SUPERSTITIONS OF THE ESKIMO 



the year was experienced, that this party was almost en- 

 tirely without any artificial heat whatever, that the violence 

 of the exercise in the exciting chase produced ravenous 

 appetites and that their predominant thought was food. 



It may be incidentally mentioned in this connection that 

 the personnel of the Point Barrow Expedition consumed 

 about one and one-half times as much food, and perhaps 

 three times as much water while in the arctic region as 

 would naturally satisfy their normal hunger and thirst 

 when in the States. And, had the sole object of the ex- 

 peditionary force been engaged in the chase under Eskimo 

 conditions, their average amount of food consumed would 

 no doubt have compared favorably with that given above 

 for each Eskimo. 



After the return from the caribou chase the Eskimo be- 

 gin making preparations for whaling, and by the first of 

 May they are generally upon the ice looking for whales. 

 During the whaling season they live principally in their 

 boats, as their superstition interferes with the building of 

 ice-houses upon the ocean ice and forbids any sleeping, 

 heating or cooking outfit or even a change of clothing. 

 Any such comforts or emergency preparations on the part 

 of the Eskimo would greatly displease the whales and cause 

 them to pass into the Arctic Ocean far out from the Alaskan 

 coast. The stone spear, which requires considerably more 

 force to penetrate the whale's skin and is less sure of suc- 

 cess than the iron or steel spear, must be first used by 

 these people in striking a whale, simply because their fath- 

 ers and grandfathers before them used stone toggle har- 

 poons. Whales, which otherwise might be captured, are 

 lost to the Eskimo by his not using, through superstitious 

 fear, the steel harpoon. After they succeed in fastening to 

 a whale they can, without offending their forefathers, use 

 the modernized harpoon. It may be pertinent in connec- 

 tion with this subject to mention the fact, which is perhaps 

 not generally known, that the modern harpoon used by 

 our whalers to-day is fashioned after the style of the primi- 

 tive stone toggle harpoon of the Alaskan Eskimo. The 

 harpoon irons used by our whalers when they first went into 

 Bering's Sea and the Arctic Ocean would not hold, and 

 in consequence a large percentage of the whales that were 



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