The root idea of this pairing off is to strengthen a race that might easily be weakened by too much inter-marriage, and to increase the birth-rate. The writer has elsewhere commented on the defensibility of such a custom—from the Eskimo point of view—but it remains to be added here that, as regards parentage, the father of a child is always known and acknowledged, be he the woman’s husband or her temporary Sedna mate. The Sedna offspring is cared for by the regular husband, or by the community. Next comes the extraordinary performance already described, when the conjuror is speared through the chest. After this, the principal Angakok prepares to give battle to Sedna. The goddess can be killed; but as she subsequently comes to life again, this killing has to take place every year. The whole performance is a representation of seal-spearing on the ice. The conjuror coils a rope on the floor of a large hut, and leaves a little opening at the top to represent the blow hole. Two assistants stand on either side, armed respectively with harpoon and spear. A third chants incantations at the back of the dwelling. Sedna is supposed to be lured from the underworld, and when she comes to the hole, is transfixed at once. She sinks away again, dragging the harpoon with her, wounded and incensed. The conjurors haul on the line for all they are worth, and recover the weapon. Then the chief Angakut squats upon the floor, with his arms and legs bound by a length of light hide line. The lamps are pressed down to burn so dimly that it is all but dark. The rest of the folk also sit about the floor with their heads bowed, so that none may stare at the conjuror’s face. He begins his incantations, rocking to and fro and uttering sounds that seem incredible for a human throat to compass. He works himself into a state of insensibility (but not before his familiar spirit has undone the knots and released him from his bonds.) It is this trance which makes such an impression on the tribesfolk. They believe that the witch doctor’s spirit has left his body and their midst, and has really gone to meet and despatch the powerful figment of their myth, to kill her and liberate the seals. The hardening of the weather soon after this ceremony, when the prospects of the sealers naturally improve, seems to the Eskimo mind a clear demonstration of cause and effect. Probably the conjuror quite believes it, too, and although he has done nothing but hypnotise himself and strike awe thereby into the onlookers, this assumption of all that he accomplishes in the meantime is as real to him as to the others.