Page:Eskimo Life.djvu/308

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264
ESKIMO LIFE

their kaiak.'[1] They can catch seals from the land (in great traps), and they can carry two huge saddlebacks or bladder-noses inland with them in a sealskin bag upon their shoulders. As a rule they stand on a hostile footing towards men, but they are also open to friendly intercourse, and will sometimes even exchange wives with them.

Another class of inland folk are the igaligdlit (the plural of igalilik), who go about with a whole kitchen on their backs. The pot alone is so huge that they can boil an entire seal in it; and it boils even as they carry it about. A third class are the erkigdlit (the plural of erkilek), who, according to some, are like men above and dogs below, but according to others have dogs' heads or dogs' noses. They are expert archers, and carry their arrows in quivers on their backs.[2] They are hostile to men. I may also mention the isserkat (the plural of isserak), who 'blink lengthwise'—which probably means that their eye-holes are perpendicular instead of horizontal.

As Rink has shown, there can be very little doubt that these inland folk, who all play a pro-

  1. This suggests our Norwegian 'draug' which sails in a half boat (i.e. a boat split in two longitudinally); and it does not seem impossible that we may here trace the influence of the old Scandinavian settlers.
  2. Paul Egede: Efterretninger om Grönland, p. 172.