Chapter XXI: Introduction (20)

Nos. 89346 and 89347 [990], from Nuwŭk, are a pair of little men, standing erect, about 2 inches high, rather roughly carved, of slightly yellow walrus ivory. Both have large, clumsy feet and legs, and the eyes, nostrils, and mouth incised and filled in as usual with dark colored dirt. The arms are in high relief. No. 89346 [990_b_] has his hands clasped in front of him, while No. 89347 [990_a_] has them clasped behind his back. The legs of the latter are excavated on the inside as if to fit it upon the end of some object. It is more probable, however, that this image was carved from the foreshaft of a seal-dart, and that the excavation is merely the slot in the end of the latter. These two images are evidently modern, but do not appear freshly made. No. 89345 [1273] from Utkiavwĭñ is a very rude image, 2.6 inches long, having a very small head and no arms. It is somewhat discolored walrus ivory and quite dirty, and though evidently modern, from the appearance of the ivory, does not appear to be freshly made. This figure is even ruder in design than those from Siberia figured by Nordenskiöld.[N516]

[Footnote N516: Vega, vol. 2, p. 127.]

The best of our human figures from Point Barrow show much greater art, both in workmanship and design, than those just mentioned, but can not compare with the elegant figures in the museum from the more southern parts of Alaska. The four remaining ivory carvings represent the human face alone. No. 89342 [989], Fig. 396, from Nuwŭk, is a thick piece of walrus ivory 3.3 inches long and 1.6 wide, carved into three human faces, a man in the middle and a woman on each side, joined together at the side of the head. Though the workmanship is rough, the faces are characteristic. The man has labrets and a curved line of tattooing at each corner of the mouth, indicating the successful whaleman, and the women, the usual tattooing on the chin. The eyes, nostrils, mouths, labrets, and tattooing are incised and blackened as usual. This specimen, though apparently modern, does not seem fresh enough to have been made for sale. The seller called it “a man and his two wives” without giving them any names. It may be intended as a portrait of some celebrated whaleman.

Fig. 397 is one of a pair of very rude faces (No. 56523 [52] from Utkiavwĭñ), 1½ inches long, which were made for sale. It is simply a walrus-tooth cut off square on the ends and on one side rudely carved into a face, with the eyes and mouth incised and filled in with dark colored dirt. Fig. 398 (No. 89343 [1124] from Nuwŭk) is a flat piece of ivory (a bit of an old snow shovel edge), 4 inches long and 1.2 inches wide, roughly carved and covered with incised figures. The upper edge is carved into five heads: First, a rude bear’s head, with the eyes and nostrils incised and blackened as usual; then four human heads, with a face on each side. The front faces have the noses and brows in low relief and the eyes, nostrils, and mouths incised and blackened; the back ones are flat, with the last three features indicated as before. At the end is a rude figure of a bear, heading toward the right, with the ears in relief, the eyes and mouth roughly incised and blackened, and the legs indicated by roughly incised and blackened lines on the obverse face. Both faces are covered with rudely incised and blackened lines.

On the obverse there is a single vertical line between each pair of heads. Below the bear’s head is a bear heading toward the right; under the first human head, an umiak with four men; under the second, a “killer” (Orca) heading toward the right; under the third, two of the usual conventionalized whales’ tails suspended from a cross-line; and under the last, a “killer” with very large “flukes” heading toward the left.

On the reverse there are, below the bear, a bear heading toward the right, below each of the human heads a whale’s tail with the flukes up, and under the bear’s head a bear heading toward the right. This end is perforated with a large round hole, into which is knotted a bit of deer sinew about 3 inches long, the other end of which is tied round the junction of two little bowhead whales, each about 1 inch long and carved out of a single piece of ivory, head to head. They are rather rudely carved and have the spiracles incised and blackened. This object appears freshly made, but perhaps commemorates the exploits of some four hunters. It was purchased along with other objects and its history was not learned at the time.

Perhaps the best image of a polar bear is No. 89566 [1252], Fig. 399, from Utkiavwĭñ, which is quite characteristic. It represents the bear standing and was carved out of soft, gray soapstone with a knife, and finished off smoothly with a file. It is 4 inches long. No. 89571 [116_b_], from Nuwŭk, is a very rude flat soapstone bear, 1.9 inches long, in profile, showing only one fore and one hind leg. It was made for sale, but No. 89576 [966], from the same village, which is almost exactly like this, though smaller, is old. No. 89574 [1027], from Nuwŭk, is the gypsum carving of a bear, above referred to, which is very like the preceding two specimens. It is 2.5 inches long and has a large tail and large clumsy legs.

No. 89578 [1051], Fig. 400, from Utkiavwĭñ, is a thin profile figure of a polar bear, made by flaking from dark gray flint. It is 1.4 inches long, and the tail is disproportionately long. The specimen does not appear to be new, and was perhaps intended for an amulet, like the flint whales already mentioned.

The only bone figure of a bear in the collection, No. 89335 [1275], Fig. 401_a_, from Utkiavwĭñ, is very crude. It has a very long, slim body and neck, and short, slender legs. The mouth, eyes, and nostrils are incised and are blackened as usual. The carving is rudely done, but the specimen, which was made for sale, has been scraped smooth. It is 5.5 inches long, and made of whale’s bone, soaked in oil to make it appear old.

Fig. 401_b_ (No. 89471 [997], from Utkiavwĭñ) is the end of some old implement, 6 inches long, one end of which is carved into a rather rude bear’s head, with the ears, nostrils, outline of the mouth, and the vibrissæ incised and blackened. Sky-blue glass beads are inlaid for the eyes and bits of tooth for the canine tusks. On the throat is a conventional figure with two “circles and dots,” all incised and blackened. The carving is freshly done, but soiled, to make it look old.

The three newly made ivory bears are all represented standing and are quite characteristic. All have the eyes, nostrils, and mouth incised and blackened. Fig. 402_a_ (No. 89337 [1274], from Utkiavwĭñ) is the best in execution. It is made of white ivory and is 3.3 inches long. No. 56524, [92], from Nuwŭk, is a small bear, 1.7 inches long, not quite so well carved, and disproportionally long-legged. The left hind leg has been broken off close to the body and doweled on with a wooden peg. Another little bear from Nuwŭk (No. 89841 [992]) is still more rudely carved, but closely resembles the preceding.

A larger carving, rather roughly executed (No. 89338 [1098], from Nuwŭk), represents a standing bear 3.2 inches long, holding a whale crosswise in his mouth. The whale is a separate piece, held in by a wooden peg driven through the bear’s lower jaw. This specimen is newly made from rather coarse walrus ivory.

Fig. 402_b_ (No. 89340 [953], from Utkiavwĭñ) is a very ancient ivory image of a bear, 3.4 inches long, which was evidently intended for an amulet, as there is a stout lug on the belly, into which are bored two oblique holes, so as to make a longitudinal channel for a string. Into this is knotted a stout cord of loosely twisted sinew. The execution of the image is particularly good, but the design is very rude. The specimen is so ancient that the ivory of which it is made has become almost black.

No. 56528_a_ [56_a_] from Utkiavwĭñ is a walrus tooth, 1.6 inches long, carved into the shape of a bear’s head. Both design and execution are very rude. Light blue glass beads are inlaid for the eyes, and the nostrils and outline of the mouth are incised and filled in with black dirt. It was made for sale. A still more rude carving, also made for sale, is No. 56528, from Utkiavwĭñ, which is an old and weathered canine tooth of the polar bear, with the point freshly whittled so as to look something like a bear’s head. Two sky-blue glass beads are inlaid to represent the eyes and one for the nose, and the mouth is incised and blackened.

The walrus does not appear to be a favorite subject for representation. The part of the collection already described shows that it occurs very seldom as a decoration, and we obtained only three images of this animal, one in soapstone and two in ivory, all small and very rude, both in design and execution. They are all newly made. The best image is shown in Fig. 403_a_ (No. 89333 [1384] from Utkiavwĭñ). This is 2.3 inches long and made of coarse walrus ivory. The head is rather good, but the body simply tapers to a broken point. A bit of wood is inlaid for the left eye, but the right is merely represented by a hole.

Fig. 403_b_ (No. 89334 [1067], from Utkiavwĭñ) is exceedingly rude. The eyes, nostrils, and mouth are incised and blackened as usual, and the vibrissæ (“whiskers”) are represented by rather large round pits on the snout, also filled in with black dirt. It is 2.9 inches long, and appears to have been dipped in the oil-bucket to make it look old. Both the images bear a strong resemblance to the rude carvings of walruses from Siberia figured by Nordenskiöld.[N517] No. 89570 [1271] from Nuwŭk is of soapstone, 2 inches long, with tusks rudely carved from walrus ivory. The head is but roughly indicated, while the body is shaped like a slug, and is bifid at the pointed end to represent the hind flippers. The eyes and nostrils are roughly incised.

[Footnote N517: Vega, vol. 2, p. 142.]

The seal, on the other hand, is a favorite object for artistic representation. It is seen often, as already described, as a decoration on various implements, especially the drag lines, generally in a very characteristic shape, and the five seal images in the collection are excellent in design and execution. Almost all are decidedly superior to those from Pitlekaj, figured by Nordenskiöld.[N517b] All are newly made except No. 89737 [857_a_]. Fig. 404_a_, from Utkiavwĭñ, which is 4.2 inches long, and made of spruce, very old, weathered, and discolored with dirt and grease. It is nicely carved and scraped smooth, and is very good in its general proportions, though the details are not represented as in the other images.

[Footnote N517b: Vega, vol. 2, p. 142.]

The best figure (No. 89330 [999] figured in the Point Barrow Rept. Ethnol., Pl. V, Fig. 6, from Utkiavwĭñ) is carved from walrus ivory and is 4.3 inches long. It represents a male rough seal, and is exceedingly accurate and highly finished. The lower jaw is perforated and a bit of sinew thread tied in to represent the drag line. Small red glass beads with white centers are inlaid for the eyes. The other three are all of bone and represent dead male seals stretched on their backs with the drag line in their jaw as they are dragged home.

No. 56579 [75], Fig. 404_b_, from Utkiavwĭñ, is 5.7 inches long, and very smoothly carved from walrus jaw bone, with round bits of wood inlaid for the eyes. The proportions are excellent, but the details are not strongly brought out. This specimen is a little older than the rest, and may have been an amulet for good luck in seal catching. The other two are of compact white bone, perhaps that of the reindeer.

No. 89331 [1143], from Utkiavwĭñ, is 3.4 inches long, and has the breast and back flattened and the flippers in high relief. The anus, genital opening, and eyes are incised, the latter two filled in, as usual, with black dirt. The drag line is of sinew braid and has an ivory cylinder slipped over it.

No. 89328 [1167], from Utkiavwĭñ, is the poorest in design. It is 5.6 inches long and has the neck bent up as in dragging. The back of a freshly caught seal is always somewhat flattened by dragging it over the ice, and this flattening is very much exaggerated in this carving by the natural shape of the bone. The fore flippers are in high relief, with three toes to each flipper, colored round the edge with red ocher. The tips of the hind flippers are joined together, and each has only two toes. The eyes, genital opening, and the spots on the back and belly are indicated by shallow round pits colored with red ocher. The drag line is a double bit of sinew braid, which has on it two ivory cylinders, one ornamented with an incised pattern.

We found but a single figure of the beluga, which is such a favorite subject for Eskimo artists farther south. This is the gypsum carving already mentioned (No. 89573 [1015], Fig. 405, from Nuwŭk). It is 3.5 inches long and is very characteristic, though rather short in proportion to its girth. It was neatly carved with a knife.

The “bow-head” whale (Balæna mysticetus), is a very favorite subject, appearing often as a decoration and represented by 21 carvings. Three of these are of wood, very much resembling in design and execution the harpoon boxes already described. They are all very old, and perhaps were charms to be carried in the boat to secure good luck in whaling. No. 89736 [857_b_], Fig. 406, from Utkiavwĭñ, is perhaps the best proportioned of these figures, though the only details represented are the flukes (which are broken), and the incised spiracles. It is 5.4 inches long and made of spruce or hemlock, stained almost black by dirt, grease, and weathering. A long string of sinew braid is tied round the “small.”

No. 89735 [1036] from Utkiavwĭñ, is also a rather well proportioned figure, rude in execution, with no details carved out except the flukes, one of which is broken. An angular bit of iron pyrites is inlaid to represent the left eye, and a similar piece appears to have been lost from the right eye. The anus is represented by a light blue glass bead inlaid in the belly. It is 8.8 inches long and made of soft wood, probably cottonwood, weathered and stained to a dark brown. It is very old and much chipped and cracked. Two small oblique holes in the middle of the back make a transverse channel for a string. This specimen was said by the man who sold it to have been dug up among the ruins of one of the old houses in the village.

No. 89734 [987] from Nuwŭk, is 12 inches long, very broad in proportion to its length, and rather rude in design, with a flat belly, though neatly carved and scraped smooth. The spiracles and the outline of the mouth are incised and little angular bits of brown quartz are inlaid for the eyes. Both flukes have been split off and part of the right fluke has been fastened on again with a single wooden treenail. It is of spruce or hemlock and has weathered to a brown color.

Fig. 407 (No. 89561 [1253] from Utkiavwĭñ) represents the best image of a whale in the collection. It is very well proportioned, though perhaps a little clumsy about the flukes, with the external details correctly represented. It is 4.5 inches long, neatly carved from soapstone, scraped smooth and oiled. It was made for sale. There are five other round soapstone carvings of whales in the collection, but none so good as this except a little one from Nuwŭk, (No. 89563 [986]) 2 inches long, which is almost an exact miniature of the preceding. This specimen is not new. Fig. 408 (No. 89557 [1267] from Utkiavwĭñ) is a rude _flat_ representation of a whale seen from above. It is 5.2 inches long and roughly whittled out of the bottom of an old stone pot. The flippers are large and clumsy, and the spiracles slightly incised. The specimen appears to be old, as does a similar one from Nuwŭk (No. 89559 [1188_a_]).

No. 89558 [1266] from Utkiavwĭñ, and No. 89572 from Nuwŭk, both flat images, are carelessly made for sale. The latter is simply a representation in soapstone of the conventional “whale’s tail” with the “small” cut off to an angular point. No. 89325 [1160] from Utkiavwĭñ is a clumsy, broad whale with a flat belly, 4.1 inches long, freshly carved from whale’s bone, and soaked in oil to make it look old. The eyes, spiracles, and outline of the mouth are incised and filled in with dark oil lees.

None of the ivory carvings of whales have any special artistic merit. Fig. 409 (No. 89323 [1024_a_] from Nuwŭk) is the best of these. It is a little better in design and execution than the preceding, which it resembles considerably. It is the female of a pair of little whales made of old brown walrus ivory, which is much cracked. The male differs from the female only in the shape of the external sexual organs, the male having a little round pit and the female a long sulcus. This, as well as the eyes, spiracles, and outline of the mouth, is incised and filled in with dark colored dirt. The female is 3.1 inches long, the male (No. 89324 [1024_b_]) 0.1 inch longer. These specimens appear to be quite ancient.

Fig. 410 (No. 89326 [1086] from Nuwŭk) is very long and slender--4.3 inches long and only 0.7 inch wide--with the belly perfectly flat, but otherwise a very good representation, neatly carved. The flukes in particular are especially well done, and the flippers are in high relief. The eyes, the spiracles, and the outline of the mouth are incised and the first blackened. The material is a rather poor quality of walrus ivory, about half “core.” The specimen was made for sale. No. 89327 [991] from Nuwŭk was also made for sale. It is a little whale 1.6 inches long, rudely carved in walrus ivory.

Fig. 411 (No. 56619 [66] from Utkiavwĭñ) represents a pair of little whales, each carved from a walrus tooth, which probably served for buttons or toggles of some sort, though I do not recollect ever seeing such objects in use. The belly of each is flat and has in the middle a stout lug perforated with a transverse eye, and they are tied together by a piece of thong about 14 inches long. They are quite well designed and executed, but rather “stumpy” in outline, with the outline of the mouth and the spiracles incised and blackened, and little round bits of tooth inlaid for eyes. In the middle of the back of each was inlaid a small blue glass bead, which still remains in one of them. They are old and dirty and somewhat chipped about the flukes.

Fig. 412 (No. 89567 [904] from Nuwŭk) represents an imaginary quadruped 2.5 inches long, with a short, thick body and legs, no neck, and a human head, with the eyes and mouth incised. It is roughly carved from light gray soapstone, and ground pretty smooth. This figure is not new, and has probably connected with it some story which we did not succeed in learning. The seller called it an “old man.” No. 89332 [994] from Nuwŭk, is a fanciful monster, 4.2 inches long, carved in ivory. It has a human head with the tusks of a walrus, the body, tail, and flippers of a seal, with human arms. The hands, each of which has four fingers, clasp some round object against the belly. It is not old, but apparently was not made for the market. It was called a “walrus man;” but we did not learn whether it was simply a fancy figure or whether there was any story connected with it.

Fig. 413 (No. 89329 [1101] from Nuwŭk) is another monster, 3.9 inches long, carved in ivory. It has a fish’s head with large canine teeth, and a seal’s body, tail, and hind flippers. The eyes, nostrils, gill slits, the outlines of the tail, and the toes, of which there are six on each flipper, are incised and blackened. A row of nineteen small round pits, filled with dark colored dirt runs nearly straight from the nape to the tail.

Fig. 414 (No. 89339 [1099] from Nuwŭk) is a newly made ivory figure, which is interesting from its resemblance to one of the fabulous animals which figure in the Greenland legends. It is 4 inches long and represents a long-necked bear with ten legs, an animal which the maker gave us to understand had once been seen at Point Barrow. The resemblance of this animal to the “kiliopak” or “kilifvak” of the Greenland stories, which is described as “an animal with six or even ten feet”[N518] is quite striking.

[Footnote N518: Rink, Tales, etc., p. 48. See also same work,
passim, among the stories.]

Fig. 415 (No. 89723 [1084] from Nuwŭk) is another representation of the giant who holds a whale in each hand. He was called in this instance “Kaióasu,” and not “Kikámigo.” This image is carved from very old pale brown walrus ivory, and is 2.3 inches high. A transverse incised line across each cheek from the wing of the nose, indicates the whaleman’s tattoo mark of the Eastern fashion. The image is ancient, but is mounted in a socket in the middle of a newly made wooden stand, which has a broad border of red ocher and a broad streak of the same paint along each diameter.

Fig. 416 (No. 89336 [1369]) is a curious piece of carving, which Nĭkawdalu said he found in one of the ruined houses on the river Kulugrua. The carving is well executed and really seems to be old, although it has evidently been retouched in a good many places. It is made from an irregularly flattened bit of reindeer antler, 3.6 inches long, blackened by the weather on the flat surfaces, and represents an animal with four legs, which appear to be dog’s legs, and at each end what appears to be a dog’s head. One of these is smaller than the other and both have the ears in relief, and the eyes, nostrils, and outlines of the mouth incised.

Fig. 417 (No. 56520 [85] from Nuwŭk) is a fanciful object made solely for the market. It consists of the rudely carved head of some carnivorous animal, made of ivory, and 2.6 inches long, fitted to the broad end of a flat pointed wooden handle, painted red. The head was called a “dog”, but it looks more like a bear. Small bits of wood are inlaid for the eyes, and the outline of the mouth is deeply incised and colored with red ocher, having bits of white ivory inlaid to represent the canine teeth. The ears, nostrils, vibrissæ, and hairs on the muzzle are indicated by blackened incisions. There is an ornamented collar round the neck, to which is joined a conventional pattern of triangular form on the throat, and a somewhat similar pattern on the top of the head between the ears.

One of the natives at Utkiavwĭñ, in May, 1882, conceived the fancy of smoothing off the tip of a walrus tusk into the shape of a pyramid, surmounted by a little conical cap and ornamenting it with incised figures, which he colored with red ocher. It appears to have been purely an individual fancy, as it has no utility, nor are such objects made by the Eskimo elsewhere, as far as I know. Having succeeded in finding a sale for this object, either he or one of his friends, I do not now recollect which, made another, which was brought over for sale about ten days later. We saw no others afterwards.

Fig. 418_a_ (pattern developed in Fig. 418_b_, No. 56530 [220]) represents the first of these. It is made of solid white walrus ivory. The workmanship is quite rude, and the cap has been broken off and neatly fastened on with a wooden dowel. The other, Fig. 419_a_, 419_b_ (No. 56529 [254]) is 3.7 inches long.

Fig. 420 (No. 89741 [1012] from Nuwŭk) is an ivory cross 15.5 inches long. The cross is ornamented by incised rings and dots colored with red ocher. The shaft of the cross is surmounted by a female human head neatly carved from soapstone, fastened on by a lashing of sinew braid, which passes through a transverse hole in the head and round the crosspiece. No. 89742 [1091], also from Nuwŭk, closely resembles the preceding, but is slightly shorter and has a four-sided shaft. The head, moreover, which is made of bone, represents a man, as is shown by the little pits, which indicate the labrets. The cheeks and crown of the head are colored slightly red with red ocher.

The ingenious Yöksa, so often mentioned, made the first image and brought it down for sale. All he could or would tell us about it was that it was “tună´ktûp kuni´a,” “A kuni´a (jargon for woman) of soapstone.” The successful sale of this first cross encouraged him to make the second, but we saw no others before or after. Other natives who saw these objects only laughed. The whole may be simply a fanciful doll, perhaps meant for a caricature, the shaft representing the body, and the crosspiece the outstretched arms. The object is very suggestive of a crucifix, and there is a bare possibility that the maker may have seen something of the sort in the possession of some of the eastern natives who have been visited by a missionary of the Roman Catholic Church (Father Petitot).

Under the head of works of art may properly be included No. 89823 [1130], from Utkiavwĭñ. This is the skeleton of the jaws of a polar bear, cut off just back of the nose, neatly sewed up in a piece of sealskin with the hair out, so as to leave uncovered only the tips of the jawbones and the canine teeth. This specimen was put up by the same quick-witted young native after his removal from Nuwŭk to Utkiavwĭñ, evidently in imitation of the work of preparing specimens of natural history, which he had seen done at the station. For the same reason he dried and carefully preserved in a little box whittled out of a block of wood and tied up with sinew a little fresh-water sculpin (Cottus quadricornis), which he had caught at Kulugrua (No. 89536 [1145]).

I regret much that we did not save and bring home any of the pencil drawings made by these people. The children especially were anxious to get lead pencils, and made themselves rather a nuisance by covering the painted walls of the observatory with scrawls of ships and various other objects, perhaps rather more accurately done than they would have been by white children of the same age. The style of the figures on the hunting scores already described, however, is very like that of the pencil drawings.[N519]

[Footnote N519: Compare these with Nordenskiöld’s figures of
“Chukch” drawings, Vega, vol. 2, pp. 132, 133. The latter are
completely Eskimo in character.]

DOMESTIC LIFE.

_Marriage._--As far as we could learn, the marriage relation was entered upon generally from reasons of interest or convenience, with very little regard for affection, as we understand it, though there often appeared to be a warm attachment between married people. A man desires to obtain a wife who will perform her household duties well and faithfully, and will be at the same time an agreeable companion, while he often plans to marry into a rich or influential family. The woman, on the other hand, appears to desire a husband who is industrious and a good hunter. There were, nevertheless, some indications that real love matches sometimes took place. Marriages are usually arranged by the parents of the contracting parties, sometimes when the principals are mere children. We knew of one case when a young man of about twenty-two offered himself as the prospective husband of a girl of eight or ten, when she should reach a marriageable age. This practice of child betrothal seems to be practically universal among the Eskimo everywhere.[N520]

[Footnote N520: Compare Crantz, vol. 1, p. 159 (Greenland);
Kumlien, Contributions, p. 164 (Cumberland Gulf); Hall, Arctic
Researches, p. 567 (Baffin Land); Parry, 2nd Voyage, p. 528 (Fury
and Hecla Straits); Schwatka, Science, vol. 4, No. 98, p. 544
(King William’s Land); Gilder, Schwatka’s Search, p. 250 (Hudson’s
Bay); Franklin, First Exp., vol. 2, p. 41 (Chesterfield Inlet);
Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 209 (Plover Bay); Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol.
2, p. 26 (Pitlekaj).]

Dr. Simpson, in describing the marriage customs at Point Barrow, says:

The usual case is, that as soon as the young man desires a partner
and is able to support one, his mother selects a girl according to
her judgment or fancy, and invites her to the hut, where she first
takes the part of a “kivgak” or servant, having all the cooking and
other kitchen duties to perform during the day, and returns to her
home at night. If her conduct proves satisfactory, she is further
invited to become a member of the family.[N521]

[Footnote N521: Op. cit., p. 252.]

We only knew this to be done on one occasion; and on the contrary knew of several cases where the bridegroom became a member of the wife’s family.

One youth, who had had his lips pierced for the labrets just previously to our arrival, was, we soon learned, betrothed to a young girl at Nuwŭk. This girl frequently came down from Nuwŭk and visited her lover’s family, staying several days at a time, but we could not discover that she was treated as a servant. She went with them to the spring deer hunt, but we were distinctly given to understand that the young couple would not be married till after the return from this hunt, and that no intercourse would take place between them before that time. When the season came for catching reindeer fawns, the couple started off together, with sled and dogs and camp equipage in pursuit of them, and always afterwards were considered as man and wife.

Most of the marriages took place before we heard of them, so that we had no opportunity for learning what ceremony, if any, occurred at the time. Some of the party, however, who went over to make a visit at Utkiavwĭñ one evening, found the house full of people, who were singing and dancing, and were told that this was to celebrate the marriage of the daughter of the house. Marriage ceremonies appear to be rare among the Eskimo. A pretended abduction, with the consent of the parents, is spoken of by Bessels at Smith Sound[N522] and Egede in Greenland (p. 142), and Kumlien was informed that certain ceremonies were sometimes practiced at Cumberland Gulf.[N523] Elsewhere I have not been able to find any reference to the subject. A man usually selects a wife of about his own age, but reasons of interest sometimes lead to a great disparity of age between the two. I do not recollect any case where an old man had a wife very much younger than himself, but we knew of several men who had married widows or divorced women old enough to be their mothers,[N524] and in one remarkable case the bride was a girl of sixteen or seventeen, and the husband a lad apparently not over thirteen, who could barely have reached the age of puberty.

[Footnote N522: Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 877.]

[Footnote N523: Contributions, p. 16.]

[Footnote N524: Compare Holm’s observations in East
Greenland--“idet et ganske ungt Menneske kan være gift med en
Kone, som kunde være hans Moder.” Geografisk Tidskrift, vol. 8,
p. 91.]

This couple were married late in the winter of 1882-’83, and immediately started off to the rivers, deer hunting, where the young husband was very successful. This union, however, appeared to have been dissolved in the summer, as I believe the girl was living with another and older man when we left the station. In this case, the husband came to live with the wife’s family.

As is the case with most Eskimo, most of the men content themselves with one wife, though a few of the wealthy men have two each. I do not recollect over half a dozen men in the two villages who had more than one wife each, and one of these dismissed his younger wife during our stay. We never heard of a case of more than two wives. As well as we could judge, the marriage bond was regarded simply as a contract entered into by the agreement of the contracting parties and, without any formal ceremony of divorce, easily dissolved in the same way, on account of incompatibility of temper, or even on account of temporary disagreements.

We knew of one or two cases where wives left their husbands on account of ill treatment. One of these cases resulted in a permanent separation, each of the couple finally marrying again, though the husband for a long time tried his best to get his wife to come back to him. In another case, where the wife after receiving a beating ran away to Nuwŭk, and, as we were told, married another man, her first husband followed her in a day or two and either by violence or persuasion made her come back with him. They afterwards appeared to live together on perfectly good terms.

On the other hand, we know of several cases where men discarded wives who were unsatisfactory or made themselves disagreeable. For instance, the younger Tuñazu, when we first made his acquaintance, was married to a widow very much his senior, who seemed to have a disagreeable and querulous temper, so that we were not surprised to hear in the spring of 1882 that they were separated and Tuñazu married to a young girl. His second matrimonial venture was no more successful than his first, for his young wife proved to be a great talker. As he told us: “She talked all the time, so that he could not eat and could not sleep.” So he discarded her, and when we left the station he had been for some time married to another old widow.

In the case above mentioned, where the man with two wives discarded the younger of them, the reason he assigned was that she was lazy, would not make her own clothes, and was disobedient to the older wife, to whom he was much attached. As he said, Kakaguna (the older wife) told her, “Give me a drink of water,” and she said, “No!” so Kakaguna said, “Go!” and she went. He did not show any particular concern about it.

Dr. Simpson says, “A great many changes take place before a permanent choice is made;” and again, “A union once apparently settled between parties grown up is rarely dissolved.”[N525] And this agrees with our experience. The same appears to have been the case in Greenland. Crantz[N526] says, “Such quarrels and separations only happen between people in their younger years, who have married without due forethought. The older they grow, the more they love one another.”

[Footnote N525: Op. cit., p. 253.]

[Footnote N526: Vol. 1, p. 160.]

Easy and unceremonious divorce appears to be the usual custom among Eskimo generally, and the divorced parties are always free to marry again.[N527] The only writer who mentions any ceremony of divorce is Bessels, who witnessed such among the so-called “Arctic Highlanders” of Smith Sound (Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 877). Dr. Simpson, in the paragraph referred to above, says that “A man of mature age chooses a wife for himself and fetches her home, frequently, to all appearance, much against her will.” The only case of the kind which came to our notice was in 1883, when one of the Kĭlauwitawĭñmeun attempted by blows to coerce Adwû´na, an Utkiavwĭñ girl, to live with him, but was unsuccessful.

[Footnote N527: “They often repudiate and put away their wives, if
either they do not suit their humors, or else if they are barren,
* * * and marry others.” Egede, Greenland, p. 143. Compare also
Crantz, vol. 1, p. 160; Parry, Second Voyage, p. 528 (Fury and
Hecla Straits); Kumlien, Contributions, p. 17 (Cumberland Gulf);
and Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 100--“repudiation is perfectly
recognized, and in instances of misconduct and sometimes of
dislike, put in force without scruple or censure. * * * The
rejected wife * * * does not generally wait long for another
husband;” (Plover Bay.) Compare also Holm, Geografisk Tidskrift,
vol. 8, pp. 91-92, where he gives an account of marriage and
divorce in east Greenland, remarkably like what we observed at
Point Barrow.]

A curious custom, not peculiar to these people, is the habit of exchanging wives temporarily. For instance, one man of our acquaintance planned to go to the rivers deer hunting in the summer of 1882, and borrowed his cousin’s wife for the expedition, as she was a good shot and a good hand at deer hunting, while his own wife went with his cousin on the trading expedition to the eastward. On their return the wives went back to their respective husbands.

The couples sometimes find themselves better pleased with their new mates than with the former association, in which case the exchange is made permanent. This happened once in Utkiavwĭñ to our certain knowledge. This custom has been observed at Fury and Hecla Straits,[N528] Cumberland Gulf,[N529] and in the region around Repulse Bay, where it seems to be carried to an extreme.

[Footnote N528: Parry, 2nd Voyage, p. 528.]

[Footnote N529: Kumlien, Contributions, p. 16.]

According to Gilder[N530] it is a usual thing among friends in that region to exchange wives for a week or two about every two months. Among the Greenlanders the only custom of the kind mentioned is the temporary exchange of wives at certain festivals described by Egede.[N531]

[Footnote N530: Schwatka’s Search, p. 197.]

[Footnote N531: Greenland, p. 139.]

Holm also describes “the game of putting out the lamps,” or “changing wives,” as a common winter sport in East Greenland. He also, however, speaks of the temporary exchange of wives among these people much as described elsewhere.[N532]

[Footnote N532: Geogr., Tids., vol. 8, p. 92.]

I am informed by some of the whalemen who winter in the neighborhood of Repulse Bay, that at certain times there is a general exchange of wives throughout the village, each woman passing from man to man till she has been through the hands of all, and finally returns to her husband. All these cases seem to me to indicate that the Eskimo have not wholly emerged from the state called communal marriage, in which each woman is considered as the wife of every man in the community.

_Standing and treatment of women._--The women appear to stand on a footing of perfect equality with the men both in the family and in the community. The wife is the constant and trusted companion of the man in everything except the hunt, and her opinion is sought in every bargain or other important undertaking.[N533]

[Footnote N533: Compare Parry, 2d Voyage, pp. 526-528,
Nordenskiöld (Vega, vol. 1, p. 449): The women are “treated as
the equals of the men, and the wife was always consulted by the
husband when a more important bargain than usual was to be made.”
(Pitlekaj.) This statement is applicable, word for word, to the
women of Point Barrow.]

Dr. Simpson’s description[N534] of the standing of the women at Point Barrow in his time is so true at the present day that I may be pardoned for quoting the whole of it:

A man seems to have unlimited authority in his own hut, but, as with
few exceptions his rule is mild, the domestic and social position of
the women is one of comfort and enjoyment. As there is no affected
dignity or importance in the men, they do not make mere slaves and
drudges of the women; on the contrary, they endure their full share
of fatigue and hardship in the coldest season of the year, only
calling in the assistance of the women if too wearied themselves to
bring in the fruits of their own industry and patience; and at other
seasons the women appear to think it a privation not to share the
labors of the men. A woman’s ordinary occupations are sewing, the
preparation of skins for making and mending, cooking, and the
general care of the supplies of provisions. Occasionally in the
winter she is sent out on the ice for a seal which her husband has
taken, to which she is guided by his footmarks; and in spring and
summer she takes her place in the boat if required.

[Footnote N534: Op. cit., p 252.]

The statement in the first sentence that the husband’s rule is mild is hardly consistent with that on the following page that “obedience seems to be the great virtue required, and is enforced by blows when necessary, until the man’s authority is established.” According to our experience the first statement is nearer the truth. We heard of few cases of wife-beating, and those chiefly among the younger men. Two brothers, who habitually ill-treated their wives, were looked upon with disfavor, by some of our friends at least. We heard of one case where a stalwart wife turned the tables on her husband who attempted to abuse her, giving him a thorough beating and then leaving his house.

Wife-beating was not uncommon among the Greenlanders.[N535] We did not learn whether a woman brought anything like a dowry, but Simpson[N536] says: “The woman’s property, consisting of her beads and other ornaments, her needlecase, knife, etc., are considered her own; and if a separation takes place the clothes and presents are returned and she merely takes away with her whatever she brought.” According to Crantz[N537] a widow in Greenland had no share of her husband’s property, but owns only what she brought with her, and I am inclined to believe that this is the case at Point Barrow.

[Footnote N535: See Egede, p. 144, “for according to them it
signifies nothing that a man beats his wife.”]

[Footnote N536: Op. cit., p. 253.]

[Footnote N537: Vol. 1, p. 165.]

One widow of my acquaintance, who appeared to have no relatives in the village, was reduced almost to beggary, though her husband had been quite well-to-do. All his property and even his boy were taken from her by some of the other natives. Widows who have well-to-do relatives, especially grown-up sons, are well taken care of and often marry again. According to Captain Parry,[N538] unprotected widows were robbed at Iglulik.

[Footnote N538: Second Voyage, p. 522.]

_Children._--From the small number of births which occurred during our stay at Point Barrow, we were able to ascertain little in regard to this subject. When a woman is about to be confined, she is isolated in a little snow hut in winter or a little tent in summer, in which she remains for some time--just how long we were unable to learn. Captain Herendeen saw a pregnant woman in Utkiavwĭñ engaged, on March 31, in building a little snow house, which she told him was meant for her confinement, but she had evidently somehow miscalculated her time, as her child was not born till much later, when the people had moved into the tents. She and her child lived in a little tent on the beach close to her husband’s tent, evidently in a sitting position, as the tent was not large enough for her to lie down in. Her husband was desirous of going off on the summer deer hunt, but, under the circumstances, custom forbade his leaving the neighborhood of the village till the ice at sea broke up. The same custom of isolating the women during childbirth has been observed by Kumlien and Boas at Cumberland Gulf[N539], and in Greenland the mother was not allowed to eat or drink in the open air.[N540] Lisiansky describes a similar practice in Kadiak in 1805,[N541] and Klutschak also notes it among the Aivillirmiut.[N542]

[Footnote N539: Contributions, p. 28, and “Central Eskimo,”
p. 610.]

[Footnote N540: Egede, p. 192; Crantz, vol. 1, p. 215, and Rink,
Tales, etc., p. 54.]

[Footnote N541: Voyage, p. 200.]

[Footnote N542: “Als Eskimo, etc.,” p. 199.]

The custom of shutting up the mother and child in a snow house in winter must be very dangerous to the infant, and, in fact, the only child that was born in winter during our stay lived but a short time. Capt. Herendeen visited this family at Nuwŭk shortly after the death of the child, and saw the snow house in which the woman had been confined. He was about to take a drink of water from a dipper which he saw in the iglu, but was prevented by the other people, who told him that this belonged to the mother and that it was “bad” for anyone else to use it. In Greenland the mother had a separate water pail.[N543] For a time, our visitors from Utkiavwĭñ were very much afraid to drink out of the tin pannikin in our washroom, for fear it had been used by Niăksăra, a woman who had recently suffered a miscarriage. One man told us that a sore on his face was caused by his having inadvertently done so. This same woman was forbidden to go out among the broken ice of the land floe, during the spring succeeding her miscarriage, though she might go out on the smooth shore ice. Her husband also was forbidden to work with a hammer or adz or to go seal-catching for some time after the mishap.

[Footnote N543: Egede, p. 192; Crantz, vol. 1, p. 215, “no one
else must drink out of their cup;” and Rink, Tales and Traditions,
p. 54.]

Children are nursed until they are 3 or 4 years old, according to what appears to be the universal habit among Eskimo, and which is probably due, as generally supposed, to the fact that the animal food on which the parents subsist is not fit for the nourishment of young children. The child is carried naked on the mother’s back under her clothes, and held up by the girdle, tied higher than usual. When she wishes to nurse it, she loosens her girdle and slips it round to the breast without bringing it out into the air. Children are carried in this way until they are able to walk and often later.

A large child sits astride of his mother’s back, with one leg under each of her arms, and has a little suit of clothes in which he is dressed when the mother wishes to set him down. When the child is awake, this hood is thrown back and the child raised quite high so that he looks over his mother’s shoulder, who then covers her head with a cloth or something of the sort. The woman appears to be very little inconvenienced by her burden, and goes about her work as usual, and the child does not seem to be disturbed by her movements. The little girls often act as nurses and carry the infants around on their backs, in the same way. It is no unusual sight to see a little girl of ten or twelve carrying a well grown, heavy child in this way.

This custom or a very similar one seems to prevail among the Eskimo generally. In Greenland, the nurse wears a garment especially designed for carrying the child, an amaut, i.e., a garment that is so wide in the back as to hold a child, which generally tumbles in it quite naked and is accommodated with no other swaddling clothes or cradle.[N544] In East Greenland, according to Capt. Holm, “Saa længe Børnene ere smaa, bæres de i det fri paa Moderens Ryg.”[N545]

[Footnote N544: Crantz, vol. 1, p. 138. See also Egede, p. 131,
and the picture in Rink’s Tales, etc., opposite p. 8.]

[Footnote N545: Geografisk Tidskrift, vol. 8, p. 91.]

Petitot’s description of the method of carrying the children in the Mackenzie district is so naïve that it deserves to be quoted entire.[N546]

Les mères qui allaitent portent une jaquette ample et serrée autour
des reins par une ceinture. Elles y enferment leur chère progéniture
qu’elles peuvent, par ce moyen, allaiter sans l’exposer à un froid
qui lui serait mortel. Ces jeunes enfants sont sans aucun vêtement
jusqu’à l’âge d’environ deux ans. Quant aux incongruités que ces
petites créatures peuvent se permettre sur le dos de leur mère, qui
leur sert de calorifère, l’amour maternel, le même chez tous les
peuples, les endure patiemment et avec indifférence.

[Footnote N546: Monographie, etc., p. xv.]

At Fury and Hecla Straits, according to Parry[N547], the children are carried in the hood, which is made specially large on purpose, but sometimes also on the back, as at Point Barrow. The enormous hoods of the Eskimo women in Labrador also served to hold the child. The same custom prevails at Cumberland Gulf.[N548] In some localities, for instance the north shore of Hudson’s Straits, where the woman wear very long and loose boots, the children are said to be carried in these.[N549] Franklin[N550] refers to the same custom “east of the Mackenzie River.” The Siberian children, however, are dressed in regular swaddling clothes of deerskin, with a sort of diaper of dried moss.[N551]

[Footnote N547: Second Voyage, p. 495.]

[Footnote N548: Kumlien, Contributions, p. 24.]

[Footnote N549: See Ellis, Voyage, etc., p. 136, and plate
opposite p. 132.]

[Footnote N550: Second Ex., p. 226.]

[Footnote N551: Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, p. 101.]

We never heard of a single case of infanticide, and, indeed, children were so scarce and seemed so highly prized that we never even thought of inquiring if infanticide was ever practiced. Nevertheless, Simpson speaks of the occurrence of a case during the Plover’s visit; “but a child, they say, is destroyed only when afflicted with disease of a fatal tendency, or, in scarce seasons, when one or both parents die.[N552]” Infanticide, according to Bessels, is frequently practiced among the Eskimo of Smith Sound, without regard of sex,[N553] and Schwatka speaks of female infanticide to a limited extent among the people of King William’s Land.[N554]

[Footnote N552: Op. cit., p. 250.]

[Footnote N553: Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 874.]

[Footnote N554: Science, vol. 4, p. 544.]

The affection of parents for their children is extreme, and the children seem to be thoroughly worthy of it. They show hardly a trace of the fretfulness and petulance so common among civilized children, and though indulged to an extreme extent are remarkably obedient. Corporal punishment appears to be absolutely unknown and the children are rarely chidden or punished in any way. Indeed, they seldom deserve it, for, in spite of the freedom which they are allowed, they do not often get into any mischief, especially of a malicious sort, but attend quietly to their own affairs and their own amusements.

The older children take very good care of the smaller ones. It is an amusing sight to see a little boy of six or seven patronizing and protecting a little toddler of two or three. Children rarely cry except from actual pain or terror, and even then little ones are remarkably patient and plucky. The young children appear to receive little or no instruction except what they pick up in their play or from watching their elders.

Boys of six or seven begin to shoot small birds and animals and to hunt for birds’ eggs, and when they reach the age of twelve or fourteen are usually intrusted with a gun and seal spear and accompany their fathers to the hunt. Some of them soon learn to be very skillful hunters. We know one boy not over thirteen years old who, during the winter of 1881-’82, had his seal nets set like the men and used to visit them regularly, even in the roughest weather. Lads of fourteen or fifteen are sometimes regular members of the whaling crews. In the meantime the little girls are learning to sew, in imitation of their mothers, and by the time they are twelve years old they take their share of the cooking and other housework and assist in making the clothes for the family. They still, however, have plenty of leisure to play with the other children until they are old enough to be married.

Affection for their children seems a universal trait among the Eskimo and there is scarcely an author who does not speak in terms of commendation of the behavior and disposition of the Eskimo children. Some of these passages are so applicable to the people of Point Barrow that I can not forbear quoting them. Egede says:[N555]