440) THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
Nu-na’ hlukh'-tuk is the Unalit name for a spot of ground where 
certain things are tabooed, or where there is to be feared any evil 
influence caused by the presence of offended shades of men or animals, 
or through the influence of other supernatural means. This ground 
is sometimes considered unclean, and to go upon it would bring mis- 
fortune to the offender, producing sickness, death, or lack of success in 
hunting or fishing. The same term is also applied to ground where 
certain animals have been killed or have died. 
Under the latter circumstance the ground is not considered danger- 
ous unless a person performs there some forbidden act. The ground 
about the place on the shore where a dead white whale has been beached 
is so regarded. At such atime to chop wood with an iron ax is sup- 
posed to produce death. The same result is said to follow the cutting 
of wood with an iron ax near where salmon are being dressed. 
An old man at St Michael told me that he knew of a case in which 
an Eskimo began to chop a log near a woman who was splitting salmon, 
and both of them died soon afterward. The cause of this, he said, was 
that the inua of the salmon and the yu-a of the ground did not like 
it and became angry. 
When offenses of this 
kind are committed evy- 
ery one present is sup- 
posed to die. If one or 
more people die sudden- 
ly of any strange or un- 
usual disease, the occu- 
pants of the dwelling 
immediately forsake it, 
saying that the place is bad. I saw places of this kind on the Yukon, 
and a group of four houses were pointed out on the shore of Kotzebue 
sound that had been deserted by the people because a woman had died 
there in this manner. 
This evil influence in certain spots may be brought about by witch- 
craft, and while shamans may sometimes succeed in counteracting it, 
the danger is regarded as great and may even kill the priests as weil 
as other people. 
There are other kinds of uncleanness which are less serious, but which 
produce sickness or bad luck in hunting. These consist of a kind of 
invisible, impaipable atmosphere like a vapor, which may attach itself 
to a person from some contamination. If a hunter gets in this condi- 
tion he becomes much more than ordinarily visible to game, so that his 
success in the chase is destroyed until he succeeds in becoming clean 
once more. During menstruation women are considered unclean and 
hunters must avoid them or become unable to secure game. During 
the period that the bladders are in the kashim the hunters avoid all 
intercourse with women, saying that if they fail in this respect the 
shades will be offended. 
Fie. 152—Whale fetich of wood (3). 
