Netsilik

The Netsilik, also referred to as Esquimaux by the British, are a group of Inuit peoples inhabiting the northern regions of Canada, including King William Island. As hunter-gatherers, the Netsilik in the 19th century migrated seasonally in order to hunt available game animals, supplementing their diet of seals and other sea life.

At least one tribe of Netsilik on King William Island claimed a spiritual connection to a creature known as Tuunbaq. Through a ritual of animal sacrifices, singing, and the severing of one's tongue, a Netsilik shaman could become "bound" to Tuunbaq, giving him or her some measure of control over the creature. The Netsilik believed that Tuunbaq could not go unbound for an extended period of time, and that any shaman on whose watch Tuunbaq was killed must be exiled from the rest of the tribe.