“When a flock passes, all the guns are discharged simultaneously, and the ducks, which at times respond in showers, are nominally divided equally.
“But now comes the excitement. As a rule a huge Atlantic surf, with these north-east winds, breaks over the point, and the splendid pluck and endurance of the dogs is taxed to the uttermost. Dashing into the waves, I have seen them repeatedly hurled back, bruised and winded, high on to the ledges of rock, only to be dragged off by the return wave and once more pounded on to the rocks. To avoid this, the brave beasts hold on with the energy of despair, and many times have I noted their bleeding paws, and nails torn off in the unequal struggle. Yet they would at once return to the charge, and, waiting their chance, leap right over the breaking crest, and so get clear of the surf. Once they seize a duck they never let it go, and I have often felt sorely tempted even to jump in and give the brave creatures a hand when it seemed impossible for them to keep up the struggle any longer. Yet, after being lost to view, engulfed by a huge breaker, one would soon see a duck appear, and after it a dog’s head, still true to its hazardous duty. Sometimes, however, they are really lost.”
The Eskimo is not without some vague idea of a future state, as one might expect when the religion of his progenitors is borne in mind. He believes that death involves the separation of the spirit from his body, and the spirit either soars to an unknown country in the sky, or descends, he knows not where, into a subterranean resting-place. The destiny of the soul is decided by the Eskimo’s manner of life and death upon the earth. The Eskimos who die a violent death on the ice or in the hunting-grounds are transported to the abode above. One would naturally expect that every Eskimo coveted a death that would insure his passage to the sky, but such is not the case. Those who go below are considered to enjoy luxuries that are denied to those who go above. Moreover, the inhabitants of the lower region are privileged to communicate with their friends on earth, such communication being impossible to the inhabitants of the other region.
The Eskimo also believes that the affairs of his earthly life are ordered by an attendant spirit, who has power to destroy the labours of his hands or crown them with success. This spirit is understood to be extremely malignant, and only by sacrificial offerings is it possible to propitiate him. Very frequently an idol of this malignant spirit is carried by the Eskimo in his ammunition-bag if he wishes his hunting expedition to be successful.
There is something very poetic, if crude, about their notions of the sky and clouds. They believe that the sky is a hard substance forming a gigantic arch above the earth, and that the clouds are in charge of two old women, who spread them across the sky and then roll them up again. When it thunders, the old women are conversing together, and the lightning is supposed to be a lamp to light them on their way beneath the arch of blue. The whistling wind is interpreted as the breath of two large-headed spirits who stand one at each corner of the earth. It is natural for ignorant people to associate superstition with the magnificent displays of the Aurora Borealis.
These beautiful lights, say the Eskimos, are torches held in the hands of spirits who come to seek the souls of those who have recently passed away. By the aid of these torches the souls are led across the dark abyss at the edge of the world to a celestial region where sorrow and death never come, and where they no longer feel the pangs of hunger, for food and water are abundant there.
BILLING AND SONS, LIMITED, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
Transcriber’s Note
Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unpaired quotation marks retained.