172 CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 
The first salmon must be caught before work on bootlegs 
begins, and boots worn while hunting walrus must not be used 
when salmon fishing. Salmon is always cooked over shrub fires 
outside the tent, and in vessels used only for that purpose; con- 
sequently fish taken in the winter are eaten raw. 
Amulets in the shape of small pieces of skin or cloth are sewn 
to the under coat by the wife of an angekok to ward off sickness 
and to bring good luck. Many of these are decorated with 
beads. The tip of the deer's tail is sewn to the tail of the coat 
for success in hunting, and when sewn to the coat of a boy 
ensures his becoming a successful hunter. A gull's feather 
dipped in the drippings of the lamp is placed between the har- 
poon and spear line, and so carried to the ice, where the hunter 
sucks the feather and spits in the water in order that the walrus 
may not know that it is being hunted. The dried skin of a 
newly-born lemming, when attached to the float of a walrus 
harpoon, prevents the animal from attacking the boat when 
wounded, and the skin of a lemming carried in the boat ensures 
safety. 
There are numerous other charms used, together with invoca- 
tions and songs for success in hunting. 
ANGEKOK. 
The angekok, or medicine man, is believed by the other 
Eskimos to possess supernatural powers, whereby he can charm 
away sickness, lighten the displeasure of nuliayok when she 
sends famine and misfortune to the band, put the evil-eye or 
something similar on those who displease him, and see into the 
future. He is supposed to do this by the aid of a familiar spirit 
called his tonwak, which usually assumes the form of some 
animal-often that of a walrus. 
To become an angekok it is necessary to receive instructions 
in the mysteries from some other angekok, and usually more 
than one take part in the instruction and initiation of the candi- 
