Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/228

I have only seen one example of children being severely brought up; this was a woman on Southampton Island, who often thrashed Image missingFig. 163.
Toy harpoon. her two adoptive children, especially one, a dear little girl, who was often unnecessarily beaten and gave the impression of being rather cowed. The other Eskimos also said that the woman was too severe and, when her right arm became swollen with rheumatism or something like it, the shaman said that it was because she beat the little girl so much.

The children play like other children, imitating the doings of their elders. The boys are given miniature sledges, whips and hunting implements such as harpoons, leisters, bows, arrows and slings. Often a pup is made to act as sledge dog and its treatment is by no means gentle. The claws and sinews of the flippers of a bearded seal are made to represent four dogs with traces; they make toy houses and tent rings in the gravel outside. The girls have a small lamp and cooking pot, and they play at dolls.^[1] Of other toys there are tops and bull-roarers. Half-grown girls squat down opposite each other and hop in concert, singing long, monotone songs the while; this game is called ajangartut. During the shaman séances on Southampton Island the children played "head lifting". They are very hardy and run about and play even in very severe weather.

The following is a description of some of the playthings contained in the collection:

Fig. 163 (Iglulik) is a toy harpoon, consisting of a wooden shaft, to the fore end of which is scarfed a foreshaft of ivory; this foreshaft has a transversal groove and, on each side of this, four dark patches to represent the lashing of the joint. A thong runs from an eye on the rear of the foreshaft in under the lashing of the tikâgut. Under this thong runs a strap on the line, which is of seal thong, ending at the back end in a loop and at the fore end holding the harpoon head, which is of antler with an iron blade, slightly flat with two bifurcated dorsal spurs. Total length 59 cm.

Whereas this harpoon is apparently intended to represent a walrus harpoon, a loose foreshaft (from Iglulik) belongs to a toy kayak harpoon; it is of ivory, has a wide tenon at the butt end, a curved,