628 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



enforced by public opinion, the origin of the taboos themselves is quite 

 obscure. It is forbidden, after the death of a sea mammal or after the 

 death of a person, to scrape the frost from the window, to shake the 

 beds, or to disturb the shrubs under the bed, to remove oil-drippings 

 from under the lamp, to scrape hair from skins, to cut snow for the 

 purpose of melting it, to work on iron, wood, stone, or ivory. Women 

 are, furthermore, forbidden to comb their hair, to wash their faces and 

 to dry their boots and stockings. 



A number of customs, however, may be explained by the endeavors 

 of the natives to keep the sea mammals free from contaminating in- 

 fluences. All the clothing of a dead person, more particularly the tent 

 in which he died, must be discarded; for if a hunter should wear cloth- 

 ing made of skins that had been in contact with the deceased, these 

 would appear dark and the seal would avoid him. Neither would a 

 seal allow itself to be taken into a hut darkened by a dead body, and 

 all those who entered such a hut would appear dark to it and would be 

 avoided. 



While it is customary for a successful hunter to invite all the men 

 of the village to eat of the seal that he has caught, they must not take 

 any of the seal meat out of the hut, because it might come in contact 

 with persons who are under taboo, and thus the hunter might incur the 

 displeasure of the seal and of Sedna. 



It is very remarkable that the walrus is not included in this series of 

 regulations. It is explicitly stated that the walrus, the white whale 

 and the narwhal are not subject to these laws, which affect only the sea 

 animals that originated from Sedna's fingers. There is, however, a 

 series of laws that forbid contact between walrus, seal and caribou. It 

 is not quite clear in what mythical concept these customs originate. 

 There is a tradition regarding the origin of walrus and caribou which is 

 made to account for a dislike between these two animals. A woman 

 created both these animals from parts of her clothing. She gave the 

 walrus antlers and the caribou tusks. When man began to hunt them, 

 the walrus upset the boats with his antlers and the caribou killed the 

 hunter with his tusks. Therefore the woman called both animals back 

 and took the tusks from the caribou and gave them to the walrus. She 

 took the antlers, kicked the caribou's forehead flat and put the antlers 

 on to it. Ever since that time, it is said, walrus and caribou avoid each 

 other, and the people must not bring their meat into contact. They 

 are not allowed to eat caribou and walrus meat on the same day except 

 after changing their clothing. The winter clothing which is made 

 of caribou-skin must be entirely completed before the men will go to 

 hunt walrus. As soon as the first walrus has been killed, a messenger 

 goes from village to village and announces the news. All work on 

 caribou-skins must cease immediately. When the caribou-hunting 



