Psychology and Morality ' 233 



man. will be running ahead of the sled, making the trail for the dogs to follow. 

 A seal-hole attracts his attention, his curiosity gets the better of him, and he 

 turns aside to examine it; or it may be that a deer-track crosses his trail, and he 

 will follow it for a himdred yards or so, even when there is absolutely no prospect 

 of securing the animal. The result is that the dogs become entangled in each 

 other's traces and a fight ensues, in which one or more may be injured. Again 

 the inability of the natives to pursue a logical train of thought finds its counter- 

 part in the lack of consistency in their purposes. A native will decide to spend 

 the summer on Victoria island; but a day or two later he takes a sudden whim 

 and joins a party bound for the Coppermine river.^ Thus they change their 

 purposes from day to day, and, generally speaking, a plan deferred is a plan lost. 

 The conduct of even the older people is often marked by a naive childishness 

 and simplicity. Ikpakhuak, usually so dignified, would scuffle with Higilak and 

 playfully give her a slap, while Avranna and Milukkattak, sitting opposite, 

 would make faces. at one another or mock each other's words, then embrace 

 with shouts of laughter. Their emotions as a rule lie very close to the surface; 

 they have little of the stoicism so characteristic of the American Indian. Weep- 

 ing fits are not uncommon; some one mentions a relative who has recently died 

 and begins to weep, whereupon the whole audience weeps in sympathy, not 

 excluding the men. Twice during migrations I saw Kesullik lean against his 

 sled and weep, for no apparent reason; the fit would pass over in a few minutes 

 and he would chatter again as usual. Some of the natives are more prone to 

 tears than others. Itokanna paid a visit to an elder sister in another settlement. 

 The sister buried her face in her hands and wept for joy, but Itokanna sat calmly 

 beside her without a trace of emotion on her face; she was more stolid, however, 

 than the average native. Uloksak induced one of our western Eskimos to clip 

 his hair. His second wife was very much opposed to the operation, and sat on 

 the floor till it ended with the tears streaming down her face. It required much 

 coaxing on the part of her husband to restore her good humour, and induce her 

 to seal a peace by pressing noses. 



The majority of the natives are extremely curious, although a few of them 

 keep this feeling fairly under control. They like to pick up and examine every- 

 thing, to turn a thing over and see what is inside. This was often very annoy- 

 ing to us, although occasionally it led to rather amusing results: Nik, for 

 example, Aksiatak's wife, tasted some cayenne pepper one day, and another native 

 who liked to help himself to our sugar took a mouthful of salt that was left out for 

 him. Some of the older men, however, were models of courtesy and good-breeding, 

 as far as these quaUties were understood by the natives. They never imposed their 

 company on us, for example, whenever it was obvious that we wanted to remain 

 alone, and when they did visit us they bore themselves with dignity and respect. 

 In their own houses, too, they always received us as honoured guests, and did 

 their utmost to make us comfortable. The younger men, on the other hand, 

 partly through inexperience of life's vicissitudes, partly through the contamin- 

 ation of foreign influence, were more forward and assuming. Just as among 

 Europeans, however, there were very many different types. Some were very 

 timid and alarmed by anything they could not understand, such as the phono- 

 graph or the magnetic needle, others were bold and inquisitive, or sly and 

 cunning, and a few, a very few, frank and straightforward. The majority were 

 cheerful and light-hearted, inclined to be talkative and, in some cases, even 

 garrulous. Their gay and care-free natures make suicide an extremely rare 

 occurrence; in fact I do not remember hearing of more than one case, and that 

 was due not to any morbid weariness of life, but to terror of the revenge that 

 might be exacted for a crime that the man had committed. Some of them are 

 very quick-tempered, and the majority of the murders that occur are committed 



iCf. Stefansson, My Life with the Eskimo, p. 270. 



