133 



"An Eskimo stretched himself on his back on the floor; one 

 of his bows was laid across his legs and tied fast to his left leg; a 

 woman sat on his right side and laid his right leg over his left, by 

 which the bow and string were moved. The moving of the 

 string was regarded as an affirmative answer." 



HEAD-LIFTING. 



When in northern Labrador a man kills a white whale, 

 he must sleep the night following with his head off the platform. 

 For this purpose a band is passed around his head, and fastened 

 by a sealskin thong to the roof above the sleeping platform. Is 

 this a relic of the ancient ceremony of head-lifting ? The in- 

 formation came from the "heathen" tribe of Nachvak. 



TABOOS. 



Most of the taboos among the Eskimo have reference to the 

 absolute separation of sea and land foods or to the avoidance by 

 the hunter of catamenial contamination, which would render him 

 visible to game. The former have mainly to do with the deer and 

 the seal, the meat of which must not be eaten together, but has 

 been further specialized in Labrador so as to separate the walrus 

 from the seal. The whale is included in the taboo against 

 mixing the food of sea and land animals, which is extended to 

 include any parts of the two animals, or even a weapon wrapped 

 with sinew. The infringement of the food taboos are punished 

 with severity. An informant told me about a young Eskimo 

 girl who lived at George river (Ungava), who persisted in eating 

 deer meat and seal meat together. She was banished from her 

 village in the dead of winter. She was found in the interior, 

 in a famishing condition, by another tribe. They allowed her 

 to live with them, but she never visited her native home, nor 

 would she have been allowed to do so. 



The food taboos are as follows: 



Reindeer meat and seal meat must never be cooked or eaten 

 together. 



This taboo also applies to seal meat and walrus meat (east 

 coast of Labrador). 



