118 
FUNERAL RITES. 
handkerchief,—made by Morton out of the body of an 
unused shirt,—and, after wiping her eyes politely, wept 
a few tears myself. This little passage was soon over; 
Mrs. Eider-duck returned to her kolupsut, and Nalegak 
to his note-book. 
The ceremonial mourning, however, is attended 
sometimes, if not always, by observances of a more 
serious character. So far as my information goes, the 
religious notions of the Esquimaux extend only to the 
recognition of supernatural agencies, and to certain 
usages by which they may be conciliated. The ange- 
i 
kok of the tribe—the prophet, as he is called among our 
Indians of the West—is the general counsellor. He 
prescribes or powwows in sickness and over wounds, 
directs the policy and movements of the little state, 
and, though not the titular chief, is really the power 
behind the throne. It is among the prerogatives and 
duties of his office to declare the appropriate oblations 
and penances of grief. These are sometimes quite 
oppressive. The bereaved husband may be required 
even to abstain from the seal- or walrus-hunt for the 
whole year, from Okiakut to OkiaJeut —winter to winter. 
More generally he is denied the luxury of some article 
of food, as the rabbit or a favorite part of the walrus; 
or he may be forbidden to throw back his nessak, and 
forced to go with uncovered head. 
A sister of Kalutunah died suddenly at Pcteravilc. 
Her body w r as sewed up in skins, not in a sitting pos¬ 
ture, like the remains which we found in the graves 
at the South, but -with the limbs extended at full 
I 
