Dec. 9, 1 875 J 



NATURE 



105 



I 



I 



nation, and many of them Dr. Rink believes to be far 

 older than a thousand years. Probably they originated 

 when the Eskimo lived together before their migrations 

 began, and while it is not unlikely that most of them took 

 their rise in some actual incident, they have all evidently 

 been much changed and elaborated by the introduction 

 of the mythical and supernatural. The second class are 

 limited to certain parts of the country, or even to certain 

 people related to each other, " thus presenting the cha- 

 racter of family records." But the recent, like the ancient, 

 tales have ail more or less of the mythical element in 

 them, and indeed it is mainly from the tales and tradi- 

 tions as a whole that a knowledge of the elaborate and 

 intricate Eskimo mytholog}- has been obtained. The 

 Eskimo have peopled the air, the earth, and the sea with 

 a multitude of supernatural beings ; they live as much in 

 an unseen, but to them real and populous, world, as they 

 do among the hard realities of their land and seas. It 

 is very characteristic of them that they have placed their 

 heaven where we have placed our " bad bit," as they call 

 it in Galloway, under the earth, as being so much warmer 

 than the ungenial sky, to which their wicked are con- 

 demned to freeze eternally. Of the comparatively modern 

 tales a very few relate to the collision which took place 

 in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries between the 

 Eskimo and the Icelandic colonists who had been settled 

 in South Greenland since the eleventh 'century. One 

 relates to two Eskimo who were taken to Europe by 

 some of the early explorers of Greenland, and in both 

 cases the mythical has been largely introduced, affording a 

 good example of how these stories have grown, and show 

 ing that while a basis of truth exists in the older stories, 

 the older they are the more difficult it would be to get at it. 

 While many of the stories are really interesting, there 

 is a great deal of sameness about most of them. Many 

 of them relate to feats of strength, which, formerly at 

 least, seem to have been much admired by the Eskimo. 

 Indeed, it is evident that it was no uncommon thing 

 among them for meft to go through a regular and well- 

 devised system of " training " in order to develop 

 muscle and endurance. A large number of them 

 relate to the means adopted by the people to carry 

 on the struggle for existence both against the stern 

 powers of nature that everjwhere meet them and 

 against the cunning and competition of their fellows. 

 The satisfaction of revenge and spite form the subject of 

 many, as also the sacrifices made by friend for friend 

 and by the members of a family for each other. Alto- 

 gether they show the Eskimo to be on the whole gentle, 

 hardy, hospitable, capable of strong attachment, but often 

 capriciously revengeful and spiteful, even to his dearest 

 Viend. There is verj' little of the tender element of 

 ove in these stories, an element which figures so pro- 

 rainently in the folk-lore of most other nations. These 

 stories also show that the Eskimo have the poetic tem- 

 perament in a very fair degree, though most of them are 

 artless enough, and many of them quite objectless and 

 tame in the result. They very frequently remind us of 

 the Brownie tales of Scotland, and some fragments of 

 poetry which Dr. Rink gives, have quite an Ossianic 

 I ring about them. The best complete stories are much 

 I too long to permit of our extracting one here, though 

 the following short one is a fair example : — 



" The inlanders and the coast-people in the beginning 

 were friends. A servant-maid called Navaranak used to 

 be sent out by the inlanders to the coast-people in order 

 to fetch back 7natak (edible whale-skin), and in exchange 

 brought them reindeer-tallow ; but after a time she grew 

 weary of this work, and resolved to free herself by making 

 them enemies. For this purpose she told the inlanders 

 that the coast-people were going to attack them, and to 

 the coasters she asserted that the inlanders were making 

 ready to invade them. At length she provoked the 

 inlanders to such a degree that they resolved upon 

 attacking the coast-people. They chose a time when they 

 were well aware that the men had all gone out hunting, 

 and, accompanied by Navaranak, fell upon the helpless 

 women and children. In their fright some of the mothers 

 killed their own children, but one woman who was preg- 

 nant fled down beneath the ledge ; and when Navaranak 

 was sent back by the inlanders to find her out, she pro- 

 mised her all she possessed not to betray her. Some also 

 escaped by hiding themselves among the rocks, but all 

 the rest were kiUed. When the men returned, those who 

 were left alive ran down and told them what had hap- 

 pened ; and on coming up from the beach to their houses 

 and beholding all their dead, the men were almost 

 desperate. When the time came for flensing and cutting 

 up the whale, Navaranak did not arrive as usual ; she 

 seemed to have disappeared altogether. W'hen summer 

 had again come round, the men prepared a great many 

 arrows, and set out for the interior to take revenge on the 

 inlanders. On their way they called out, as was their 

 wont, " Navaranak, come on ; we have got matak for 

 thee I '■' but no one appeared. Again they went on a good 

 distance, and then repeatedly called out, *' Navaranak," 

 &c. And this time she answered the summons, and went 

 up to them. On noticing their arrows, she was about to 

 take flight. Reassuring her, however, they told her she 

 had no need to do that. When she had ventured quite 

 close to them, they asked her where her countrjmen were 

 to be found, and she said, " Further away in the interior 

 of the country ; " but now they made her fast to a rope, 

 and dragged her along with them until she perished. At 

 length they arrived at a very large lake, where the tents 

 of the inlanders were pitched all around, and they saw 

 people going out and in. But they waited till all had 

 entered the tents, and then they made their attack. 

 Arrows came flying from both sides ; but those of the 

 inlanders soon grew fewer in number, and the coast-people 

 remained all unwounded. When they had done with the 

 men, they went inside, killing women and children ; and 

 having thus satisfied their revenge, returned to their 

 homes. 



There can be no doubt about the scientific value of 

 this addition to our Arctic literature. To anyone who 

 wishes to have a succinct and trustworthy account of all 

 that is known of the Eskimo, we could not recommend a 

 better work- The tales themselves are perfectly novel, 

 and many of them quite interesting enough and full of 

 queer adventure to become favourites with omnivorous 

 boyhood and even dainty girlhood. 



The illustrations, all things considered, are creditable 

 to the native artists who drew and engraved them. By 

 the kindness of the publishers we are able to reproduce a 

 specimen. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 



A Report on Trichinosis as observed in Dearborn Co. 

 Jnd., in 1874. By George Sutton, M.D., Aurora, Ind 

 (Reprinted from the Transactions of the Indiana State 

 Medical Society, 1875.) 



The literature of Trichinosis bids fair to become co- 



