SUPERSTITIONS 



" killangme " (in heaven) instead of " kollane " (in the 

 attic) ; but for weeks and weeks Sarah chewed that 

 joke, and used to burst out laughing as soon as 

 she saw me. 



Work among the Eskimos was, to me, a very 

 fascinating thing. It is not all easy nay, it can 

 be trying and discouraging often enough. There 

 is the touch of fatalism to combat ; it is deep-rooted 

 in the Eskimo nature. When disaster overtakes 

 a man, he simply says " Ajornarmat " (it cannot be 

 helped); and he generally says it without any re- 

 sentment. But sanitary reforms caused a raising 

 of eyebrows. " No," said the people, " that is not 

 the way we do: our fathers never did that: it is 

 not a custom of the people." 



Impatience is another hindrance. The people 

 willingly take to reforms of which they can see the 

 immediate benefit; but a teacher must be very 

 patient and unwearyingly persistent if he wishes 

 them to adopt habits of which the benefit is more 

 remote. Impatience and fatalism go hand in hand : 

 the Eskimos will stick to their own old ways unless 

 they can be made to see that other ways are 

 better ; and unless the innovations are plainly better 

 to Eskimo eyes they take to them without 

 enthusiasm. 



I got many a glimpse of native impatience in 

 the hospital out-patients' room ; even the medicines, 

 they thought, must work quickly. 



The young fellow with the paralysed leg, who 

 came to have the electric battery applied, got tired 

 of it after a few mornings, and stayed away. When 

 we had him fetched he said, " Tukkekangilak (there 

 is no sense in it) ; I have had it several times, and 



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