SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO 



he must put forth extra strength and endurance in the 

 struggle against the rigors of frost during the winter seal- 

 ing season, for if he be foiled in his attempts at capture 

 and the " output " be small, he must suffer in consequence. 

 An Eskimo being asked whether his hands did not get 

 very cold and the night seem long while he was engaged 

 in fishing his nets for the capture of seal, replied, that if he 

 took a few seal his hands got very cold and it required a 

 long time for the star Arcturus to move from the northern 

 horizon, where it appears in the evening, to the southern 

 horizon, where it is seen in the morning; but if he took 

 many seal he did not mind the cold and Arcturus passed 

 too quickly to the south. It was a common occurrence 

 during the arctic night for these natives to come with badly 

 frost-bitten faces to our station from their sealing grounds, 

 where in the deceptive flush of success they had remained 

 too long, to receive at the hands of our surgeon a gratis 

 and grateful application of iodine to ease their pain and 

 prevent the frost-bitten sores from spreading. It is a mis- 

 take to ascribe to these Eskimo the quality of drowsiness, 

 sleepiness, or inactivity. 



Unlike the people of tropical zones, where, Edenlike, the 

 sheltering tree drops food, and the little nourishment essen- 

 tial to life may be obtained by only stretching forth the 

 hand and plucking it, the Eskimo must maintain a continu- 

 ous struggle for the necessaries of life. At the close of the 

 winter sealing season, which is about coincident with the 

 end of the 72 days arctic night, they journey into the in- 

 terior for caribou and fish, and for about two months, 

 February and March, while engaged in the caribou chase 

 and in gill-net fishing through the river ice, they live in 

 snow houses, temporarily and rudely constructed for the 

 occasion. 



Fishing gill-nets through holes cut in the river ice, from 

 six to eight feet in thickness, while strictly speaking it 

 cannot be considered commercial fishing, since with the 

 Eskimo it is done for home consumption only, yet cannot 

 by any possible construction be classed as pleasure fishing. 

 Hunting deer in this level country, wholly devoid of trees 

 and shrubbery, where the caribou can see his would-be 

 slayer when he is miles away, and can scent him equally far 



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