Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/566

Rh 546 ESKIMO but some has been &quot;set up&quot; in a small printing office in Greenland, from which about 280 sheets have issued, beside many lithographic prints. A journal (Aluagagl- dliutit naliwjinarmik tusammindsasaumik univkat, i.e., &quot;something for reading, accounts of all entertaining subjects&quot;) has been published since 1861. Up to 1874 it extended to 194 sheets in 4to, and about 200 leaves with illustrations. Two Eskimo have appeared as authors on a small scale, the last being Hans Hendrik, who has published an autobiography, narrating his life among the Smith Sound Eskimo, and as the hunter of the expeditions of Kane, Hayes, Hall, and Nares. Some of thsm pick up handicrafts very readily, and those who have wrought in the Copenhagen workshops are said by their employers to learn various kinds of labour more rapidly than average Danish youths of the same age. Religion. The Eskimo nearly everywhere hold the same religious ideas, though in Greenland and Labrador they are, with few exceptions, nominally at least, Chris tians. The whole world is, according to the pagan Eskimo s belief, governed by inuas, supernatural powers or &quot;owners,&quot; each of whom holds his sway within natural limits. Any object or individual may have its, his, or her inua, though generally speaking the idea of an inua is limited to certain localities or passions such as a mountain or lake, or strsngth or eating. The soul, for instance, is the inua of the body. The earth and the sea rest on pillars, and cover an under-world accessible by various mountain clefts, or by various entrances from the sea. The sky is the floor of an upper-world to which some go after death, while others good or bad have their future home in the under-world. Here are the dwellings of the arsissutihe people who live in abundance. The upper one, on the contrary, is cold and hungry ; here live the arssartut or ball-players, so called from their playing at ball with a walrus head, which gives rise to the aurora borealis, The mediums between the inua and mankind are the angakoks (Esk. plur., angakut) or wizards, who possess the peculiar gift of angakoonek or the state of &quot; being angakok&quot; which they have acquired by the aid of guardian spirits called to mat (plural of tornak), who again are ruled by lornarmk, the supreme deity or devil of all. Such is their religion in the barest possible outline. They also invoke a supernatural influence which is called Jcusiunek or iliseenek, which may be translated as witch craft : this is believed to be the mystic agency which causes sudden sickness or death. In the folk-lore of the Greenlanders as of other nations, divine justice manifests itself chiefly in the present life, though they have a faint belief in reward or punishment in the future world, according as the individual has behaved in this. Language. The idiom spoken from Greenland to North-eastern Siberia is, with a few exceptions, the same ; any difference is only that of dialect. It differs from the whole group of European languages, not merely in the sound of the words, but more especially, according to Rink, in the construction. Its most remarkable feature is that a sentence of a European language is expressed in Eskimo by a single word constructed out of certain elements, each of which corresponds in some degree to one of our words. One specimen commonly given to visitors to Greenland may suffice : Savigiksiniariartokasuaromaryotitlogog, which is equivalent to &quot; He says that you also will go away quickly in like manner and buy a pretty knife.&quot; Here is one word serving in the place of 17. It is made up as follows : Saviy a knife, ik pretty, sini buy, ariartok go away, asuar hasten, omar wilt, y in like manner, otit thou, tog also, og he says. Social Economy. The Eskimo differ from most other tribes of savages, and notably from those of the rest of America, by having no chiefs or political and military rulers. Fabricius concisely described them in his day : &quot; Sine Deo, domino, reguntur consuetudine.&quot; The govern ment is mainly a family one, though if a man is distin guished for skill in the chase, strength, shrewdness, or other qualities useful to a wild community, he will no doubt obtain a corresponding influence in the village or settlement. There is also a good deal of dependence of one upon another, as must happen in a people situated as the Eskimo. The family, the inhabitants of a house, and the inhabitants of a wintering place or hamlet are the three subdivisions recognized by the Eskimo; but any connexion between the different wintering places is hardly known and is not re cognized. They never go to war with each other; and though revengeful, and apt to injure an enemy secretly, they rarely come to blows, and are morbidly anxious not to give offence. Indeed, in their intercourse with each other they indulge in much hyperbolical compliment, and language courteous from the teeth outwards. But they are not with out courage. On the Coppermine and Mackenzie Ilivers, where they sometimes come into collision with the Indians, they fight fiercely, and are a name of terror. Polygamy is rare, but the rights of divorce and re-marriage are exercised among the wild Eskimo without any definite restriction. The courtship or marriage customs and the laws of inheritance will be found fully described in the works mentioned in the bibliography. The chief laws are such as the following. Every seal caught at a wintering place should be equally divided as far as it will go. Any one picking up driftwood has only to put some stones on it, as it lies on the shore, to establish his ownership in it. If a seal is harpooned and gets off with the harpoon sticking in it, the first owner loses his right in it if the bladder float gets de tached. Any other kind of goods found are the property of the owner. If two hunters at the same time hit a bird, the bird is equally divided between them. All kind of game which is very large or rare is common property. In South Greenland whoever is the first to see a bear has ownership in it, no matter who kills it. The bor rower is not bound to give compensation for any injury to the tools of another which he may have borrowed. If a man repent of a bargain he has a right to retract; nothing is sold on credit, or at least without being repaid in a short time. The Greenlanders were always fond of festivals, as are the Eskimo to this day all over their country. When they met each other they used to rub noses together, but this, though a common custom still among the wild Eskimo, is entirely abandoned io Greenland except for the petting of children. There is, in Greenland at least, no national mode of salutation, either on meeting or parting. &quot;When a guest arrives or enters a house, commonly not the least sign is made either by him or his host. On leaving a place they now sometimes say &quot; inuvdluaritse,&quot; i.e., live well, and to a European &quot; aporniakinatit,&quot; i.e., do not hurt thy head, viz., against the upper part of the doorway. Population. No precise statement can be made re garding the numbers of the Eskimo race. For Greenland, however, we have exact data so far as the Danish possessions are concerned. In 1870, the date of the last census, there were, from Cape Farewell to the limit of the West Greenland region, 9588 people. Add to this about 200 for Smith s Sound, and say 400 for East Greenland, and the whole population of that island continent inhabited and habit able on the coast only will not be many more than 1 0,000. On an average, the proportion of females to males in Green- laud has been 1118 to 1000, while in Iceland it is 1102, and in Denmark and the Faroe Isles there are 1018 to 1000 males. The natives of Greenland have decreased since the Danes came into the country, and at present the population is at a stand-still Ou a rough estimate, the