They are also prohibited at
those times from partaking of the head of any animal, and even from
walking in or crossing the track where the head of a deer, moose,
beaver, and many other animals have lately been carried, either on a
sledge or on the back. To be guilty of a violation of this custom is
considered as of the greatest importance; because they firmly
believe that it would be a means of preventing the hunter from
having an equal success in his future excursions." So the Lapps
forbid women at menstruation to walk on that part of the shore where
the fishers are in the habit of setting out their fish; and the
Esquimaux of Bering Strait believe that if hunters were to come near
women in their courses they would catch no game. For a like reason
the Carrier Indians will not suffer a menstruous woman to cross the
tracks of animals; if need be, she is carried over them. They think
that if she waded in a stream or a lake, the fish would die.
Amongst the civilised nations of Europe the superstitions which
cluster round this mysterious aspect of woman's nature are not less
extravagant than those which prevail among savages.
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