ShortPapers and Notes

THE ANGNASHEOTIK: AN AC- an immediate personal judgement after COUNT OF THEINVENTION OF A death. SPIRITUALENTITY AMONG THE Where culture contact does not pro- UNGAVA ESKIMOS duce great stress, diffusion of religious The reactions of primitive peoples to beliefsmay go on either way.In contact with the western culture take a extreme instances the whole system of multitude of forms and involve a large religious beliefmay be transformed number of variables from both of the without anyvery evident changes in cultures concerned.Among the most other areas of the culture. In Samoa, for interesting are reactions that are evi- example, the congregational formof the denced in the realm of belief about the Christian religion was so exactly com- supernatural world. These may comein plementary to the existingeconomic, various ways and take various forms. political and social patterns that they If, for example, there is an active mis- underwent very little change on adop- sionaryeffort to transmit christian tion. belief, the response may vary from total Other kinds of response are observa- conversion and complete abandonment ble whenculture contact producesstress of old beliefs, or the fusion (or confu- in, or even disruption of, native society sion) of Christian and native beliefs, to and culture. These appear to take two the incorporation of some new element forms (a) theattempt to rationalize new in a native disguise. Where there is no and often painful experience with the missionary activity, conversion, even of use of familiar concepts about the su- single persons is understandably rare. pernatural or (b) the invention of new However, diffusion of aspects of chris- beliefsinvolving thesupernatural tian beliefeven to the pointwhere world. Thefist form was exemplifiedin native conceptions of the supernatural the response of the Sioux and Cree na- are modified,can take place through tions to the small-pox epidemic of the casual or secular contact. An example is 1870’s and the almost simultaneous dis- the transmission of many European appearance of the buffalo2. It was said superstitions to various Indian tribes by that the gods were displeased with men coureurs-de-bois. The traffic wasnot all and had sent the smallpox to punish in one directionand Roman Catholicism them and caused the buffalo to go un- inQuebec shows some Indian influ- derground never to return until men enced. Among those whotransmit west- were more virtuous. The second is ex- ern culture traits may be superstitious emplifiedin the familiar ghostdance and ignorant men and it is not unex- that swept through a number of North pected that the beliefs about the super- American Indian nations in 1889-903, natural world handed on by such per- and in the cargo cults of Melanesia and sons often emphasize the magical aspects Australia4, which,despite the spatial, of popular Christianbelief and some- temporal and cultural distances that times quite clearly belong to the rem- separate them, have essentially similar nants of medievalbelief in witchcraft elements. Both are products of heavily and sorcery that still persist inthe west- threatened cultures and promise super- ern culture. The term popular Christian natural aid to native peoples inthe belief is used here to include a number elimination of white domination and a of beliefs and practices thatare not return to the old way of life. articles of faith but which are ancient In the summer of 1956 a young Eskimo and widespread, e.g. the bibliomancy of named Joseph Partridge, a native of the an earlier day and thecommon belief in Fort Chimo area of Northern Quebec,

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brought to my attention somelocal tinued her search for her friend but beliefs about the spirit world and the ultimatelywent home without finding rather brisk relationshipsits inhabitants her. The woman who had been gather- are thought to enter into with mortals, ing wood was asked upon her return, if indicating that Eskimodemonism has she had seen any other woman out or been modified through culture contact if she had met Jacob’s sister.She said no by both the diffusion of certain popular, to both questions and when a check of western superstitions and the invention families revealed no one had been out of a supernatural entity. The term on the hill, it was concludedthat Jacob’s demonism is usedin this article to mean sister had met and talked with a spirit. belief in spirit entities of every kind According to Jacob, this encounter took from gods to demiurges no matter what place on the hill overlooking the grave- their attitudes to man or their relation- yard. ships with him are thought to be. 2. Once Jacob himself and another We were walking in the“new” grave- Eskimo boy about his own age named yard (which had in fact been in use for TommyGordon were out on the hill a number of years) and reading the in- behind the postcoasting on sleighs. scriptions on the crosses that marked the Jacob decided to go home and Tommy victims of the measles epidemic of 1952, went off up the hill for another ride. when Jacob suddenly remarked in his Shortly after, Tommy appeared at excellentcolloquial English thatthe Jacob’s house and told this tale: As he place was a favourite haunt of ghosts wassliding down the hill he saw a and none of the natives ever dared to skeleton coming up thehill toward him. venture there after dark. Hedecided it was “after” him and I expressed interest at once, for I was thereupon steered his sleigh into it, curious concerning the degree of per- knocked it down and continued on his sistence of traditional Eskimobeliefs way to the bottom of the hill and from about the supernatural world and their there ran home. use as an index of the amount of accul- 3. Jacob‘s father was down near the turation that had occurred. My obvious mouth of the Koksoak River at a fishing interest and my matter-of-fact accept- camp.He and two other men were ance of his statements seemedto re- sleeping in the Peterhead boat tied to assure Jacob; he had been watching me the shore. Theywere awakened by foot- closely to see how I would take such a steps on deck and thentwo Angnasheo- statement from a youngman, who, tik(Jacob’s spelling) came below and despite his Eskimo birth, had had the demanded fish saying that if they were advantage of education to the11th grade given fish they would go away and do in an Ottawa high school. Once he saw no harm. Jacob’s father (Jimmy Par- that I did not mean to ridiculeor dispute tridge) and his companions were very his assertions he appeared to be quite frightened and gavethem all the fish eager to talk and he related the follow- they had upon which the Angnasheotik ing tales: went away and were seen no more. I 1. One winter his sister was out have not found this term anywhere in seeking a woman who had gone to the the literature. Miss Helen Wiltshire,the willow flats for wood. She met a second school teacher at Chimo, atthe time woman whomshe thought she knew and reported having heard it in Frobisher asked her if she had seen the woman Bay. whowas gathering wood. The second 4. Inthe fourth and last story, woman replied that she was just over Jacob’s sister Eva was sleeping under a the hill. Jacob’s sister then started up mosquito net in a wood-framed tent in the hill and pausing soon after the en- which there were two other women. The counter to look back at the informant, twowomen went out for water. An found that she had disappeared despite Angnasheotikcame in and heaped up the openness of the country and the lack pots and pans in one corner and then of placesto hide. Jacob’s sister con- went out and locked [sic] the door. Eva SHORT PAPERSNOTES AND 291 laughed because the Angnasheotik did white faces and black clothes. According not see her and when the two women to his account although the Eskimo are came back she told them whathad hap- much troubled by them, the Indians are pened and they were so frightened that evenmore troubled “because the In- they did not go out again that night. dians live only in tents”. At the end of this tale, I asked Jacob Daisy Watt who speaks quite fluent to explainthe termAngnasheotik which English, was voluble when I asked her I had assumed from the context to be to tell me about them. She was as curi- an inhabitant of the spirit world.He ous as Big Jacob about my sources of then wrote the word in my notebookand information but seemed quite satisfied translated it as “going for our women”. when I told her I had known of them Heexplained that bothEskimo and for some time. Daisy saidvery definitely Indians are bothered by these spirits that they are the spirits of white men who peer in windows, lurk about tents and that they had thin faces and wore and sometimes throw stones at people flat hats, white shirtsand black suits at night. The Indians referred to are the [sic]. She was most insistent that they northernmost band of the Naskopi who chaseonly women and do not bother used to come to Chimo regularly every men. She described one aspect of their summer, from the vicinity of Fort Mac- behavior thus: Awoman is sleeping, Kenzie. In theautumn of 1957 they were she opens her eyes and happens to look relocated at Knob Lake and no longer out the window; if an Angnasheotik is make the annual trips. there he catches her eye and she then According to Jacob, Angnasheotikare becomes rigid and cannot move or look the spirits of white men and have dead- away. The Angnasheotik maythen come white faces, black, close-fitting clothes, in and copulate with her. Again Daisy long nosesand “hoods like thewitchmen emphazised that these spirits are those in comic books”. They will go away if of white menand not Eskimos or Indians you go outside(this applies to men only, and she too addedthat they troubled the presumably) or if, when they are fol- Indians even more than the Eskimo. lowing you at night, you turn and look How my informants could be so sure of back. This account exhausted Jacob’s this is puzzling when one considers the information on the subject. When asked very slightcontact between the two he repeated very positively that Angna- peoples. There appeared to bean almost sheotik are the ghosts of white men. complete lack of communication be- To checkthe extentof the belief about tween the Naskopi and the Eskimo. I the Angnasheotik, which I had not met never observed them to speak or pay withbefore, I askedtwo other infor- the slightest attention to each other and mants, Big Jacob and Daisy. Big Jacob, mixing at missionary sponsored enter- who uses a clear if rather racy variety tainments was mechanical rather than of English learned as a construction social. However, there was one mixed labourer in FortChurchill, seemed both marriage of an Indian man to an Eskimo astonished and interested by my direct woman. This couple squatted in a shack question about the Angnasheotik and onHudson’s Bay property equidistant countered byasking if I knew very between the camp sites of the two peo- much about “those things” and what we ples and were largely ignored by both called them in English. I replied, some- although the woman did retain some what boldly perhaps, that I knew much family relationships. about these matters and that we used Daisysaid that she had heard of a the word spirit in talking of these mani- little girl who many years ago had been festations.He thereupon repeated the pickedup and carried awayby an word several times as if intent upon Angnasheotik and undertookto dem- mastering it; Big Jacob then described onstrate on my person the rather pe- the Angnasheotik much as Jacob Par- culiar method in which the child had tridge did. He reported that the Eskimo been held by her captor, which seemed seethem outside and that they have identical with what we callthe fireman’s 292 SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES

lift. tributable tomissionary effort but al- If these stories and accounts are con- thoughmissionaries introduced such sidered together withwhat is known items as consecratedground set aside about Eskimobeliefs prior to white for the burial of the dead, religious contact, it is evident that new elements services,crosses, coffins and all the have been added both by diffusion and other specifically Christian traits of this invention. particular complex,it is unlikely that Turner who is probably the best they introduced suchpagan or pre- source of informationon Ungava Es- Christianwestern culturetraits as a kimoethnology says (ref. 5 p. 193) generalized fear of ghosts in association “While these people have but little fear with graveyards orthe belief in am- of the deadman’s bones, they do not bulant skeletons since they are contrary approve of their being disturbed by to Christian doctrine. It is probable, al- others”. Turneris much at variance thoughevidence for the assertionis with E. W. Hawkes concerning Eskimo lacking, that these beliefs were intro- attitudes to death and burial. Hawkes duced by whalers, fishermen, and fur- says of the Labrador Eskimo, “But traders who beginning as early as the they do have a superstitious fear of a 17th century have transmitted many corpse . . . and are very much afraid of western culturetraits to the Eskimo. ghosts” (ref. 6 p. 118). SinceHawkes’s Certainly if Turner is accepted, fear of observations were admittedly cursory graves and the deceased represents a and since he did not visit the Ungava complete reversal of attitudes. district at all, it seems wisest to accept These elements of popular western Turner’s accountwhich emphasises demonism have received reinforcement regard for and attachment to the de- from sources as yet largely neglected in ceased, not fear of them. anthropological study in this area, that Turner further said that the soul of is comic books, films, and popular mag- the deceased might stay in the vicinity azines.Comic books circulate freely of the grave for as long as 4 or 5 years. among the whites in the Eastern Arctic The relatives wouldvisit the grave, and frequently find their way into Es- depositfood and even replace articles kimo hands. As an examination of a of clothing etc. that had been destroyed selection of them shows, the depiction by animals or weather. The whole feel- of ghosts,zombies, witches, ambulant ingone gets from his report is that skeletons, etc. is quite common. Films, there wasrespect for the dead and which are sometimes carefully selected marked reluctance to offend them and if intended for native audiences but not that intimate and essentially benevolent if intended for whites, sometimes depict relationships continued to exist during elements of popular western demonism the period the soul was thought to be too. Other media,especially picture present. Ultimately the soul wentto magazinesand the heavily illustrated the spirit worldwhence it could be popularmagazines which the Eskimo summoned by the Angakok to provide are fond of, mayin picture and ad- information and advice, returning there vertisement depictsome conventional afterwards, and the souls might at some supernatural entity. The Eskimos, who timeelect rebirth. However, they ap- do not know the western cultural con- parently were not thought to remain in ventions, take these representations the world attached in some way to the literally and wouldbe surprised to locality of death or burial. know that not all whites givethem Thus, it seems probable that just as credence. the graveyard itself as an area set aside The Angnasheotik, wickedand earth- for burial of the deadis an intrusive bound, clearly accord with these intru- cultural trait, so is the fear of grave- sive beliefsabout ghosts. However, they yards and earth-bound ghosts.The are not themselves to be explained by introduction of European,which is to diffusionsince nothing corresponding say christian burial practicesis at- tothem appears to exist in western SHORT PAPERSNOTES AND 293 demonism. The closest Eskimo concep- assault by a spirit might literally have tion is of spirits called tornait (sing. beenmore believable than one by a torngak), malevolent, but controllable mortal. Afew such incidents graphically bymagic. These are“pure” spirits, reported might well have been sufficient however, not the ghosts of the deceased. togive the newconcept an ultimate This difference as well as the descrip- general acceptance. Whether or notthis tion of the clothing, the flat assertion of is an accurate guess about the beginning “whiteness” and general physicalap- of the Angnasheotikwhich is quite pearance of Angnasheotik lends force beyondproof, the fact remains that to the argument that they are a new they are nowaccepted as part of the conceptionin Eskimo demonism, in- spirit world with a standard appearance vented as a consequence of culture and specific attitudes and behaviour. contact. This conclusiongives rise to This means that the belief may be in questions about the time of and reasons some way functional to Eskimo society. for the invention and its function(s) for Itis obviouslynot messianic asthe the group. ghostdance orthe cargo cult for it TheEskimo are a people without a promises no salvation. It has the gen- written history, although they have eral function of promotinggroup sol- creationmyths, and myinformants idarity that is characteristic of all thought there had alwaysbeen Ang- shared beliefs.However, this failsto nasheotik. If it were to be assumed that account for the insistence that Angna- the conceptisrooted in some real sheotik are the spirits of white men eventsin the past, the descriptions of since solidarity functionscan be as well appearance andbehaviour might offer subversed by supernatural entities clues.The clothes especially as Daisy without white characteristics.Beyond described them, sounded formal in cut, that however,it is possible thatthe almost like evening dress. Her gestures Angnasheotikhave persisted within conveyed the impression of a tailcoat Eskimodemonology as surrogates for and the “flat hats” sounded rather like the white manwhom the Eskimofelt the kind worn in the last decades of the powerlessto attack directly. Culture 19th century, the periodwhen there contact, especially since World War 11, was a surprisingly large population of has produced considerable stress in the whites in the Eastern Arctic composed simplesocial structure of the Ungava of fur traders and the crews of supply Eskimos as dependence on the white ships and whaling vessels, which some- trader or administrator has increased; times spent yearsin arctic waters. and to define the unpredictable, male- When ships arrived at settlements there volent and hypersexual Angnasheotik was often, as one would expect, a large as white would allow a safe expression sexual commerce based on barter. The of hostile attitudes. obvious interest of the ships’ crews in Such a function is made more prob- women could have given rise to a native able by one of the more unusual char- belief in an abnormally strong sex drive acteristics of Eskimo culture, the lack as characteristic of white men. At the of middleground between complete sametime it is probable that ships’ and cheerful co-operation and outright crews, traders, etc. were sometiqps conflict. guilty of forcing their attentions on Even now, after much culture contact, isolated females. Thus it is possiblethat feelings of hostility are almostalways the Angnasheotik belief grew out of a dissembled under a guise of cheerful- fairly common pattern of rape or near- ness but they are real enoughfor all rape of isolated females ‘bywhite men, that and when they do find direct ex- reinforced by a belief in white hyper- pression,it is usually in acts of great sexuality, 75 to 100 years ago. Given the violence. Repressed hostility universal- contemporary Eskimo attitudes to sex- ly finds expression in dreams, symbolic ual behaviour and relationshipsbe- acts, and fantasy; and it is possible that tween the sexes in general, a sexual the Angnasheotik have become, a means 294 NOTES AND PAPERS SHORT for the expression of these attitudes in The Social Development of Canada, To- a manner consistent with fundamental ronto: University of Toronto Press. 1942, thought modes of the old culture. p. 39. That these spirit entities are a re- “Howard, J. K., Strange empire. New York: sponse to white contact seems certain. Wm. Morrow and Co., 1952, p. 254ff. and However, the explanations of the func- p. 299. tions of belief in the Angnasheotik ad- :{Mooney,James, The Ghost Dance Religion vanced here, plausible though they may and theSioux Outbreak of 1890,14th be, are little more than guesses. Sys- Ann. Rep., Bur. of Ethn. 1892-93, pt. II., tematic study would be necessary to Washington,Government Printing Of- establish or refute them and might at fice, p. 657. the sametime add something to our $Worsley, Peter. TheTrumphet Shall knowledge of the processes of accul- Sound: A Study of CargoCults in turation. Melanesia. Magibbon and Kee, 1957. KENNETHDUNCAN* ETurner, L. M. Ethnology of the Ungava ____~ District. 11thAnn. Rep. Bur. of Ethn. * University of Western Ontario, London, 1889-90, Washington, Government Print- Ontario, Canada. ingOffice, p. 267. CHawkes, E. W.,The Labrador Eskimo. ‘Bailey, A. The conflict of European and Geol. Surv.Mem. 91, No. 14, Anthrop.Ser. Algonkian cultures. Cited in S. D. Clark: Ottawa:King’s Printer, 1916, p. 118.

THEBARREN GROUND GRIZZLY withthose of more recent observers, BEAR IN NORTHERN CANADA whose coverage tends, on the whole, to Although little is knownof the be more systematic. Finally, the appar- ethology and ecology of theBarren ent trend in the data depends partly on Ground grizzly bear in the Northwest the limits selected for each map-period. Territories, its occurrence there is none Banfield writes that Hanbury (ref. 3, the lessvery interesting from a zoo- pp. 14, 40) “ . . . mentioned black bears geographic viewpoint. The present note in the Thelon Valley but made no men- isprompted by Dr. A. W. F. Ban- tion of grizzlies”. However, Clarke (ref. field’s recent review of its distributionl. 4, p. 32) says that “He [Hanbury] did Banfield supports histhesis thatthe not see one [black bear] and because, species has only recently spread east- apart from his suggestion, no evidence wardfrom the Coppermine River- has ever been found of such an occur- Bathurst Inlet region with three suc- rence, whereas the barren ground bear cessive distribution maps on which are iswell distributed on the Thelon, it shownmany early and recent rec- must be assumed that the signs he ob- ords, both positive and negative. How- served were of the barrenground bear”. ever, wefeel that some of the earlier Following Clarke, there is ample basis ones,which Banfield considered neg- for the view that both Hanbury’s record ative, admitof a contrary interpretation. and the discussion of black bear distri- Moreover, two of them (discussed be- bution in easternKeewatin by Freuchen low) appear to support the more prob- (ref. 5,pp. 101-2) refer to the Barren ablehypothesis thatthe range of the Groundgrizzly bear and not tothe Barren Ground grizzly bear has under- black bear. It should be noted also that gone at least one major fluctuation since Eskimosfrom Baker Lake, the lower the disappearance of Wisconsin ice from Kazan River, AberdeenLake, and Garry the mainlandNorthwest Territories, Lake, at present knowonly one dark which,according to ref. 2, tookplace bear, the Barren Ground grizzly bear, some 7,000 years ago. Another point and thatthe black bear is very rare that comes to mind when examining the even at Padlei, onthe tree-linee. three maps is the difficulty inherent in Lyon (ref. 7, p.175) heard from an comparing the records of early explorers Eskimoin 1822 that “bothblack and