After the death of anyone looked upon as more or less of a criminal, the conjuror is called upon to drive the evil-intentioned spirit of the departed away from his old home. He does this by shading his eyes carefully in the effort to perceive the spirit. Then, with a knife or spear he rushes about, yelling and shouting, and stabbing as if at his invisible foe, calling upon it to depart and go to its own place below. At length he vanquishes the spirit, and announces that it is to be dreaded no more; by their belief in him he removes their fears and restores tranquility of mind and body; whereupon he receives his dues and the perturbed and anxious relatives recover their poise and cheerfulness. In order to grasp how seriously the Eskimo believe their lives, and every adventure of their lives, to be beset by unseen influences, it must be remarked that the main idea of their uncouth religion is that, not only man, but all things, animate or inanimate, have souls. Rocks, wood, earth, water, sun, moon, stars, fire, fog, icebergs, plants, all animals, all creeping things, and even hunting implements, have spirits which never die. The Tarnuk, or soul of a man, has the shape of a man, but is about one inch in height, and is to be discovered in the hand of a conjuror or in that of a new-born babe. The soul of a bear is like a bear; that of a walrus like a walrus; but the soul of a deer resembles a spider, and that of a salmon, a man! The souls of rocks are like sturdy, thickset men; the soul of the earth looks like a piece of liver. Animals’ souls are black and hairless, but those of some inanimate objects are clothed in deerskin. It would indeed take a great deal of study to determine how and why the people should have arrived at these fantastic notions and distinctions. Perhaps it would never be given to the mind of the modern white man to fathom the workings of such primitive intelligence, building up for itself a monstrous, nightmare scheme of things, on foundations of the blackest ignorance. For sheer phantasy, the writer is aware of course that the beliefs of the Eskimos are paralleled by those of many other uncivilised peoples. It may be that along lines of comparative savage mythology some generalisations might emerge which would throw light upon the whole subject. Here, however, would lie the study of a lifetime. Briefly put, the Eskimo religion consists in the belief in a multiplicity of spirits, good and bad, and in one Supreme Spirit, of whom no fear is felt because he has no evil intention towards man. The conjuration and propitiation of the evil spirits is the constant business of the conjuring class, although everyone has some degree of power to deal with them. Man was made, indeed, by the Great Supreme Spirit, and his name was given, Âkkolukju; and woman, Omaneetok, was fashioned from his left-hand floating rib.