46 NATURAL HISTORY OF ARCTIC AMERICA. 



:a seal-skin string, which passes around the body and keeps the breasts 

 lip. Her milk supply cannot fail while she wears this. 



Many of the ancoois by long practice become quite competent jug- 

 glers, and often take advantage to show off their powers to the edifica- 

 tion of their friends. A common trick with a full-fledged ancoot is to 

 come suddenly into a hut with a harpoon toggled on his breast, and the 

 handle sticking in his back, the wound bleeding profusely. Such demon- 

 orations make a lasting impression ui)ou the minds of those who wit- 

 ness it, and it becomes no less marvelous when they see that he survives, 

 without even a mark after the woimd. 



A very interesting legend is one which they tell as to the origm of 

 man, as regards creation, and tlie beginning of all things. They say it 

 came so of itself. Of the creation of man they say : In the beginning 

 there grew up from the earth a man ; he got a wife from one of his 

 thumbs (!), and from this pair the race has originated. But the whites, 

 whom they call mblunef, or codhmal; they have sprung from dogs. An 

 Eskimo woman at one time gave birth to human beings and dogs. These 

 latter she put in an old boot, and threw them out into the sea, saying, 

 *' Go hence, and become white people." From this they say whites live 

 on the sea, and their ships are like the Inuits' boots, round at both 



