The uncivilized native has a great many strict rules to observe in regard to the modes employed in killing animals, and the manner and time of eating certain flesh. There are also rules regarding work on different materials. If these rules are not closely observed the souls of the animals become displeased, and report the transgression to Nuliayok, who shows her displeasure by bringing sickness, ill-luck in hunting, or some other calamity upon the band in this life, and punishes the individual in the next. When the taboos have been broken they can only be condoned by open confession, in the presence of an angekok, who, through his familiar spirit, reports the confession to Nuliayok, and the sin is forgiven.

The following are a few of the many rules which must be observed: The most heinous crime is the concealment by a woman of a miscarriage, and is the source of the greatest calamities. A woman so unfortunate must confess immediately to the angekok, but as the confession practically ostracizes her for several months, the temptation to conceal her mishap is great. A pregnant woman is debarred from eating several kinds of meat. After childbirth she is unclean for two or three months, and for the first month cannot visit any house in the community. A similar rule applies to women during their menses. A woman who has recently lost a relative must not work on deerskins, pluck ducks, take the hair off sealskins nor mention the names of the animals. When the men are away hunting on the ice the women must not disturb the bedding, as it will make cracks in the ice, and seal-line used in hunting must be cut diagonally for the same reason. When the sun first returns in the spring the children blow out the lamp in the snow-house. During the time that the sun is travelling south cat’s-cradle is played by the women and children to entangle the sun in the meshes and prevent it being lost by continuing south; the cup-and-ball game is played to hasten its return.

Among the many taboos relating to the killing of animals the following may be mentioned: The bear is under the protection of two goddesses, Angeakatille and Ouhowjawtil, who live in an iceberg. No work must be done for three days after a bear is killed, and the women must not comb their hair, nor disturb the bedding. No cannibal may eat bear flesh, lest it should create a taste for human flesh. The newly-killed seal has its eyes punctured, so that its spirit may not see that it is being taken to the snow-house. When the carcass is brought into the house fresh snow is dipped into the kettle and the water from it is dripped over the seal’s mouth. Before going sealing, for the first time on the ice, a fire of shrubs is made, and the clothing and implements of the hunter are thoroughly smoked in it. The key block of the snow-house is at the same time scored in all directions with the knife, to ensure good luck in hunting and to keep away disease; a white piece of deerskin and thread are put on the ice for the same purposes. Seal bones must not be given to the dogs. The souls of the sea animals abhor dead bodies and blood, which must therefore be avoided by hunters. This rule applies especially to women during their periods. Everybody in the encampment may eat freely of the seals killed by the successful hunter, but none of the meat must be removed from his house.

During the deer hunt no work must be done with sealskin. The winter clothes and tents must be buried, while no seal or walrus line may be taken inland. When hunting deer from the kyak on the inland lakes a small piece of sealskin is deposited under a stone on the margin of the lake.

When the musk-ox hunt is in progress, the hair must not be removed from deerskins, and no work with iron may be undertaken.

All deerskin garments must be made on the land, and not after the family has moved upon the ice, until the March moon, when the women are allowed to work at deerskins in an iglo on the land, but not on a day when a walrus has been killed. Soapstone is another material which must not be worked on the ice. No work may be undertaken on sealskins killed during the winter, until the seals have pupped. The tusks of freshly killed walrus must not be removed from the skull until the winter, but work may be done during the season on tusks taken before the new ice forms.

When on the ice, deer meat must be taken into the house through a hole in the side and not by the door, until after the March moon, when both deerskins and meat may be taken through the door. Deer must not be eaten on the same day with seal or walrus, except in the walrus season, when it may be eaten with the latter. Clothing must be changed before eating seal in the walrus season.

The first salmon must be caught before work on bootlegs begins, and boots worn while hunting walrus must not be used when salmon fishing. Salmon is always cooked over shrub fires outside the tent, and in vessels used only for that purpose; consequently fish taken in the winter are eaten raw.

Amulets in the shape of small pieces of skin or cloth are sewn to the under coat by the wife of an angekok to ward off sickness and to bring good luck. Many of these are decorated with beads. The tip of the deer’s tail is sewn to the tail of the coat for success in hunting, and when sewn to the coat of a boy ensures his becoming a successful hunter. A gull’s feather dipped in the drippings of the lamp is placed between the harpoon and spear line, and so carried to the ice, where the hunter sucks the feather and spits in the water in order that the walrus may not know that it is being hunted. The dried skin of a newly-born lemming, when attached to the float of a walrus harpoon, prevents the animal from attacking the boat when wounded, and the skin of a lemming carried in the boat ensures safety.

There are numerous other charms used, together with invocations and songs for success in hunting.