GILBERTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 27 



must not let it appear that there has been any trouble between 

 them. Also before and during the contests no bitter feeling must 

 be manifested. It happens that one plays the part of host to his 

 opponent. (30:87.) An appearance of perfect calm should 

 be maintained by the one under fire. One &quot;made his indifference 

 known by calling on the spectators to shout and amuse themselves 

 over him.&quot; (53:332.) 



The word &quot;nith-song&quot; is of Norse derivation. Tylor was of 

 the opinion that the institution itself had been introduced into 

 Greenland by the Norwegian colonists. (See 67:353.) Its 

 native origin is now generally accepted. (For similar customs 

 among the western Eskimo, see 52 : 30 ; 45 : 347. Consult also 

 Chamberlain, 28. 2 : 77 ; for examples of nith-songs see 11 : 287 ; 

 63:305; 31:330.) 



A drastic measure for maintaining order and punishing 

 delinquency, and one very rarely employed, is expulsion. 

 Typical is the case of a young man who was turned out of the 

 house in the middle of winter. (52:26.) Rink says, &quot;As 

 to the possibility of maintaining the authority of law, it must 

 be remembered that the members in these isolated communities 

 are more immediately dependent on their fellowmen than the 

 members of a civilized society, and that what is considered at 

 the most a trifling inconvenience in the latter, may be a severe 

 punishment in the former&quot; (52:24), and we must agree with 

 him that few punishments could be more severe than &quot;being 

 suddenly abandoned without shelter in the depths of an Arctic 

 winter ; between this and the disagreeableness of being shamed 

 by a song in an assembly, several degrees of punishment may be 

 imagined sufficient to deter malicious individuals from ordinary 

 offences or disturbances of order and peace.&quot; (52: 26.) 



Crimes involving punishment by death, of which practically 

 the only ones are murder and witchcraft (which latter, accord 

 ing to Eskimo belief, may cause death) are dealt with in one of 

 two ways; usually by blood-revenge on the part of the kindred 

 of the victim, or, in a few cases, by the concerted action of the 

 whole community. 



Blood-revenge is considered a duty, as well as a right, among 

 all Eskimo. It is one phase of their conception of justice. What 

 Kropotkin says of the Dayak &quot;head-hunter&quot; may be said also 

 of the Eskimo. 



