THE ESKIMOS: THEIR RELIGION 41 



holds his or her drinking cup ; the oldest man 

 then steps forward, takes up some water, sprinkles 

 a few drops on the ground, turns his face in the 

 direction of the land where he was born, and 

 speaks his name and the place of his birth. This 

 is next done by a woman, and so on with the 

 sexes alternately, until the whole of the community 

 has performed this extraordinary rite. 



After this follows the last part of the ceremony, 

 of which the details are too revolting, by reason of 

 their immorality, to place before the readers of these 

 pages. Suffice it to say that they form an illustra 

 tion of St. Paul s indictment of the Gentile world 

 in the opening chapters of his epistle to the Romans. 



In connection with this story of Sedna and 

 religious doctrine generally, it is worthy of note that 

 the Eskimo s conception of the Spirit of Evil is 

 unlike that of any other nation. The devil is 

 feminine instead of masculine. It may be sug 

 gested that possibly this is a distorted idea derived 

 from the Biblical narrative in which Eve is the 

 channel by which sin is introduced into the world. 



Notions of heaven and a future state seem to 

 be somewhat hazy. There is a certain conviction 

 that this life, with its limited sphere of action, does 

 not represent the final end of existence. There is 

 probably, in the mind of every Eskimo some con 

 ception of a material heaven with abundance of 

 seals and the absence of blizzards, and to this he 



