PEEFACE 



fishing, cooking, or of clothing themselves must 

 be done in a prescribed way or it is " taboo " or 

 " hoodoo " as the negroes say. When you read 

 " The Baby Eskimo " you will see just a tiny bit 

 of the hardships, but I should not like to tell you 

 how much more terrible a time he might have 

 had, if he had happened to be a girl baby. 



By referring to the Table of Contents you will 

 note that the first group of tales were told by the 

 Central Eskimo. The second group were de- 

 rived from the Eskimo living along Bering 

 Strait, to the west; and it is interesting to com- 

 pare many of these folk tales along similar sub- 

 jects. 



The writer is indebted to the Sixth Ethnolog- 

 ical Report, issued by the U. S. Government, 

 for many of the legends found in the Central 

 Eskimo group ; and to the Eighteenth Report for 

 many of those from Bering Strait. She wishes 

 to express her thanks for this invaluable and 

 unique material. 



iv 



