Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-05-11

When thev are quite little, the parents g
give their boys harpoons, arrows, and
kayaks uited to their size; and their
gIrls small hides to tan and stitch.
From babyhood they teach them to
make and use hnnting and fishing
tackle, above all to manage KAYAK
paddles, heavy AMI dangerous for
unpracticed hands. ! he youn Z
hunters progr ess is watched with the
liveliest interest by the Whole family.
When he brings home his first seal,
they give a grand feast in his honor.
The seal Is eaten as a special delicacy,
and the hunters praises sung at the
, revels. The boy grows up t ) Il anhood,
builds his house. marries, and has
children. He hunts, provides for the
family-one cannot say in the sweat of
his brow. for it is cold he has to face
and lives careless of the morrow, carous-
ing at times, or fasting patiently "hen
sickness threatens. In after years he
stoops and dies, and finally is buried
under q cairn of stones by the shore,
when his grave is not in the icy waves
of the sea. The girls, while they are
little, have an idle time, learning moth
ing but how to chatter, sing, and
dance. Rut from fourteen or so, they
must help their mothers, and share the
labors of Greenland woman, cooking
game, and preparing leather. They
soon acquire taste and dexterity in tan
ming and stitching hides, aud turn them
to account in making those brilliant
costumes they de light to shine in. A
| Greenland beauty, with er brown
complexion and full cheeks, looks pretty
enough in gala dress-a clinping gar
ment of lovely seal-skiu, high boots,
| and pearl neck aces twisted round her
neck and hair. But the best part of her
is the good -humored air, and a
coquettishness which astonishes one in
an Eskimo. All that soon changes, sad
to say. Some gallant Nimrod secures
this fair prize Once mother of a
| Her straight figure bends under the
weight of the baby on her back, from
Icing plump be grows thin. Her
steps totter, the hair falls off her tenn
pies, her teeth are worn out with chew
ing hides for tanning-in short, she
takes no care of herself. Girls, very
pretty in their first freshness, are ugly,
! dirty, and repulsive after marrige. No
wonder that Frobisher's crew, IN their
voyage to the Meta lncognita, pulled
off an old Eskimo woman's boots TO see
if she had hoofs and was the devils
dam.
When a friend or relation dies, the
Ekimos, especially, make great show
of grief. For half an hour together
they weep and wall. then after a
moments silence begin laughing and
chat ing again. Tie process is re-
peated each time a visitor comes to
! condole. A spectator meanwhile makes
| a funeral patton, extolling the virtues
of the deceased, and making great
lamentations, after which the whole
party sit down to eat and drink.
Greenland ESkimos are buried IN their
best array. Beside the corpse is laid all
he dead person is supposed to need in
the next world. A man has his spear,
bow and arrows: a woman, needles and
bread, leather scraper, and bucket;
a child its toys, and dogs head to
guide it beyond the grave. Some
tombs contain torches and mode of
| kayaks. II one L found several rust,
nails probably the dead mans greatest
treasures; in another several pairs Ct
wooden spectacles; the deceased had
| doubtless we k eyes and was afraid of
the daZzl ng Snowfields in the regions OF
the best. The grave is usually simple
| ditch, surmounted by Cal N of stones.
Several Esk mo customs, their m cde
| OF burial especially, indicated vague
conception of a future life In the
next world they th nix, the brave
hunter will lead a life analogous to tina
he we'd on earth; only he will hayel So
| hardships to endure, AMI will find seal 5
flesh and other Greenland deiicac es in
abundance. But of religion, properly
speaking, the Eskimos have little or
nothing. Their legends merely assign
various Offices to the great spirit Tor
nasuk (who is made by the missionaries
to do duty as devil) while they people
air, and earth, and sea, with spirits !, IS
mighty. They evince the utmost
tolerance, not to say Indifference abont
religious matters. One Greenlander
who believes in Tornasuk will let others
ridicule his faith without protesting,
and one who does not believe will
listen unmoved to the praises of the
mighty spirit. Once when Nils Egede
laughed at some natives for telling him
they had killed white bear, 80 old
that he had ice on his back that never
melted" they exclaimed: "What-we
believe what you tell usl How can you
mock at our stories?" They thought
Egede's incredulitv was not fair play.
Though not on the whole supersti-
tious people Eskimos are apt TO attrib-
ute their m1sfortunes to the "Iliseet-
sok," as they call witches, and many a
poor old crone has suffered in conse-
quence. They have neither temples,
shrines nor idols, but the a,nulets tney
began by treating as t. Us and ornaments
L..
and certain of their usages, religious
ceremonies, had it Lot been for the
missionaries Intervention. One of
their snperstitions is that they believe
the whale hunter will fail unless he
puts on his best clothes, because whales
like to be respected and detest the
sight of dnrty people. An amulet Is
fixed in the bow of the kayak, and
hare's claw tied to the harpoon. Meap-
while the women at home wash them
silence. A Greenlander does not like
to sell seal on the day OF
its capture. He always cuts off a SCRAP
of every hide or piece of blubber h.
parts with. and prefers to consult
some "Iliseetsok" before striking
bargain, propitiating the oracle with a
few pins In reindeer hunting, the
crows who follow the sledge must be
appeased with scraps of meat.
The Office of priest does not exist in
Greenland, but the hngekoks would
most likely have assumed the dignity
had they not been suppressed by the
Danish missionaries. These ang gskoks
or magicIans, were far superior to all
other Eskimos in morals and intelli- |
gence, and exercised distinctly good |
influence though they confessed to
having deceived foolish people with !
their sorceries; however, they were
themselves to great extent convinced :
Of their magic powers. The art of
the angekoks resembled that of the (
modern spirItualIsts. Like them they |
did their tricks in the dark, conversel !
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