nt the bear
they next attack from scenting the approach of men; and the greasing
of the mouth is designed to give it pleasure, as the bear is supposed
to be a lover of all sorts of fried grease. The head is covered with
knick-knacks because they think that the bear is sent to them by their
forefathers for the purpose of bringing these things with it to the
other world; and as they reckon that the bear's soul cannot reach its
home in less than five days, they always refrain for that time from
eating its head, lest its soul should die on the way, and the little
gifts to their relatives should thus be lost. They are even careful to
stop up all the holes in the neck where the head has been cut off, in
order to prevent the soul from bleeding to death on its journey. For
my part, I call all this idolatry. The heathens, indeed, believed in
the old days that everything, whether living or dead, had its soul; but
there is nothing that one ought to mix up with man's immortal soul.
The fact that, even in our days, so long after the introduction of
Christianity, the people here in the far south still cling to some of
the habits of their forefathers is due to their frequent (almost yearly)
intercourse with the heathens of the east coast.

I left Augpilagtut in 1885. I am not quite sure whether even out at
Pamiagdluk there may not be a few families who still lean to these bear
superstitions; but all certainly do not--not Isaac's family, for one. At
other places, for example here at the Colony, they have scarcely even
heard of the customs I have described.

I had not been told on what day they intended to cook the bear's head,
and was therefore surprised by a sudden invitation to come and share
in it. I cut the snout off without ceremony; but they soon let me know
that I had made a mistake, at once tearing it out of my hands. I confess
I was a good deal offended, and told them straight out that, however
foolish they might think me, I did not believe a bit in all this. They
assured me quite earnestly that in that case I would nev