gathered together and taken charge of by a Thakomara woman, his mother, or, in this instance, mother's sister. The next morning, while the mourning ceremonies were being carried on, the dead man's chattels were brought by the Thakomara woman to a group of men composed of two Tjapeltjeris, one Tjupila, one Thapanunga, and an elder and younger Thakomara. The women placed them on the knees of the elder Thakomara and then retired. The old man opened up the bundle, which contained all the worldly possessions of the dead man. The complete list of these was as follows:- Three boomerangs, two clubs, three pitchis, one tomahawk, one hair-girdle, one vegetable-fibre girdle, one knife, and a common-looking piece of stone wrapped up in bark. The old man examined this last carefully but could evidently make nothing of it, and it was simply left on the ground when they went away as of no importance. They did not appear to be afraid lest it should possess or be able to work evil magic of some kind in consequence of its having been carried about by the dead man. There were no Churinga, nor indeed anything of a sacred nature. The old Thakomara asked the younger one what things he would take, urging him to take the whole lot, in the usual polite way of the natives, being of course fully aware that he would do no such thing. It ended in the younger man taking as his share the clubs and boomerangs, and the elder man everything else, including the most valuable thing, the tomahawk, an iron one which we had lately presented to the dead man. The younger Thakomara man told us that, according to custom, he would present the weapons which fell to his share to other Thakomara men younger than himself. The old Thakomara took his share to his mia-mia and retained them there; being a very old man he was not supposed to distribute them. In this way it will be seen that there is a regular circulation of things amongst the various groups. The Tjunguri man's things descend to a Thakomara; a Thakomara man's things go to a Thapanunga; a Thapanunga man's things go to a Tjambin; and finally, a Tjambin's things go to a Tjunguri. CHAPTER VIII THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO1 * 1. PSYCHICAL CHARACTERISTICS As a rule they are quick-witted and intelligent, and show a great capacity for appreciating and learning useful things, especially mechanical arts. In disposition they are light-hearted and cheerful, not easily cast down by sorrow or misfortune, and though sometimes quick-tempered, their anger seldom lasts long. They have a very keen sense of humor, and are fond of practical jokes, which they take in good part, even when practiced on themselves. They are generally peaceable. We did not witness a single quarrel among the men during the two years of our stay, though they told us stories of fatal quarrels in former years, in which firearms were used. Liquor may have been the cause of these fights, as it is said to have been of the only suicide I ever heard of among them, which I am informed by Capt. E. E. Smith, the whaling master already referred to, occurred in 1885 at Nuwŭk. Disagreements between man and wife, however, sometimes lead to blows, in which the man does not always get the best of it. When the station was first established many of the natives began pilfering from our stores, but they soon learned that by so doing they cut themselves off from the privilege of visiting the station and enjoying the opportunity for trading which it afforded, and were glad to promise to refrain from the practice. This promise was very well observed, though I think wholly from feelings of selfinterest, as the thieves when detected seemed to have no feeling of shame. Some, I believe, never yielded to the temptation. There By JOHN MURDOCH. Reprinted, by permission, from the 9th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology (The Smithsonian Institution). A bibliography of Eskimo ethnography by Mr. Murdoch is found at pp. 21-25 of this report. This list is referred to for complete titles of the works which are entered in the notes which follow.] Holm calls the East Greenlanders "et meget livligt Folkefærd." "Geogr. Tidskrift," vol. 8, p. 96. was seldom any difficulty in obtaining restitution of stolen articles, as the thief's comrades would not attempt to shield him, but often voluntarily betrayed him. They acknowledged that there was considerable thieving on board of the ships, but the men of Utkiávwin tried to lay the blame on the Nuwuk people, and we may suppose that the charge was reciprocated, as was the case regarding the theft of the Plover's sails. We also heard of occasional thefts among themselves, especially of seals left on the ice or venison buried in the snow, but men who were said to be thieves did not appear to lose any social consideration. 2 Robbery with violence appears to be unknown. We never saw or heard of the "burglar-alarm" described by Dr. Simpson, which I am inclined to believe was really a "demon trap" like that described by Lieut. Ray. They are in the main truthful, though a detected lie is hardly considered more than a good joke, and considerable trickery is practiced in trading. For instance, soon after the station was established they brought over the carcass of a dog, with the skin, head, feet, and tail removed, and attempted to sell it for a young reindeer; and when we began to purchase seal-oil for the lamps one woman brought over a tin can nearly filled with ice, with merely a layer of oil on top. Clothing and other articles made especially for sale to us were often very carelessly and hastily made, while their own things were always carefully finished.3 Their affection for each other, especially for their children, is strong, though they make little show of grief for bereavement, and their minds are easily diverted by amusements. I am inclined to believe, however, from some cases I have observed, that grief is deeper and more permanent than superficial appearances would indicate. Their curiosity is unbounded, and they have no hesitation in gratifying it by unlimited questioning. All who have read the accounts of the Eskimo character given by explorers in other parts 1 Simpson, "Observations on the Western Eskimo" (London, 1875), 2 Op. cit., p. 247. p. 248. Compare Nordenskiöld's experience in Siberia. The "Chukches" sold him skinned foxes with the head and feet cut off for hares (“Vega," vol. 1, p. 448), young ivory gulls for ptarmigan, and a dog's skull for a seal's (vol. 2, p. 137). Besides, "While their own things were always made with the greatest care, all that they did especially for us was done with extreme carelessness" (ibid.). The Eskimos at Hotham Inlet also tried to sell Capt. Beechey fishskins sewed together to represent fish. ("Voyage," p. 285.) of the Arctic regions will recognize this as a familiar trait. We also found the habit of begging at first quite as offensive among some of these people as other travelers have found it, but as they grew better acquainted with us they ceased to beg except for trifling things, such as a chew of tobacco or a match. Some of the better class never begged at all. Some of them seemed to feel truly grateful for the benefits and gifts received, and endeavored by their general behavior, as well as in more substantial ways, to make some adequate return. Others appeared to think only of what they might receive. Hospitality is a universal virtue. Many of them from the beginning of our acquaintance with them, showed the greatest friendliness and willingness to assist us in every way, while others, especially if there were many of them together, were inclined to be insolent, and knives were occasionally drawn in sudden fits of passion. These "roughs," however, soon learned that behavior of this sort was punished by prompt ostracism and threats of severer discipline, and before the first nine months were past we had established the most friendly relations with the whole village at Cape Smyth. Some of those who were at first most insolent became afterwards our best friends. Living as these people do at peace with their neighbors, they would not be expected to exhibit the fierce martial courage of many other savages, but bold whalemen and venturous ice-hunters can not be said to lack bravery. In their dealings with white men the richer and more influential among them at least consider themselves their equals if not their superiors, and they do not appreciate the attitude of arrogant superiority adopted by many white men in their intercourse with so-called savages. Many of them show a grace of manner and a natural delicacy and politeness which is quite surprising. I have known a young Eskimo so polite that in conversing with Lieut. Ray he would take pains to mispronounce his words in the same way as the latter did, so as not to hurt his feelings by correcting him bluntly.1 2. TRIBAL PHENOMENA ✔ We were unable to discover among these people the slightest trace of tribal organization or of division into gentes, and in this our observations agree with those of all who have studied the 1 Compare "Vega," vol. 1, p. 489. The Chukches were "so courteous as not to correct but to adopt the mistakes in the pronunciation or meaning of words that were made on the Vega." Eskimos elsewhere. They call themselves as a race "In'uin," a term corresponding to the "Inuit" of other dialects, and meaning "people," or "human beings." Under this name they include white men and Indians as well as Eskimo, as is the case in Greenland and the Mackenzie River district, and probably also everywhere else, though many writers have supposed it to be applied by them only to their own race. They have however special names for the former two races. The people of any village are known as "the inhabitants of such and such a place;" for instance, Nuwŭ'ñmiun, “the inhabitants of the point;" Utkiavwiñmiun, "the inhabitants of Utkiávwiñ;" Kuñmiun (in Greenlandic "Kungmiut"), "the people who live on the river." The people about Norton Sound speak of the northern Eskimo, especially those of Point Barrow and Cape Smyth, as "Kûñmû'dliñ," which is not a name derived from a location, but a sort of nickname, the meaning of which was not ascertained. The Point Barrow natives do not call themselves by this name, but apply it to those people whose winter village is at Demarcation Point (or Herschel Island). This word appears in the corrupted form "Kokmullit," as the name of the village at Nuwuk on Petroff's map. Petroff derived his information regarding the northern coast at second-hand from people who had obtained their knowledge of names, etc., from the natives of Norton Sound. The people of the two villages under consideration frequently go backward and forward, sometimes removing permanently from one village to the other, while strangers from distant villages sometimes winter here, so that it was not until the end of the second year, when we were intimately acquainted with everybody at Utkiávwin, that we could form anything like a correct estimate of the population of this village.1 This we found to be about 140 souls. As well as we could judge, there were about 150 or 160 at Nuwŭk. These figures show a great decrease in numbers since the end of 1853, when Dr. Simpson 2 reckoned the population of Nuwŭk at 309. During the 2 years from September, 1881, to August, 1883, there were fifteen deaths that we heard of in the village of Utkiávwiñ alone, and only two children born in that period survived. With this ratio between the number of births and deaths, even in a period of comparative plenty, it is difficult to see how the race can p. 49. 1 See "Approximate Census," etc., Report of Point Barrow Exp., 2 Op. cit., p. 237. |