628 W. Thalbitzer 



a carved wooden figure of a man, in order thai she may in course 

 of time give birth to male children^). 



When in the tale of the Foster-children the sister threw her bear- 

 skin boot against the hostile person and thereby killed him^), the 

 power of the boot may undoubtedly be ascribed to the fact that it 

 contained an amulet. This is not mentioned on that occasion but 

 in the tale about Navagijak, the bear-skin boot and an amulet are 

 spoken of in the same breath as if they belonged together^). 



In the boats and on the harpoons the amulets are used partly 

 to enhance the prospects of the hunt (luring the animals and secur- 

 ing a good harpoon-shot), partly to protect against the perils of the 

 sea or human assailants. To secure a good capture a seal carved 

 in wood is placed under the deck of the kaiak where the recept- 

 acle for the harpoon line is found (immediately in front of the man- 

 hole), either stuck in between the cross-pieces in the framework of the 

 deck (ajaajclt) or down at the bottom on the keel-piece. Sometimes 

 they use as amulet a miniature-kaiak placed in the space behind 

 the kaiak-man^). The umiak has generally two amulets, namely, a 

 woman-doll of wood nailed onto the inner side of the bow and a 

 man-doll fastened on the middle of the inner side. Besides these we 

 often find in the far end of the stem, i. e. the upturned keel-beam, 

 the two eye-teeth of the harbour seal with their points turned back- 

 wards: they are meant to keep away any invisible, pursuing enemy. 

 The rawhide line {noqaa^"taa), by means of which the umiak is 

 moored to the land, is also provided with an amulet, the nail of a 

 bear's claw being fastened to the end on land. 



Keersagaq's harpoon was provided with an amulet (a piece of 

 lead shot) at the place where the wooden haft was connected with 

 the loose bone-haft. On casting the weapon the kaiak-man murmurs 

 a charm. 



Amulets are found in houses and tents; they are fixed in the 

 beam of the house roof quite close to the platform or in the skin 

 on the platform. 



A summary of the common tent amulets was given me by Ar- 

 qanaatsiaq. On the top-stone over the entrance are placed the jaws 

 of a fox, which will bite the pursuing enemy if he enters the tent. 

 Under the place where the middle tent-pole is fixed erect a tern is 



^) H. Egede (1741) p. 116 mentions the use of shoe-soles as amulets for making 

 unpregnant women pregnant. In his Dictionarium (p. 75 under kellikpik, un- 

 doubtedly the same as Fabricius, Grammatica 18Ü1, p. 69 calls kelikpåk] Povl 

 Egede mentions an amulet that has to be placed between the eyes, without 

 giving further information. Perhaps a bead(?). 



>) Tale no. 19 in this book, p. 270. 



2) Tale no. 22 in this book, p. 273. 



^) Dalager (1752) p. 78 mentions the same custom from West Greenland. 



