282 G. Holm and Johan Petersen. 



to kill the tupilek. They now all went over to Umivik, and when 

 they came there, they cut a seal in pieces and ate it. When they 

 had finished eating, thej' began to perform angakok arts in order 

 to catch the tupilek. First the five performed angakok arts, but did 

 not say anything to the grieving woman. It was now Akerdlegsanalik's 

 turn to begin. The smaller lamp was lit, and Akerdlegsanalik drummed 

 and sang. He cast the drum aside, and it went on moving by itself, 

 until at last it stood quite still. The angakok sometimes nearly 

 touched the ground with the back of his neck and his feet were 

 firmly planted on the ground. At the time when Akerdlegsanalik 

 was learning to perform angakok arts and stood in front of the 

 house, he saw some asagisat^) behind the house, and it was them 

 he used as his tartoks. — When the drum rose in the air, the lamp 

 was put out, and the arts were continued. "There is the tupilek V\ 

 said Akerdlegsanalik. It was sitting at the bottom of the platform. 

 He lifted up the skin of the platform to stab it; but as he stabbed, 

 he chanced to pull the line, so that the harpoon head felt off, and 

 the tupilek slipped away. "It is as if the tupilek had not gone far 

 away," said the angakok. The tornak arts now ceased for this 

 evening. 



The following evening they took seven pieces of the grieving 

 woman's garments, tied them up in a bundle, and hung them up 

 under the roof. The tupilek was to creep into the garments, and 

 then when he was well inside, they were to pull the string. The 

 angakok arts commenced, and presently the tupilek came into the 

 passage-way. It gave forth all manner of sounds; now it shrieked: 

 ungal, now erkol, now^ it cried like a fox, now like a grouse. It 

 kept in the passage-way all the while. The sounds changed ; it 

 sounded now like umiaks, now like kaiaks, now like the rustling 

 of bushes, and now like seals. It uttered all these sounds because 

 it was made of all these things. It now entered the house and 

 crept into the garments. The angakok said: ''DavaV and the others 

 pulled the string. Then they struck it with their clenched fists; 

 but while they were striking it, it slipped away through a little hole 

 in the outermost garment, a gut-skin coat, although there was no 

 hole in the other garments; but now a hole burst in the others, 

 and it slipped out. 



The lamps were lit, the garment was examined, and the hole 

 Avas sewn up; then the lamps were again extinguished, so that they 

 might catch the tupilek. It came now into the passage-way uttering 

 similar sounds as before, and came up to the place where it was to 



') Sea miimal with claws. 



