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he is not sorry. Grave clothes are prepared when the end is 

 thought to be near (and the Eskimo have an almost unerring 

 sense in detecting the approach of death), and the body stript 

 and clothed anew. The material is always of the heaviest 

 winter reindeer skins. If the patient unexpectedly recovers, 

 the clothes must be given away. I knew a village loafer who got 

 a beautiful pair of white reindeer skin trousers from the old 

 headman on such an occasion. 



The body is usually buried the day after the death. At 

 night a watch is set over the corpse, at which someone acts as 

 company to the nearest relative, lest the corpse might over- 

 power him. There seems to be an idea prevalent among the 

 Eskimo that until it is properly buried the corpse is liable to 

 work harm on anyone. All except the relatives are forbidden 

 to touch a dead body, and all who assist in the burial must stop 

 up the left nostril with reindeer moss to avert the evil influence. 



At night the cause of his sickness is inquired of the deceased 

 by divining or head-lifting. This ceremony is performed by 

 the nearest relative, and consists in passing a band around the 

 head and lifting it. The corpse is questioned as the head is 

 raised. If it is light, the answer is in the negative; if heavy, 

 it is an affirmative response. I suspect that sometimes the head 

 becomes heavy when an affirmative is desired. 



After burial, the shaman who officiates calls the spirit of 

 the dead, and inquires of his welfare for the benefit of the rest 

 of the people. Spirits who have recently passed away are sup- 

 posed to be in closer relation to the living, and hence better 

 prophets of good huntings, etc. At such times it is occasionally 

 revealed that some one had bewitched the dead and thus caused 

 his sickness and death. The offender is killed by his relatives. 

 Quite often a serious illness is attributed to the machinations 

 of a neighbouring angekok. There is nothing to do in such 

 cases except to fight him with local magic. Such a case came 

 to my attention in Bering strait. An Eskimo girl who was sick 

 could keep nothing on her stomach. The cause was attributed 

 to a spirit(tungak)sent by another shaman to inhabit her stomach. 

 As fast as she swallowed her food it was pushed up by this "devil." 

 Five local shamans could not overcome the spell of the stranger. 



