VII 



THE "ONGOOTKOOT" 



The "Ongootkoot" is the sorcerer, prophet and 

 historian. He claims to have the power of expelling 

 "Toongna" by his enchantments, and can do such 

 marvelous things as change the wind, drive off 

 eclipses, avert or drive off misfortunes and expel the 

 evil one from the sick. There are two ways of be- 

 coming an "Ongootkoot" — one is by inheritance, 

 the other by claiming to have performed some mar- 

 velous act. The Polar inhabitants are a primitive, 

 confiding people, so when one claims to have per- 

 formed an act contrary to the laws of nature, there 

 are no questions asked or inquiry made; the state- 

 ment is simply accepted as a truth. 



At one time long ago there lived a villager who 

 had lost both his feet. He, being an invalid, re- 

 mained in his iglo, simply existing as an object of 

 charity to the neighbors, who were in the habit of 

 supplying him with food. During the fall of the 

 year, when the weather was growing cold, there 

 occurred an eclipse of the sun, at the same time a 

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