GILBERTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 59 



(30.171, 176; 56:187; 4:389, 398; 1.1:174, 181; 2:60; 42:41; 

 19:136.) 



The actions of the thieves when detected throw light on their 

 feelings about the matter. Murdoch says &quot;the thieves when 

 detected seemed to have no feeling of shame.&quot; (42:41.) Still 

 a certain shame, even if not sense of guilt, is not wanting. 

 According to Holm, &quot;their blushes always betrayed them,&quot; 

 when interrogated about thefts. (30:177.) Amundsen says of 

 some detected thieves that they &quot;slunk away sheepishly.&quot; 

 (1.1:282.) Others appear to regard the matter as a good joke. 

 Beechey relates that when thefts were detected, the goods were 

 immediately returned, &quot;with a hearty laugh in addition.&quot; 

 (4:395.) Similar behavior is common in natives who indulge 

 in fraud in trading. Amundsen speaks of a man who grinned 

 all over his face with glee, at having, as he thought, so suc 

 cessfully tricked me.&quot; And when discovered, he &quot;could not 

 help laughing at his failure.&quot; (1.2:56.) A woman, &quot;when she 

 saw she was found out, burst out laughing heartily, all the rest 

 joining in.&quot; (1.1:173.) 



Again they try to throw off suspicion by friendly actions, 

 or if convicted, to offer excuses. Some Eskimo were suspected 

 of stealing flour from the Beechey expedition, and the suspicion 

 was strengthened by their unusual and conciliatory conduct. 

 Also they 



&quot;protested that they were innocent of the theft, and as proof that they 

 could not possibly have committed it, they spat into the sea with disgust, 

 in order to show how much they disliked the taste of the material, little 

 considering that the fact of their knowing it to be nauseous was a proof 

 of their having tasted it.&quot; (4: 389.) 



An East Greenlander, who, in buying knives, took two, one on 

 top of the other, assured Holm that it had happened by mis 

 take &quot;as the knives were so thin.&quot; Later he confessed that a 

 neighbor had whispered to him to act thus, &quot;for it would not 

 be discovered.&quot; (30:177.) A woman told Paul Egede that 

 she had stolen a knife from a ship; but she became dizzy, as 

 a result of her act she thought, and went back and put the 

 knife where she had taken it. Another Eskimo interjected 

 that he had stolen many times from the Dutch and had always 

 felt well afterwards. But then he did not think God cared 

 for the Dutch, nor they for him; they did not say grace at 



