Abstract
THE Eskimo of Mr. Bilby's title can be accurately described as “unknown” only in relation to the public for whom he writes-a public which normally does not have access to scientific publications. His account of the customs, modes of life, and beliefs of the Central Eskimo of Baffin Land is, however, something more than a book with a merely popular appeal. A residence of twelve years among these tribes qualifies him to give ritual and belief their proper setting and perspective in the everyday round in a manner which is not always possible in an analytic study. This has a value which anthropologists will readily acknowledge; but Mr. Bilby's intense appreciation of the native attitude of mind to tribal observances, and his keen insight into the dynamic relation of such observances to conduct, have obscured the fact that these do not necessarily tell the whole story. Accordingly, he is prone to offer as an interpretation of native practices the immediate social effect and the psychological factors which come into play in certain elements of ritual, to the neglect of deeper causes. An appendix gives a valuable list of some fifty departmental deities of the Eskimo with their attributes.
Among Unknown Eskimo.
J. W.
Bilby
By. Pp. 280 + 16 plates. (London: Seeley, Service and Co., Ltd., 1923.) 21s. net.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Among Unknown Eskimo. Nature 112, 469 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/112469c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/112469c0