Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 18, 1907.djvu/130

 98 Reviews.

relatively rare. Theft is almost unknown, though it must be said that the opportunities for theft are equally absent. Adultery (in the Eskimo sense of the word) is likewise unknown. More- over, as within a clan, there is no blood-feud, even when homicide is committed. Persons whose violence renders them dangerous are regarded as lunatics, and if they are put to death it is because they are lunatics. The only internal sanction of the rule of the community (in Greenland, at least) is the famous song-duel, in which two opponents, dancing to the drum, alter- nately sing staves ridiculing one another. The judgement of the audience is the sole punishment of him who is deemed to be conquered by the other's wit and fertility of invention. As regards other settlements, however, the duty of vengeance seems to fall upon all the placefellows, and lengthy blood-feuds are often the consequence of a death. Evil magic is of course con- demned and punished, even by death. But (at least among the Central Eskimo) violations of a taboo, which may be of serious consequence in the belief of the people to the good fortune and even the existence of the community, are held to be sufficiently atoned for by open confession. Obstinately to maintain one's innocence when accused by the angakok of such an offence, on the other hand, it may be added, intensifies the original transgression and can only be atoned for by death.

The practice of exchanging wives, which occurs on certain occasions during the winter season, is another evidence of the close bond between members of the same settlement. Exchange of wives for a limited time between relations or intimate friends is not confined to the winter. It is often one of the incidents of a special bond of fellowship which, as in Alaska, may bind men even of different settlements together. The distinctively winter practice is different from this ; but the other practice just mentioned, by virtue of which the men who enter into it, if not already relatives, are regarded as brothers by adoption, does seem to indicate that sexual communism is connected with a behef in kinship. The winter practice is part of the rites performed in the kashim. During the winter a number of ceremonies take place. The angaktit, or wizards, hold frequent sessions to conjure game, to remove taboos, to heal