunting. The stores are quickly consumed, one lamp after another is
extinguished, and everybody sits motionless in the dark hut.
Nevertheless the women and men do not stop humming their monotonous amna
aya and their stoicism in enduring the pangs of hunger is really
wonderful. At last, when starvation is menacing the sufferers, the most
daring of the men resolves to try his luck. Though the storm may rage
over the icy plain he sets out to go sealing. For hours he braves the
cold and stands waiting and watching at the breathing hole until he
hears the blowing of the seal and succeeds in killing it.
When those who have remained at home hear the sound of the returning
sledge, they rush out of the houses to meet it. Quickly they help the
bold hunter to get on shore. The sledge is unloaded, the seal dragged
into the house, and every one joyfully awaits his share. The animal is
cut up, every household receiving a piece of meat and blubber. The
gloomy huts are again lighted up and the pots, which had been out of use
for some days, are again hung up over the lamps.
If the hunter, however, has tried in vain to procure food, if the storm
does not subside, the terrors of famine visit the settlement. The dogs
are the first to fall victims to the pressing hunger, and if the worst
comes cannibalism is resorted to. But all these occurrences are spoken
of with the utmost horror. In such cases children particularly are
killed and eaten. Fortunately, however, such occurrences are very rare.