52 JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY 



should comfort him by minimizing the importance of the accident. If, 

 on the other hand, if the owner should express his annoyance, the offender 

 will take comfort, because it is sufficient for one person to feel annoyed.&quot; 

 (6: 116.) 



Among the Alaskan Eskimo, the idea of individual ownership 

 appears to be more strongly developed than elsewhere. Murdoch 

 believes that 



&quot;there is no limit to the amount of property which an individual, at 

 least the head of a family, may accumulate. This has given rise to a 

 regular wealthy or aristocratic class, who, however, are not yet sufficiently 

 differentiated from the poorer people, to refuse to associate with them 

 on any terms but those of social equality. &amp;gt;; 



Leadership in trading with whites is one cause of the rise of this 

 class. (42:429.) But even in this region the ancient order 

 cannot be abrogated with facility or impunity. Nelson writes 

 of this as follows: 



&quot;The Eskimo are very jealous of anyone who accumulates much prop 

 erty and in order to retain the public good will, are forced to be open- 

 handed with the community. . . . Whenever a successful trader ac 

 cumulates property and food, and is known to work solely for his own 

 welfare, and is careless of his fellow villagers, he becomes the object of 

 envy and hatred which ends in one of two ways. The villagers may 

 compel him to make a feast and distribute his goods, or they may kill 

 him and divide his property among themselves.&quot; (45: 305.) 



The next class of property is that which belongs to the whole 

 family. Rink enumerates under this head the family-boat and 

 tent, provisions collected during the summer, and stores of skin 

 and other articles for family use or for barter. 



The third class is the property belonging to the house-mates, 

 including the large house and the supply of meat for certain com 

 mon meals. A fourth class comprises the things shared by all 

 the place-fellows, such as the flesh and blubber derived from 

 the seals caught during the stay in winter-quarters. And a 

 fifth and last class, consisting of the food-supplies which, either 

 on account of the size of the animal, or owing to scarcity and 

 famine, were shared by the inhabitants of neighboring settle 

 ments, (53:30.) 



The Eskimo do not, as a rule have any definite idea of prop 

 erty in land, yet priority of occupation carries with it certain 

 privileges. Thus it is a recognized rule that &quot;no one shall 

 pitch a tent or build a house where people are already settled 



