58 JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY 



rare among members of the same community, and when it does 

 occur, is condemned. Nansen says: 



&quot;The Eskimo regards it as in the highest degree dishonorable to steal 

 from his housemates or from his fellow-villagers, and it is seldom that 

 anything of the sort occurs/ (43: 158.) 



Hans Egede testifies that &quot;they rarely steal from one another. 

 \Vherefore they let their goods lie exposed to everyone, with 

 out fear of anyone stealing or taking away the least bit of 

 them. Indeed, this vice is so repulsive to them that if a girl 

 steals, she thereby loses the chance of a good marriage.&quot; 

 (19:69.) So too Crantz states, &quot;They have no disposition to 

 overreach each other, still less to steal, which is considered ex 

 cessively disgraceful.&quot; (16.1:160.) Holm says that among 

 the East Greenlanders, &quot;theft is not uncommon,&quot; but adds 

 that the causes are principally revenge or necessity. (30:87.) 

 The report, given by other Eskimo to Hall, that the Nechilli 

 &quot;will steal whenever they can get a chance, even one Innuit 

 from another&quot; (26:421) was a rumor of the same status as 

 that told Stefansson of a distant tribe s eating all strangers. 

 (59.) Exceptional, indeed, if correctly reported, is the situa 

 tion at Point Barrow, where &quot;men, who were said to be thieves, 

 did not appear to lose any social consideration.&quot; (42:41.) 

 Among the nearby tribes studied by Nelson, 



&quot;stealing from people of the same village is regarded as wrong. The 

 thief is shamed by being talked of in the kashim. An incorrigible thief 

 is held and beaten on the back.&quot; 



An effective insurance method is reported by Murdoch : 



Before starting for the deer the hunters generally take the movable 

 property which they do not mean to carry with them out of the house and 

 bury it in the snow for safe keeping, apparently thinking that while a 

 dishonest person might help himself to small articles left around the house, 

 he could hardly go to work and dig up a cache without attracting the 

 attention of the neighbors.&quot; (42: 261.) 



There appears to be truth in Nansen s statement that &quot;the 

 Eskimo s conception of his duties towards strangers, especially 

 toward white people, is not quite so strict.&quot; (43:159.) &quot;To 

 steal from a stranger or from people of another tribe is not con 

 sidered wrong so long as it does not bring trouble to the com 

 munity,&quot; according to Nelson. (45.293; cf. 16.1:160; 19:69.) 

 Cases of thieving are frequently reported in the literature. 



