Ill 



Eskimo are said by Nelson to have chosen leaders for their 

 tribal fights. When a shaman is also headman of a village, he is 

 quite a powerful personage, but may be deposed or killed if he 

 plays the tyrant. The office is not hereditary, unless the son of the 

 headman shows equal merit. The office often passes from one 

 family to another and entails the rather burdensome duty of 

 feasting the villagers occasionally to keep them in good humor. 



BIRTH. 



When an Eskimo mother's time draws near, an old woman 

 who handles the birth cases in the village will be seen leaving 

 her home and taking her way to the sick one's iglu. She has in 

 her hand a small sealskin thong, knotted and looped at the end. 

 When she arrives at the prospective mother's home, the latter is 

 made to kneel down on the floor of the iglu. The old woman ties 

 the cord tightly around her waist. She then takes her position 

 back of the kneeling woman, locks her two hands in front of the 

 latter, and exerts a powerful downward pressure. 



During the operation a shaman may be assisting by singing 

 and drumming to strengthen the mother, either at his home or in 

 the house where the birth takes place. Some shamans even 

 attempt to act as midwives, but their efforts usually end in 

 disaster. Hence cases are usually left to the old women, who 

 seem to have a good understanding of their work and are uni- 

 formly successful. 



As soon as the babe is born, the old woman picks it up, 

 blows in its mouth, and shakes it gently to make it cry, and as 

 soon as a wail breaks forth, begins a song intended to make it a 

 strong and powerful hunter, if a boy, or an industrious, fruitful 

 woman, if a girl. The umbilical cord is cut, and the ends tied 

 with sinew and carefully dusted with powdered charcoal, an 

 operation which is repeated every day until it heals. The babe 

 is then placed to the breast of the mother. If it refuses the breast 

 a piece of seal fat is thrust into its mouth, with a stick across to 

 prevent its choking the child. This furnishes nourishment and 

 also acts as a necessary purgative. 



