ESKIMOS 167 
selves somewhat hazy as to what they do believe concerning the 
soul and a future state; secondly, an intimate knowledge of the 
language is needed to catch their ideas on these subjects, and 
thirdly, one must be very intimate with them and have acquired 
their respect before they will, from fear of ridicule, ,discuss 
such subjects. 
They all appear to have a belief in a supreme goddess, 
called Nuliayok on the western side of Hudson bay, and Sedna 
by the eastern Eskimos. The folk-lore in connection with these 
two goddesses points to the same origin for both, and is almost 
identical. The tradition is that Nuliayok was a coy Eskimo 
maiden who would not marry any of the young men. She was 
wooed by the fulmar, a gull, who spoke in a pleasing manner 
of the life she would lead with him. He so worked upon the 
senses and feelings of the maiden that she consented to accom- 
pany him to his island home as his wife. On arriving there 
she found that she had been cruelly deceived, and that the 
splendid house was nothing but a nest of sticks perched upon 
the high bare rocks, without any shelter from the snows or 
winds. The abundant food promised turned out to be nothing 
but rotten fish, and to add to her other discomforts she was 
jostled by the other fulmars, so that she often had difficulty in 
preserving her place on the rock. There was plenty of time for 
regret before she managed to send word to her father, request- 
ing him to come to her rescue, which he did. Her father's 
name was Anautelik, and he took her away in his boat during 
the absence of the fulmar. When the latter discovered his loss, 
he caused a great storm, and Anautelik, to preserve his own life, 
threw his daughter overboard, but she clung to the side of the 
boat, and he cut off her fingers, one by one, to make her release 
her hold. As her fingers dropped into the sea they changed into 
the whale, walrus, big seal and the small seal, so originating the 
sea animals. Her father next knocked one of her eyes out, after 
which she let go of the side of the boat and went to the world 

