THE ESKIMOS: THEIR RELIGION 43 



said, had fallen down from heaven. We use the 

 phrase " it is raining cats and dogs." Is there 

 any connection between this and Eskimo ideas ? 

 Possibly some, though probably not many, among 

 us hope to find heaven very thickly populated with 

 our domestic pets. 



These fat animals, however, are special foretastes 

 of what is coming. They are samples of the heavenly 

 seals and reindeer. The ordinary sea monsters which 

 the Eskimos hunt day by day have a lower, an earthly 

 or watery origin, as we have already seen. 



Another interesting feature in the creed of the 

 Eskimo is a shadow of the doctrine of propitiation 

 by means of sacrifice. 



On the north-eastern shores of Hudson's Bay, 

 parts of an animal killed in the chase are cut off, 

 and the Eskimos speak of this slain one's akkinga 

 [i.e. its pay or ransom], and it is considered to be 

 a means of appeasing the creature for the life taken. 



This has doubtless a reference to the spirit or in- 



r 



nua of the animal 



Again, in Hudson's Bay, in cases of sickness, the 

 angakok questions the sick man as to his past life 

 and deeds, and, after receiving the confession, 

 he will order one of the sick man's dogs to be slain, 

 in the evident belief that the life of the dog makes an 

 atonement for the man's evil deeds, and that atone 

 ment having been made, the sick man will recover. 



" I have known," writes Mr. Peck in this con- 



