Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/336

Rh quarrelsome, and theft and murder are almost unknown. When a quarrel arises, the two parties keep aloof from each other, sometimes for a long time. Sometimes, however, a mutual and elderly friend arranges the matter, and then a quiet talk often shows that the quarrel—with them as with us—was the result of an entire misunderstanding of words reported by gossipping tongues. If a murder is committed, it appears, from what the Innuits say, that the nearest relative or most intimate friend of the slain has a right to kill the murderer; but this crime is very rare. Innuit opinions upon theological questions are not easily obtained in an intelligible form. Their belief on some points may thus be very generally stated: There is one Supreme Being, called by them Ang-u-ta, who created the earth, sea, and heavenly bodies. There is also a secondary divinity, a woman, the daughter of Anguta, who is called Sid-ne. She is supposed to have created all things having life, animal and vegetable. She is regarded also as the protecting divinity of the Innuit people. To her their supplications are addressed; to her their offerings are made; while most of their religious rites and superstitious observances have reference to her. The Innuits believe in a heaven and a hell, though their notions as to what is to constitute their happiness or misery hereafter are varied as one meets with different communities. Tookoolito says:— "My people think this way: Kood-le-par-mi-ung (heaven) is upward. Everybody happy there. All the time light; no snow, no ice, no storms; always pleasant; no trouble; never tired; sing and play all the time—all this to continue without end. "Ad-le-par-me-un (hell) is downward. Always dark there. No sun; trouble there continually; snow flying all the time; terrible storms; cold, very cold; and a great deal of ice there. All who go there must always remain. "All Innuits who have been good go to Koodleparmiung; that is, who have been kind to the poor and hungry—all who have been happy while living on this earth. Any one who