ETHNOLOGY. 45 



As a rule, they are not kind to the aged or feeble. We know of ono 

 instance where an old cripple, who had no one who would recognize his 

 authority, was obliged to go sealing for himself. He had but one dog, 

 and no sled ; so, taking a seal-skin and allowing the dog to drag it, he 

 was conveyed to the sealing- ground on this novel conveyance. There 

 were every day large sleds leaving the encampment, but no one offered 

 to help the old man, as there was no prospect of his being able to recip- 

 rocate the favor. 



Among their many superstitious notions, the wearing of charms about 

 the person is one of the most curious. These are called amgoouk, or 

 am-usit) and may be nothing but pieces of bone or wood, birds 7 bills or 

 claws, or an animal's teeth or skin. To these charms they attribute 

 supernatural powers, and believe them to be able to keep the wearer 

 from sickness or misfortune. It is a common custom for the wife to 

 throw a piece of seal's blubber on her husband's kyack when he is about 

 to go hunting ; this will give him success. Little strips of deer-skin are 

 hung about the person in different places to insure success in some under- 

 taking or to ward off some misfortune, real or imaginary. We discov- 

 ered one of these charms, which seemed to possess unusual interest. It 

 was worn by a little girl about eight years old. She had a small envel- 

 ope of seal-skin that was worn on the back of her inside jacket. We 

 succeeded in bribing her grandmother to show us the contents of the 

 envelope, which proved to be two small stones, the one a bluish flint, the 

 other apparently meteoric iron. The tradition connected with thes<3 

 stones, the grandmother said, is that a very long time ago an Eskimo, 

 from whom she was a lineal descendant, had discovered the iron, and 

 had picked up a stone to break a piece off and lake home with him; 

 but when he struck the iron fire flew from it, and he soon learned how 

 to make use of this accidental discovery, and became a great man among 

 the people. At this point we lost the thread of the old woman's narrative, 

 and all we could further learn was that these two small pieces had been 

 preserved in the family for successive generations, and were inherited by 

 her from her mother, and that she had now given them to her grandchild, 

 the child's mother being dead. The child will in turn give it to her 

 children. She thought this charm of inestimable value, and could not 

 be induced to part with it, for, she said, " 3sTo one has yet died while 

 wearing this charm." 



Another charm of great value to the mother who has a young babe 

 is the canine tooth of the polar bear. This is used as a kind of clasp to 



