212 Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



into the bundle, and made its presence known by the increase in weight when 

 Higilak tried to lift it. Both Higilak and the spectators then asked it 

 various questions, and the answer "Yes" or "No" resulted according as she 

 found it heavy or light; if the bundle was heavy the answer was "Yes," if light, 

 "No." Once Kesullik wanted to test it after Higilak had said that it was 

 heavy, but she would not let him. She yawned several times during the per- 

 formance, and once or twice the conversation drifted off on to other topics, 

 but no one seemed to be credulous of the answers that were given. As far as 

 I could gather their questions were all concerned with the prospects of securing 

 an abundance of fish and caribou during the next few months. A coat when 

 tied up and used for this ceremony is given the special name of kila. 



On May 26th Higilak questioned the kila again, this time to discover 

 whether any Prince Albert sound natives would visit our camp at Lake Tahir- 

 yuak. The ceremony took place out of doors, because the- air was warm and 

 our little tent was too small to hold all the audience. The kila affirmed that 

 they would come to us, but I gathered that Higilak was not altogether satisfied 

 with the reply, for the next morning when no one was near she asked the same 

 question of me. Two days later she borrowed my two coats (the outer and inner 

 attigi), and divined again. I was told to say to the bundle that being a "white" 

 man it was to be heavy for an affirmative- answer and light for a negative. (This 

 was contrary to the usual regulations.) Higilak and the audience then asked 

 it one question after another, and at each one she tested its weight. I noticed 

 that whenever the kila was light she drew it straight up, but whenever it was 

 heavy she gave a slight twist to her hand so that the back of it was pressing 

 down on the bundle while the fingers and wrist were ostensibly trying to raise 

 it. I gathered that the spirit in the kila on this occasion was one of my 

 familiars, not one of Higilak's. 



The following evening, not seeing Ikpakhuak in the camp, I asked Kanne- 

 yuk whether he were fishing on the lake; at least that was the question I intended 

 to ask her, but through a slight grammatical error what I actually said was 

 "Has he caught a fish?" It so happened that about that time Ikpakhuak 

 did catch a large trout at a fishing-hole a few hundred yards away. Some of 

 the natives therefore thought that I must possess second-sight, and wanted to 

 know whether the Prince Albert sound natives were not already on their way to 

 visit us. Even Ikpakhuak, when he re'turned a little while afterwards, supported 

 their request that I should allow Higilak to tie a cord round my head or my foot 

 and divine, as with the kila, by lifting it and testing its weight; however, when 

 evening came, she used my coat instead. In the meantime Kesullik pretended 

 to hold a stance on his own account; he asked various questions of an old tobacco 

 can, rapping it with a stick for "yes" and not rapping it at all for "no". 



Higilak held an interesting performance when we were returning from Lake 

 Tahiryuak to Lake Numikhoih. The immediate cause was a sudden, appar- 

 ently spontaneous, bark from one of my dogs. The Eskimos had been much 

 concerned about it, fearing that it foreboded someone's death, and Milukkattak 

 had asked me whether the dog tornraktok, i. e., was acting as a medium for 

 its familiar spirit. (Even a dog, it seems, may have its famihars).i Higilak 

 therefore borrowed my coat after I had turned into my sleeping-bag, and, 

 making a kila of it, began to ask it questions. First she demanded, "Is there 

 anyone in it?", and after a minute or two the kila became heavy — a spirit had 

 entered. Through a series of questions she elucidated the fact that one of us 

 was in danger of death, and after testing two or three names it was finally 

 fixed on Tusayok. Higilak now addressed herself to me and asked whether 

 Tusayok had been successful or not in his fishing, for he had remained behind 

 at Lake Numikhoin a fortnight before when the remainder of the party went 

 on to Lake Tahiryuak. I said , "Probably not," on the presumption that as 



>Cf. Stefansson, Anthrop. Papers, A.M.N.H., Vol. XIV, pt. I, p. 342. 



