Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/341

322 doing no work, for one day; if a bear is killed, he must remain quiet, in like manner, for three days; after the taking of a whale, two days. If, however, he is on a hunt and game is plentiful, the Innuit frequently keeps on at the sport, making up all his resting days at the end of the hunt.

When a seal is captured, a few drops of water are sprinkled on its head before it is cut up. If there is no water to be had, the man holds snow in his hands till he squeezes out a single drop, the application of which answers every purpose. Women are not allowed to eat of the first seal of the season, and this rule is so strictly enforced that they do not feel at liberty even to chew the blubber for the sake of expressing the oil. When Tunukderlien and Jennie were with me on my sledge-journey up Frobisher Bay, the first seal of the season was caught, and Henry was obliged to pound the blubber to obtain the oil we needed, because the women were not allowed to do it.

There is a regular order for cutting up a walrus. The first man who arrives at the captured animal cuts off the right arm or flipper; the second, the left arm; the third, the right leg or flipper; the fourth, the left leg; the fifth, a portion of the body, beginning at the neck, and so on till the whole is disposed off. One very curious custom among the Innuits is this: At a time of the year apparently answering to our Christmas, they have a general meeting in a large igloo on a certain evening. There the angeko prays on behalf of the people for the public prosperity through the subsequent year. Then follows something like a feast. The next day all go out into the open air and form in a circle; in the centre is placed a vessel of water, and each member of the company brings a piece of meat, the kind being immaterial. The circle being formed, each person eats his or her meat in silence, thinking of Sidne, and wishing for good things. Then one in the circle takes a cup, dips up some of the water, all the time thinking of Sidne, and drinks it; and then, before passing