135 



The twitching of the eyelids {ci'akuk) is said to indicate 

 that a stranger is coming. 



On long trips, if one wears a pair of tiny boots on the back 

 of the a"'tige, the owner's boots will not wear out. 



In making a soapstone lamp or kettle, if a small model is 

 made, the large lamp or kettle will last as long as the little model 

 does not crack nor break. 



Walrus must be cut up at the ice edge {se'n-a'). 



A young hunter must share his first seal with everyone in the 

 village. 



The Eskimo have certain ideas, incipient proverbs, as it were 

 which crystallize on occasion into speech. One of these is that 

 a person who encounters considerable hardship in life will live 

 a long life, perhaps through the training itself, perhaps as a 

 recompense. I have heard it expressed as follows in contrary 

 weather, "He who encounters head winds will live a long life." 



Another idea is that those who are "wished" a long life will 

 live to be very old. 



A child who does not obey his parents willingly, will make 

 a "bad-hearted" man, i.e., a murderer. 



A man who catches a strangely marked animal in his traps 

 will soon die. 



A man who boasts will soon be made ashamed. A bully 

 will always meet his match. 



FETISHES AND AMULETS. 



There appears to be among the Labrador Eskimo the idea 

 that not only the shaman, but every person, has his individual 

 familiar spirit,^ whose assistance is sought in hunting and other 

 ventures. This is embodied in the material form of a doll or 

 doll's head, which is carried somewhere about the person, often 

 around the neck. When an Eskimo has a long streak of bad 

 luck, he attributes it to his fetish and tries to get rid of it by passing 

 it along to someone else. This must be done without the knowl- 

 edge of the recipient, else it will be of no avail. I procured two 



1 I have used this term instead of "guardian spirit" because the idea appears to be different 

 from that commonly given the latter. 



