106 G. Holm. 



out that only the skeleton is left. It is the lamp of the Sun, which 

 is visible to mortals and gives warmth to the earth. 



According to the other myth, w'hen the sun is at its lowest 

 point, it touches a land from which it is shoved up again by a 

 man. When the natives heard that we had been far in the direct- 

 ion of the sun , they asked us whether we had not been in the 

 land to which the sun travelled. 



When the sun, after having stood still at its lowest point for 

 five days, rises again, there is great joy among mortals. At first it 

 ascends very rapidly, so that it soon gets so high up that it cannot 

 be reached with a sling; afterwards its progress is slower. Spring 

 begins when the sun rises at the spot where Asît takes its rise. 



The stars. — As has already been mentioned (p. 85), Nelarsik 

 (Vega) serves to indicate the time when it is dark^). 



Jupiter is called the "Mother of the Sun", and the milky-way 

 '■'Tukuija''. Other stars that may be mentioned are: 



Pisitdlat (lamp-foot) — Charles's wain. 

 Kilugtut (the barkers) — The Pleiads. 

 Ugdlagtut — Orion's belt. 

 ■ Nelikatek'^) — Aldebaran. 



The stars, they say, are as large as a Greenland-seal skin. 



The Moon. — The Angmagsaliks are quite aware that it is the 

 moon which causes the tides, and allusions to this are found in 

 several of the tales (30 and 31). During an eclipse of the moon, 

 women who are Avith child should creep under the platform skin 

 in order that the children may be healthy. 



The northern lights have been spoken of above (p. 82). 



Thunder. — As to thunder and lightning, it is told that they 

 issue from the side of a man, or that they are produced by two 

 old women rubbing a white skin. 



Now that Nelarsik has shot one of these women with his bow, 

 it does not thunder so much up there. During a thunder-storm 

 people put dried seal blood in their mouth, in order that their 

 lower jaws may not go out of joint, when they fall down again after 

 the thunder has lifted them up in the air. 



The Earth. — "The first earth that was created", the Angmag- 

 saliks say, "had neither sea nor mountains, but was quite flat and 

 smooth. As He above was not pleased with the men on it, he de- 

 stroyed the earth. The earth was split and cracked, and the 



'l Nalerak 'a landmark' (Kleinschmidt: Greenlandic Dictionary, p. 227). 



-'l The Point Barrow Eskimo call the moon: Nellnkatsia Tadkak i Simpson, 



p. 214). 



