GILBEBTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 17 



girls. (2. 1 : 82 ; 32 : 121 ; 45 : 291.) Holmberg states that the cus 

 toms he describes are identical with those of the Tlinkit Indians, 

 and like so many other features of Alaskan culture, they are likely 

 borrowed from the neighboring peoples. The behavior of women 

 during pregnancy (6:143) and menstruation (5:516; 6:120, 

 150, 478; 20:116; 32:122) is strictly regulated. Rules about 

 the conduct of women after child-birth are numerous and com 

 plicated. (5:610; 6:125, 143, 158, 484, 514; 26:217, 351; 

 19 : 115 ; 42 : 415 ; 53 : 54 ; 16. 1 : 199 ; 34 : 233.) Premature birth 

 calls for particularly rigid rules. (6: 121, 125, 358, 504.) The 

 occasion for more taboos, perhaps, than any other event, is death. 

 (5 : 610, 613 ; 6 : 120, 125, 144, 148 ; 53 : 299 ; 30 : 105, 113 ; 19 : 82 ; 

 16. 1:216; 26:186, 265; 43:137; 34:207; 66:191; 32:122; 

 42 : 424 ; 1. 1 : 334. ) Lastly, there are regulations immediately 

 connected with the chase, aside from taboos prescribed for other 

 occasions, affecting the activities of the hunter. (5:578, 587, 

 596; 6:147, 149, 595; 42:264, 274, 434; 26:64; 69:432, 440; 

 16. 1:199; 34:123; 30:76; 66:201; 1. 1:277.) We cannot 

 enter into any detailed description of these unnumbered taboos. 

 Reference must be made to the original sources for such informa 

 tion. But we will, however, touch upon some of the reasons 

 assigned for these rules, as being of interest to our present study. 



This leads to a consideration of the religious beliefs of the 

 Eskimo, as far as these are related to the customs we are now 

 considering. In the words of Rasmussen, * These rules form the 

 nucleus of their religious ideas.&quot; (50:83; cf. 53:63.) 



The beliefs of the Eskimo about the supernatural are 

 extremely difficult to determine, both because of the inherent 

 difficulty of learning their exact thoughts on this matter, and 

 the apparent vagueness and fluidity of their concepts about 

 the extramundane world. 



They have no idea of a creator, or one supreme being ( 19 : 108 ; 

 69:437; 45:427), but have a belief in a multitude of super 

 natural beings. The most important of these are known as 

 * inua, or owners, a word which has a common derivation with 

 innuit. (See 43:225; 69:437; 42:430; 19:110; 66:193; 

 45:427.) 



1 Some of these spirits are more powerful than others just as some 

 men are more skilful and shrewd than others. Their ideas of the invisible 

 world are based on conditions of the present life with which they are 

 familiar.&quot; (45: 428.) 



