Ethnological Sketch of the Angmagsalik Eskimo. 129 



sometimes played in the dark and is often pretty dangerous, espe- 

 cially as the players are naked. Sometimes, however, the game is 

 more harmless, a man merely dressing up in a clownish way and 

 running thus attired after the others, shouting and shrieking at the 

 top of his voice. When Adlagdlak played this game, he dressed up 

 as a woman. He was padded so as to look like a pregnant 

 woman, and the hood was stuffed so that it looked as if it contained 

 a baby. His hair was tied up in a top-knot; his ejï^e-brows and cheeks 

 were blackened with soot, and a thin seal-thong was stretched un- 

 der his nose and over both ears. Thus disguised he ran round 

 and terrified the company. This game is called uajartek^). 



Our neighbour Narsingertek came home when a boy to the 

 house when they played this game in the dark. A man who had 

 broken his leg sat in the middle of the floor, and with a large nail 

 stuck at those who drew near him. Narsingertek saw that there 

 was something sitting in the middle of the floor, but he thought it 

 was a big dog. He came too near him and received a deep wound 

 from the nail in his chest, so that he lay ill for a long time after. 



Other amusements that may be mentioned are trapeze tricks, 

 which are performed on a sealskin-thong stretched out under the 

 roof, ball-games and wrestling, which are performed in the same 

 way as on the West coast. 



It was a favourite amusement for young people to play catch 

 on large rocks with quite perpendicular sides, in which steps had 

 been cut out. 



VII. 



VISITS AND FEASTING. — WINTER SUPPLIES. — TIME OF 



DEARTH. 



Visits and Feasting. — As has already been mentioned the Ang- 

 magsaliks go frequently on visits to each other in winter, not only to 

 perform drum-matches and indulge in other pleasures, but also in 

 order to enjoy the good things that are to be had in other places. 



^j In a game similar to this the Central Eskimo wear a mask (Boas: The Cen- 

 tral Eskimo pp. 606—608). Similar games or festivals are met with in Alaska 

 (Elliot: Alaska etc. p. 382), amongst the Makah Indians (Swan: The Indians 

 of Cape Flattery, pp. 68—71), and amongst the Pomo Indians in California 

 (Powers: Tribes of California p. 154). 



XXXIX. 9 



