32 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



persistently objectionable by constant violation 

 of what is regarded as right in this way, he is 

 generally punished by a sort of ostracism ; but 

 this is rarely resorted to. In extreme cases offend- 

 ers have been known to be put out of the way 

 by a sort of judicial murder. 



The love of peace characterises not only the 

 tribes in their relations with one another, but also 

 the individual members of each community. " I 

 have known," says Mr. Peck, "cases where, rather 

 than quarrel, the offended party has refrained from 

 retaliation in the slightest degree, and, with some 

 simple conciliatory remark, has walked away." 



It may be pointed out in passing that if the 

 accounts of the extermination of the Scandinavian 

 colonies on the Greenland coast in the fifteenth 

 century, to which allusion has already been made, 

 be at all accurate, that chapter of history, as well 

 as the records of tribal wars among themselves, 

 would indicate that the temper of the modern 

 Eskimo is vastly different from that of his Skroelling 

 progenitor. 



Perhaps the most important inquiry we can make 

 about any people is concerning their religion. 



And here a great deal might be said, for many 

 facts are known, but we must content ourselves 

 with a brief summary. 



There is no system of worship, and the religious 

 ideas of the Eskimos are connected with the nega- 



