THE ESKIMOS : THEIR RELIGION 33 



tive position of propitiation rather than with any 

 positive reverence or love for God or gods. The 

 cause of this is perhaps that the world is regarded 

 as governed by supernatural powers, each of which 

 is the owner of some particular object, or animal, 

 or passion. The unseen owner is the innua. We 

 have had this word before as applied to the Eskimos 

 by themselves. Now the innua seems to have a 

 very intimate connection with its object, just as 

 the soul with the body, and, supernatural though 

 it is, it seems very ready to take offence if all its 

 prejudices are not strictly regarded. And so the 

 religion of these people consists chiefly in the 

 observance of a vast number of taboos, wearing 

 of charms, and other superstitious practices in 

 order to avert misfortune. 



A very long list of the taboos might be written, 

 but let a few, enumerated by Dr. Boas, suffice : 



" No work on seal-skins must be done during 

 the caribou hunting season. Seal-meat and caribou 

 meat must not be eaten on the same day." 



" Hair of caribou-skins must not be cut during 

 the musk-ox hunting season." 



" The tusks of walrus caught during the winter 

 must not be taken out of the skulls until the latter 

 part of April." 



" A person who has recently lost a relative by 

 death must not pluck ducks, else the birds will keep 



away from the hunters." 



3 



