186 THE HUDSON BAY ESKIMO. 



years begin to show the result of their arduous life by the appearance 

 of wrinkles, haggarduess, aud general breaking down, which, although 

 it may progress slowly, is seldom recovered from. 



Like the rest of the Iiniuit, the KoksoagmjTit are usually peaceful 

 aud mild tempered. Among themselves affrays are of rare occurrence. 

 Jealousy arouses the worst passions, and the murder of the offender is 

 generally the result. When a person becomes so bad in character that 

 the community will no longer tolerate his presence he is forbidden to 

 enter the huts, partake of food, or hold any intercourse with the rest. 

 Nevertheless, as long as he threatens no one's life, but little attention 

 is paid to him. Should he be guilty of a murder, several men watch 

 their opi^ortunity to surprise him and put him to death, usually by ston- 

 ing. The executioners make no concealment of their action, and are 

 supported by public opinion in the community. 



In the case of a premeditated murder, it is the duty of the next of 

 kin to avenge the deed, though years may i^ass, while the murderer 

 pursues his usual occupations undisturbed, before an opportunity 

 occurs to the relative for taking him by surprise. Sometimes the victim 

 is not overcome and turns upon the assailant and kills him. The man, 

 now guilty of two murders, is suffered to live only at the pleasure of 

 the people, who soon decree his death. That murder is not approved, 

 either by the individual or the community, is well attested by the fact 

 that the island of Akpatok is now tabooed since the murder of part of 

 the crew of a wrecked vessel, who camped on that island. Such a ter- 

 rible scene was too much, even for them ; and now not a soul visits 

 that locality, lest the ghosts of the victims should appear and suppli- 

 cate relief from the natives, who have not the proper offerings to make 

 to appease them. 



Aged people who have no relatives on whom they may depend for 

 subsistence are often quietly put to death. "When an old woman, for 

 instance, becomes a burden to the community it is usual for her to be 

 neglected until so weak from want of food that she will be unable to 

 keep up with the people, who suddenly are seized with a desire to 

 remove to a distant locality. If she regains their camp, well for her; 

 otherwise, she struggles along until exhausted and soon perishes. 

 Sometimes three or four of the males retrace their steps to recover a 

 lost whip or a forgotten ammunition bag. They rarely go farther than 

 where they find the helpless person, and if their track be followed it 

 will be found that the corpse has stones piled around it and is bound 

 with thongs. 



An old woman at Fort Chimo had but one eye, and this was con- 

 tinually sore and very annoying to the people with whom she lived. 

 They proposed to strangle her to relieve her from her misery. The 

 next morning the eye was mucli better and the proposed cure was 

 postponed. 



Cases of suicide are not rare, considering the few people of that 



