GILBERTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 29 



be handed down to successive generations. (5: 582; 16. 1: 178; 

 45 : 293 ; 50 : 62. ) Rink is of the opinion that continued blood- 

 revenge is less decidedly admissible than the first retaliation. 

 (53: 35.) Such a feud may be concluded by mutual agreement. 

 (5:582; 34:70.) 



In a Greenland tale, a man planning revenge was advised by an old 

 bachelor, Thou hadst better give it up and leave thy father alone. He 

 was only paid back according to his deserts, being himself a man-slayer. 

 And the son replied, &quot;Let it be as thou proposest; perhaps I shall only 

 get new foes if I carry out my thoughts of vengeance, and so the parties 

 were reconciled. (53: 340.) 



Capital punishment, as the result of deliberation by the com 

 munity, was inflicted on witches, and persons regarded as danger 

 ous to public welfare. (53: 35; 6: 117.) According to Nansen, 

 &quot;in cases of extreme atrocity, the men of the village have been 

 known to make common cause against a murderer, and kill him.&quot; 

 (43:163.) A very interesting procedure is described by Boas, 



&quot;If a man has committed a murder or made himself odious by other 

 outrages he may be killed by anyone simply as a matter of justice. The 

 man who intends to take revenge on him must ask his countrymen singly 

 if each agrees in the opinion that the offender is a bad man deserving 

 death. If all answer in the affirmative he may kill the man thus con 

 demned and no one is allowed to revenge the murder.&quot; (5: 582.) 



As stated before, the Eskimo believe that people may be killed 

 by witchcraft, so that witches would be only a special class of 

 homicides. (16. 1:177; 19:113; 6:117.) A missionary was 

 explaining how God punishes wicked people, when an Eskimo 

 remarked that &quot;in that respect he was like God, for he had 

 killed three women who were witches.&quot; (43: 170.) 



9. SOCIABILITY AND POLITENESS 



&quot;If we take the term savage to imply a brutal, unsocial, and cruel 

 disposition, the Greenlanders are not entitled to the appellation. They 

 are not untractable, wild, or barbarous; but a mild, quiet, and good- 

 natured people.&quot; These words of Crantz (16. 1: 169-70) are borne out 

 by the unanimous testimony of all students of the Eskimo. Their ex 

 perience has been comparable to that of Cartwright, who, on leaving for 

 Labrador, noted that the Eskimo &quot;have always been accounted the most 

 savage people upon the whole continent of America.&quot; (12: 13.) At the 

 end of his sixteen years sojourn among them he wrote in his journal, 

 &quot;They are the best tempered people I ever met with, and the most 

 docile.&quot; 



