62 G. Holm. 



In order that the pregnant wife may get sufficient exercise in 

 winter, she is often ordered by her husband to dance. This dance 

 consists mainly of a rocking and rotating motion of the hips, 

 which the dancer accompanies by beating a drum and singing. 

 During the time when the wife is pregnant, she must cook her food 

 herself in her own bowl. This custom is kept up till within two 

 months after the birth. On one occasion when there was a scar- 

 cit}!' of food in our neighbouring house, and our kaiaker had caught 

 a seal, a pregnant wife sent to ask us if she might have a rib, but 

 as the meat was already in our pots, she was not permitted to eat 

 any of it. 



When a birth is impending, all the men and big children go 

 out of the house, if the weather permits of it. Those w^ho remain 

 in the house put on their old garments, 'in order that the child 

 may be a boy'. An elderly woman assists at the birth, during w^hich 

 the pregnant woman lies on her hands and feet, sometimes on her 

 back. The navel string is either cut with a sharp shell or is bitten 

 in two by the mother herself. The baby is then washed in urine, 

 after which the mother passes her finger, which she has previously 

 dipped in water, over the baby's mouth, at the same time naming 

 the names of the dead after whom the child is to be called, begin- 

 ning with the last person who has died in the district. The child 

 is not actually called by these names, but receives a nickname. 

 The significance of the mouth being touched with water (which 

 takes place with the ring-finger if it is a boy, and with the first 

 finger if it is a girl) is that the child is to gain its livelihood from 

 the sea. The first time the mother eats after the birth, the baby 

 receives a small share. If the food eaten is a sea-animal or a sea- 

 plant, the mother uses henceforward some salt water in cooking 

 the food; if, on the other hand, it is a land animal or a land plant, 

 the food is cooked exclusively in fresh water. When the birth is 

 over, all furs, and all wall- and platform-skins are washed, and all 

 the gut-skins are removed from the windows. If the child is ill, 

 the skins are taken off and are washed out-of-doors. 



It is by no means a rare occurrence for misshapen children 

 to be born. The latter, as well as sick children (who are supposed 

 to be unable to survive), and children whose mother dies in child- 

 birth and whom there is none to suckle, are left to perish on the 

 ground outside or are thrown into the sea. An instance came to 

 our knowledge of a pregnant woman who out of impatience 

 thumped herself on the belly at the time of the birth, thus 

 causing the death of the child. This was a source of great annoy- 

 ance to the others. 



