INNUITS OF OUR ARCTIC COAST. 127 



the dead; a teiiiiiest will then ni)itc the putrefied particles and give them a more heautiful 

 form. The m/w world will Udt he a wilderness of Ijarren rocks, hut a plain clothed with 

 everlasting verdure and covered witli a superfluity of animals, for they helieve that all the 

 present animal creation will he revivified. As for the men, "He that is ahove " shall 

 breathe upon them ; hut of this personage they can give no further account. 



The other great hut mischievous spirit is a female without name. Whether she is 

 " Torngarsuk's ■' wife or his mother is not agreed ujion. The natives of the north helieve 

 that she is the daughter of the mighty angekok who tore tlie islands from the continent 

 and towed them hundreds of miles further north, and this arctic Proserpine lives in 

 a large house under the ocean, in wliicli she enthrals all the sea monsters by the eflicacy of 

 her sjiells. Sea fowl swim about in the tub of train-oil under her lamp. The portals of her 

 palace are guarded by rampant seals, exceedingly vicious, yet their place is often supplied 

 by a large dog, which never sleeps longer than a second, and can consequently rarely be 

 surprised. When there is a scarcity of seals or fish, an angekok must tindertake a journey 

 to her abode for a handsome reward. His " Torngak," or familiar spirit, who has pre- 

 viously given him all proper instructions, conducts him in the first jslace under the earth or 

 sea. He then passes through the kingdom of souls who pass a life of jollity and ease, but 

 their progress is soon afterward interrupted by a frightful vacuity, over which a narrow 

 wheel is suspended, which whirls with wonderful rapidity. When he has been so fortunate 

 as to get over, the Torngak leads hira by the hand upon a rope sti'etched across the chasm, 

 and through the sentry seals into the palace of the fury, who, as soon as she sees her unwel- 

 come guests, trembles and foams with rage, and hastens to set on fire the wing of a sea 

 fowl, the stench of which would enable her to take the sufibcated angekok and his " Torn- 

 gak" captives. These heroes seize her before she can effect the fatal fumigation, pull her 

 down by the hair and strip off her filthy amulets, which by their occult powers have enslaved 

 the inhabitants of the ocean, and the enchantment being thus dissolved, the captive creatures 

 immediately ascend to the surface of the sea, and the successful angekok champion has no 

 difficulties on his journey back. Thej' do not think, however, that she is so malicious as to 

 aim at making mankind eternally miserable, and therefore do not describe her dwelling as 

 a hell, but a place abounding in the necessaries of life, yet no one desires to be near her. On 

 the contrary, they greatly venerate "Torngarsuk," and though they do not hold him to be 

 the author of the universe, they wish after death to go to him and share his affiuence. 

 Many Eskimo, when they hear of God and liis almighty power, are easily led to identify' 

 him with Torngarsuk, for they honour the latter as much as the ancient heathens did 

 Jupiter, Pluto, or their other principal divinities, yet they do not regard him as that eternal 

 being to whom everything owes its existence. The}- pay him no religious honours or worship, 

 regarding him as much too bénéficient a being to require any propitiation, bribes or entrea- 

 ties, though it cannot well be construed into anything but a sacrifice when an Eskimo lavs 

 a piece of blubber or skin near a large stone, and very often a part of the reindeer which is 

 the first fruit of the chase. They cannot assign any other reason for this except tlnit their 

 ancestors have done so before them in order to insure success in hunting. 



In the air dwells a certain " innua" (or possessor) whom they call " Innerter rirsok," 

 the informer, because he informs the Eskimo through the angekok what he must abstain 

 from if he wishes to be fortunate. Their '' Erloersortok" also inhabits the air, and lies in 

 wait for those souls wliich pass upward in order to take out their enti-ails and devour them. 



