432 Tin; I'OINT BAKROW ESKIMO. 



A|(|Kiiciitl.v ••tiuiiia III coincrsalio 



faiuiliar spirits. For iiistanci'. in (Irccnland, ac( urdiiii;' to Rink,' a 

 ojin-t •■nianirfsts hinisflf by wiiistliuii' or siiiiiiiis in tlic cars." Now, 

 I.ii'iil. ii'a.N "as walkin.u rapidlx' one da\ in the winter witli an Eskimo 

 and his wile, anil tin- woman suddenly stopjH'd and said slie " heard 

 t,ii.fi;i" tliat lie made a noise like siiKjhKj in the ears. 



The people j^enerally liave a great dread of "tu-Bna," who they say 

 would kill them, and arc very averse to iioing out alone in the dark. 

 One of each i)arty tliat came over from the village in the evening usu- 

 ally carried a drawn knife, i)referal)ly one of the large double-edged 

 knives, siipiiosed to be .Siberian and already described, in his hand as 

 ilcli'iise a^^aiiist tiinna, and a drawn knife was sometimes even carried 

 in the dayli,i;lit '•naiiiiniiinlu tiii'.riaiiuinln," "for bear and demon." Not- 

 witlistaiidiiigtlieir apparently genuine dread of "tuBna," they are by no 

 means averse to talking or even joking about him. 



The knife also serves as a protection against the aurora, which most 

 of tliem agree is bad, and when bright likely to kill a (lerson by strik- 

 ing liim in the back of the neck. However, brandishing the knife at 

 it will keep it olf. Hesides, as a woman told me one night, you can 

 dii\c otf a ■hail" annua by throwing at it dog's excrement and urine. '^ 



l.ieni. Kay saw in one of the houses in Utkaiwin, a contrivance for 

 frightening away a -'tuiiria" from the entrance to a house should he try 

 to get in. The man had hung in the trai)door the handle of a seal-drag 

 by Tncans of a t hong spiked to the wall with a large knife, and told Lieut. 

 Kay that if "tuiiha" tried to get into the house he would undoubtedly 

 catch hold of the handle to help himself up, which would pull down the 

 knife upon his head and frighten him off. We never had an opportu- 

 nity of witnessing the ceremony of summoning "tuijiia," nor did weaver 

 he ir oitlie ceieiiiony taking place during our stay at the station, but 

 we were loiti mate enough to observ(^ several other ]ierformaiiees. though 

 the.\ do not ajipear to be freciuent. The ceremony of healing the sick 

 and the ceremonies (■onnected with the whale-lishery have already been 



deseribeil. 



On the :.Mst i>t Febinary. ISS,!, Lieut, liay and Cajit. Ilereiideen hap- 

 pened tn be at Ih.. village .,n time to seethe tiicfia, who had been 

 <'aiisiiigtlie bad weal her. expelleil from the village. .Some of the natives 

 said the next day that they had l.illnl the tunna. but they said at the 

 .same time he had gone '■ a hnig way otf." When Lieut. Ray reached 



; (Tales. 



