(1) Two little girls, while playing about a cliff near Aivillik, with
infants in the hoods on their backs, went into an opening between the
rocks, which closed upon them before escape was possible. All attempts
at rescue were unsuccessful, and the poor children, to whom for a time
meat and water were passed, perished in the cliffs (Hall II, p. 222).
(2) Opposite to Niutang, a village in Kingnait, Cumberland Sound, there
is a vein of diorite resembling a boot, and therefore called
Kamingujang. A long time ago two enemies lived in the village. One day
they stood on the beach ready to go hunting. Suddenly the one exclaimed,
pointing to Kamingujang, “There he blows,” making his enemy believe that
a whale was passing up the fjord and inducing him to look out for it.
Then he killed him from behind, piercing him with the spear.
(3) At Qognung, near the head of Nettilling Fjord, there is a large
white stone on each side of the fjord, somewhat resembling a bear. It is
said that these stones have been bears which, being pursued by an Eskimo
in the water, escaped to the land, but were transformed into these
stones.
(4) A long time ago a dead boy was buried under a large stone. Before
his relatives had returned to their hut the body was transformed into a
hare, which jumped forth from the tomb. All hares come from this animal.
(5) It is said that albinos of seals and deer spring from an egg of
about half a foot in length, which forms itself in the earth. The seal
digs an underground passage to the sea, the deer a similar one to a
distant part of the country, and there they rise. The albinos are said
to be very quick.
* * *
I will add here an enumeration of the fabulous tribes of which I gained
intelligence, but of some of them I only know the names.
(1) The Tornit, or, as they are called by the Akudnirmiut, the
Tuniqdjuait (p. 634). It is remarkable that this people is considered
here, as well as in Labrador, a tribe similar to the Eskimo, with whom
they formerly lived in company, but who were subsequently expelled by
the latter. In Greenland they are entirely a fabulous tribe, each
individual being of enormous size, living inland and seldom hunting in
the upper parts of the fjords. While in the western parts of the Eskimo
country a more historical form of the tradition is preserved, it is
entirely mythical in Greenland.
(2) The Adlet or Erqigdlit. In the tradition treating of this tribe a
similar change occurs. The Labrador Eskimo call the Indians of the
interior Adlet, the tribes west of Hudson Bay call them Erqigdlit. The
Baffin Land Eskimo and the Greenlanders have forgotten this relation
altogether, but denote with the term a fabulous tribe with dogs’ legs
and a human body. The name Adla is used as far north as Cumberland
Peninsula, the Akudnirmiut and the more northern tribes using the term
Erqigdlit. It is difficult to account for the use of these different
terms in both senses.
(3) The Ardnainiq, a tribe living in the extreme northwest. The men of
this people are small, tiny, like children, but entirely covered with
hair. They are carried about in the hoods of their wives, just like
children. The women are of normal size. They do all the work, going out
hunting in the kayaks and providing for the men.
(4) The Inuarudligang, dwarfs living in the cliffs near the shore.
(5) The Igdlungajung, a bandy legged people living inland.
(6) The Uissuit, dwarfs living in the depth of the sea (p. 621).
(7) The Ijirang.
(8) The Qailerte´tang, a people consisting of women only (p. 605).
* * *
Finally, I will mention the animals which are only known to the natives
by reports of foreign tribes and are described as fabulous creatures.
These are the umingmang (the musk ox), which is represented as a fierce
animal with black and red streaks and larger than a bear, and the agdlaq
(the black bear), which, according to their belief, is also of enormous
size. It is said to live inland and to devour everything that comes near
it. I am unable to decide whether the report of an enormous fish, the
idluk, which is said to live in the lakes, is altogether fabulous. The
natives say that if they want to catch the fish they build a snow house
on the lake and cut a hole through the ice, into which they sink the
hook with a deer’s ham for a bait and a stout thong for a fishing line.
Six men hold the line by turns, and as soon as they feel the fish has
nibbled they pull it up with all their strength.
The fabulous amaroq and avignaq of the Greenlanders are unknown, but the
terms denote real animals, the wolf and the lemming.
* * *
Besides traditions of this kind the Eskimo have a great number of
fables. Following is an example.