Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/338

Rh word corresponding to our amen. As to medicine, none is ever prescribed, nor do the Innuits ever take any.

The duties of the angeko, with reference to the community, consist in ankooting for success in whaling, walrusing, sealing, and in hunting certain animals; for the disappearance of ice, and for the public good in various particulars. These more public ministrations are accompanied by what sounds to a stranger's ear like howling, but is doubtless a formula, either handed down by tradition, or composed on the spot by the angeko, varying according to the talent of the operator. Some descriptions of ankooting have been given in the body of this work. Even Tookoolito was not exempt from the general belief in the efficacy of the angeko's ministrations. One day, when visiting her, I found that she had parted with her cooking-pan, which she had always considered indispensable and of great value. On inquiry, I learned that she had given it to "Jennie," a female angeko, in payment for her attendance upon Ebierbing when sick; and, moreover, she had in like manner given nearly all her valuable things, even to some of her garments. I was hardly astonished, for I knew that the Innuits considered that in proportion to the value of what they give for an angeko's services, so are the benefits conferred upon the sick. "Make poor pay, and the help is poor; good pay, and the benefit is great."

On one occasion (it was at the time we were about to start for the States, but were suddenly frozen in at the commencement of the second winter), having seen the angeko very busy ankooting on the hills, I asked Ebierbing and Tookoolito what it was for. They replied, "To try and get the pack-ice out of the bay." It may be remarked here that this attempt to get the ice out of the bay was caused by the desire of the Innuits to have the George Henry leave the country, they having become tired of the presence of the sailors, and being, perhaps, somewhat jealous of them. On the occasion referred to, the angeko had told the people that on a certain day they were not to do any work. Then, in the evening, he commenced