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legend is found in practically every Eskimo tribe, while the 

 belief in Tornga'rsoak as the chief or most dreaded spirit is 

 found in Greenland and Labrador, and in different forms on 

 the west coast of Hudson bay and in Bering strait. The belief 

 of the male deity appears to have been intensified in the eastern 

 regions, and of the female deity in the central. In the west, 

 the old religion has broken down and new ideas have been adop- 

 ted by the Alaskan Eskimo from the Indians of the northwest 

 coast and by the Asiatic Eskimo from the Chukchee. Yet 

 Eskimo conservatism is such that the Eskimo of Indian point 

 (Siberia) still sacrifice to the Old Woman (Nulirah) of the Sea, 

 and the island Eskimo of Bering strait to Kacak, the male 

 deity corresponding to Tornga'rsoak. 



THE INUA AND TORNAIT. 



The Eskimo believe that not only all animals but also any 

 prominent physiographical feature, such as a rock, point, cove, 

 or mountain, is inhabited by a spiritual counterpart, the inua, 

 the genius or thinking spirit of the object or spot. This is the 

 third person possessive form of inuk, man, and means literally 

 "its man," which perhaps expresses the idea as well as it can be 

 explained. This belief is illustrated in the dance masks of the 

 Alaska Eskimo, which are often made double, with the outer 

 portion showing the animal form and the inner mask the inua. 

 The illusion is completed by having the outer mask hinged, 

 so that the inua can be revealed at will. The idea is also prom- 

 inent in Alaskan mythology, where animals change from their 

 own shape to that of men by the simple expedient of pushing 

 up their beaks or muzzles. 



There is another class of spirits, sometimes disembodied, 

 sometimes associated with strange and terrifying forms, more 

 or less under the control of the shamans. These are called the 

 Tornait 1 ; singular, Torngak (northern Labrador and Baffin 

 island), Tungak (Ungava and southern Labrador), Tungak 

 (Alaska), which perhaps originally meant nothing more than 

 "spirit," but in missionary accounts becomes "devil." The 

 Tornait are malignant spirits who are to be propitiated. 



1 Tungat, South Labrador. 



