THE ALPINE ZONE OF MOUNT ST. ELIAS. 81 



rather encourages it for the sake of the romance. He gives shght 

 attention to augurs or omens ; he ventures out in search of food 

 ahke under all sorts of varying conditions of health and weather ; he 

 has a few charms or amulets, but does not surrender to them by 

 any means. Shamans, or sorcerers, never have had the influence 

 with him that they have exerted in the barbarism of our own ances- 

 try, and which they possess among the savages of Central and South 

 America and Africa to-day. It is no solution of this difference in 

 disposition to call him stupid, for it is not true ; he is far more 

 alert, mentally, than the ghost-ridden Australian, or fetich-slave of 

 Africa ; and, again, the sun-worshipping and intensely superstitious 

 Incas were far superior, intellectually, to him. 



Most of the Innuits give hardly a thought to the subject, yet 

 they are exceedingly vivacious and social among themselves ; much 

 more so than the Indians. They relate a great many supernatural 

 stories, but it is only in amusement, and it seldom ever provokes 

 serious attention. 



