Native Americans: 22 Books on History, Mythology, Culture & Linguistic Studies. James Mooney

or by a boy on his first hunting expedition. This custom seems to be observed more strictly, however, and for a longer period if the new born child dies. Two months after delivery she must make a call at every hut, while before that time she is not allowed to enter any but her own. At the end of this period she must also throw away her old clothing. The same custom was observed by Hall among the Nugumiut (I, p. 426). On the western shore of Hudson Bay she is permitted to re-enter the hut a few days after delivery, but must pass in by a separate entrance. An opening is cut for the purpose through the snow wall. She must keep a little skin bag hung up near her, into which she must put a little of her food after each meal, having first put it up to her mouth. This is called laying up food for the infant, although none is given to it (Hall II, p. 173). I have already mentioned that the parents are not allowed in the first year after the birth of a child to take part in the Sedna feast.

The customs which are associated with the death of an infant are very complicated. For a whole year, when outside the hut, the mother must have her head covered with a cap, or at least with a piece of skin. If a ground seal is caught she must throw away the old cap and have a new one made. The boots of the deceased are always carried about by the parents when traveling, and whenever they stop these are buried in the snow or under stones. Neither parent is allowed to eat raw flesh during the following year. The woman must cook her food in a small pot which is exclusively used by her. If she is about to enter a hut the men who may be sitting inside must come out first, and not until they have come out is she allowed to enter. If she wants to go out of the hut she must walk around all the men who may happen to be there.

      The child is sometimes named before it is born. Lyon says upon this subject (p. 369):

      Some relative or friend lays her hand on the mother’s stomach, and decides what the infant is to be called, and, as the names serve for either sex, it is of no consequence whether it proves a girl or a boy.

      On Davis Strait it is always named after the persons who have died since the last birth took place, and therefore the number of names of an Eskimo is sometimes rather large. If a relative dies while the child is younger than four years or so, his name is added to the old ones and becomes the proper name by which it is called. It is possible that children receive the names of all the persons in the settlement who die while the children are quite young, but of this I am not absolutely certain. When a person falls sick the angakut change his name in order to ward off the disease or they consecrate him as a dog to Sedna. In the latter event he gets a dog’s name and must wear throughout life a harness over the inner jacket. Thus it may happen that Eskimo are known in different tribes by different names. It may also be mentioned here that friends sometimes exchange names and dogs are called by the name of a friend as a token of regard.

      The treatment of the sick is the task of the angakoq, whose manipulations have been described.

      If it is feared that a disease will prove fatal, a small snow house or a hut is built, according to the season, into which the patient is carried through an opening at the back. This opening is then closed, and subsequently a door is cut out. A small quantity of food is placed in the hut, but the patient is left without attendants. As long as there is no fear of sudden death the relatives and friends may come to visit him, but when death is impending the house is shut up and he is left alone to die. If it should happen that a person dies in a hut among its inmates, everything belonging to the hut must be destroyed or thrown away, even the tools &c. lying inside becoming useless to the survivors, but the tent poles may be used again after a year has elapsed. No doubt this custom explains the isolation of the sick. If a child dies in a hut and the mother immediately rushes out with it, the contents of the hut may be saved.

Though the Eskimo feel the greatest awe in touching a dead body, the sick await their death with admirable coolness and without the least sign of fear or unwillingness to die. I remember a young girl who sent for me a few hours before her death and asked me to give her some tobacco and bread, which she wanted to take to her mother, who had died a few weeks before.

      Only the relatives are allowed to touch the body of the deceased. They clothe it or wrap it in deerskins and bury it at once. In former times they always built a tomb, at least when death occurred in the summer. From its usual dimensions one would suppose that the body was buried with the legs doubled up, for all of them are too short for grown persons. If the person to be buried is young, his feet are placed in the direction of the rising sun, those of the aged in the opposite direction. According to Lyon the Iglulirmiut bury half grown children with the feet towards the southeast, young men and women with the feet towards the south, and middle aged persons with the feet towards the southwest. This agrees with the fact that the graves in Cumberland Sound do not all lie east and west. The tomb is always vaulted, as any stone or piece of snow resting upon the body is believed to be a burden to the soul of the deceased. The man’s hunting implements and other utensils are placed by the side of his grave; the pots, the lamps, knives, &c., by the side of that of the woman; toys, by that of a child. Hall (I, p. 103) observed in a grave a small kettle hung up over a lamp. These objects are held in great respect and are never removed, at least as long as it is known to whose grave they belong. Sometimes models of implements are used for this purpose instead of the objects themselves. Figure 536 represents a model of a lamp found in a grave of Cumberland Sound. Nowadays the Eskimo place the body in a box, if they can procure one, or cover it very slightly with stones or snow. It is strange that, though the ceremonies of burying are very strictly attended to and though they take care to give the dead their belongings, they do not heed the opening of the graves by dogs or wolves and the devouring of the bodies and do not attempt to recover them when the graves are invaded by animals.

      Fig. 536. Model of lamp from a grave in Cumberland Sound. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin.)

The body must be carried to the place of burial by the nearest relatives, a few others only accompanying it. For this purpose they rarely avail themselves of a sledge, as it cannot be used afterward, but must be left with the deceased. Dogs are never allowed to drag the sledge on such an occasion. After returning from the burial the relatives must lock themselves up in the old hut for three days, during which they mourn the loss of the deceased. During this time they do not dress their hair and they have their nostrils closed with a piece of deerskin. After this they leave the hut forever. The dogs are thrown into it through the window and allowed to devour whatever they can get at. For some time afterward the mourners must cook their meals in a separate pot. A strange custom was observed by Hall in Hudson Bay (II, p. 186). The mourners did not smoke. They kept their hoods on from morning till night. To the hood the skin and feathers of the head of Uria grylle were fastened and a feather of the same waterfowl to each arm just above the elbow. All male relatives of the deceased wore a belt around the waist, besides which they constantly wore mittens. It is probable that at the present time all Eskimo when in mourning avoid using implements of European manufacture and suspend the use of tobacco. It has already been stated that women who have lost a child must keep their heads covered.

      Parry, Lyon (p. 369), and Klutschak (p. 201) state that when the Eskimo first hear of the death of a relative they throw themselves upon the ground and cry, not for grief, but as a mourning ceremony.

      For three or sometimes even four days after a death the inhabitants of a village must not use their dogs, but must walk to the hunting ground, and for one day at least they are not allowed to go hunting at all. The women must stop all kinds of work.

      On the third day after death the relatives visit the tomb and travel around it three times in the same direction as the sun is moving, at the same time talking to the deceased and promising that they will bring him something to eat. According to Lyon the Iglulirmiut chant forth inquiries as to the welfare of the departed soul, whether it has reached the land Adli, if it has plenty of food, &c., at each question stopping at the head of the grave and repeating some ceremonial words (p. 371).

      These visits to the grave are repeated a year after death and whenever they pass it in traveling. Sometimes they carry food to the deceased, which he is expected to return greatly increased. Hall describes this custom as practiced by the Nugumiut (I, p. 426). He says:

They