The social order of the Eskimo is entirely founded on the family and on
the ties of consanguinity and affinity between the individual families.
Generally children are betrothed when very young, but these engagements,
not being strictly binding, may be broken off at any time. When the
children reach maturity the girl learns the duties of a woman and the
boy those of a man. As soon as he is able to provide for a family and
she can do the work falling to her share, they are allowed to marry. It
happens frequently that the young man’s parents are unwilling to allow
him to provide for his parents-in-law, and then _he_ may be rejected at
any moment. Usually the young couple must begin housekeeping with the
young wife’s family and the young man, if belonging to a strange tribe,
must join that of his wife. It is not until after his parents-in-law are
dead that he is entirely master of his own actions. Though the betrothal
be entered into in the days of childhood the bride must be bought from
the parents by some present. In other instances the men choose their
wives when grown up and sometimes a long wooing precedes the marriage.
The consent of the bride’s parents, or, if they are dead, that of her
brothers, is always necessary. Marriages between relatives are
forbidden: cousins, nephew and niece, aunt and uncle, are not allowed to
intermarry. There is, however, no law to prevent a man from marrying two
sisters. It is remarkable that Lyon states just the reverse (p. 353).
I am sure, however, that my statements are correct in reference to the
Davis Strait tribes.
Should the newly married couple join the wife’s family this would serve
as a check to polygamy, which, however, is quite allowable. It is only
when the new family settles on its own account that a man is at full
liberty to take additional wives, among whom one is always considered
the chief wife. Monogamy is everywhere more frequent than polygamy, only
a very few men having two or more wives. According to Ross polyandry
occurs with the Netchillirmiut (II, pp. 356, 373). As long as the
mother-in-law lives with the young family the wives are subordinate to
her, while the mothers of both parties are independent of each other. No
example came to my notice of both parents living with the newly married
couple. Sometimes the man and wife do not set up a new household at
once, but each remains at home. The property necessary for establishing
a new family is the hunting gear of the man and the knife, scraper,
lamp, and cooking pot of the women.
A strange custom permits a man to lend his wife to a friend for a whole
season or even longer and to exchange wives as a sign of friendship. On
certain occasions it is even commanded by a religious law (see p. 605).
Nevertheless I know of some instances of quarrels arising from jealousy.
Lyon states, however, that this passion is unknown among the Iglulirmiut
(p. 355). The husband is not allowed to maltreat or punish his wife; if
he does she may leave him at any time, and the wife’s mother can always
command a divorce. Both are allowed to remarry as soon as they like,
even the slightest pretext being sufficient for a separation.
I may be allowed to refer once more to the division of labor between the
man and woman. The principal part of the man’s work is to provide for
his family by hunting, i.e., for his wife and children and for his
relatives who have no provider. He must drive the sledge in traveling,
feed the dogs, build the house, and make and keep in order his hunting
implements, the boat cover and seal floats excepted. The woman has to do
the household work, the sewing, and the cooking. She must look after the
lamps, make and mend the tent and boat covers, prepare the skins, and
bring up young dogs. It falls to her share to make the inner outfit of
the hut, to smooth the platforms, line the snow house, &c. On Davis
Strait the men cut up all kinds of animals which they have caught; on
Hudson Bay, however, the women cut up the seals. There the men prepare
the deerskins, which is done by the women among the eastern tribes.
Everywhere the women have to do the rowing in the large boats while the
man steers. Cripples who are unable to hunt do the same kind of work as
women.
Children are treated very kindly and are not scolded, whipped, or
subjected to any corporal punishment. Among all the tribes infanticide
has been practiced to some extent, but probably only females or children
of widows or widowers have been murdered in this way, the latter on
account of the difficulty of providing for them. It is very remarkable
that this practice seems to be quite allowable among them, while in
Greenland it is believed that the spirit of the murdered child is turned
into an evil spirit, called angiaq, and revenges the crime (Rink,
p. 45).
Besides the children properly belonging to the family, adopted children,
widows, and old people are considered part of it. Adoption is carried on
among this people to a great extent.
If for any reason a man is unable to provide for his family or if a
woman cannot do her household work, the children are adopted by a
relative or a friend, who considers them as his own children. In the
same way widows with their children are adopted by their nearest
relative or by a friend and belong to the family, though the woman
retains her own fireplace.
It is difficult to decide which relative is considered the nearest, but
the ties of consanguinity appear to be much closer than those of
affinity. If a woman dies the husband leaves his children with his
parents-in-law and returns to his own family, and if a man dies his wife
returns to her parents or her brothers, who are the nearest relatives
next to parents or children. When a woman dies, however, after the
children are grown up the widower will stay with them. In case of a
divorce the children generally remain with the mother.
As a great part of the personal property of a man is destroyed at his
death or placed by his grave, the objects which may be acquired by
inheritance are few. These are the gun, harpoon, sledge, dogs, kayak,
boat, and tent poles of the man and the lamp and pots of the woman. The
first inheritor of these articles is the eldest son living with the
parents. Sons and daughters having households of their own do not
participate in the inheritance. An elder adopted son has a preference
over a younger son born of the marriage. Details of the laws which
relate to inheritance are unknown to me.
Sometimes men are adopted who may almost be considered servants.
Particularly bachelors without any relations, cripples who are not able
to provide for themselves, or men who have lost their sledges and dogs
are found in this position. They fulfill minor occupations, mend the
hunting implements, fit out the sledges, feed the dogs, &c.; sometimes,
however, they join the hunters. They follow the master of the house when
he removes from one place to another, make journeys in order to do his
commissions, and so on. The position, however, is a voluntary one, and
therefore these men are not less esteemed than the self dependent
providers.
Strangers visiting their friends for a season are generally in a similar
position, though they receive a wife if the host happens to have more
than one; if the friend has hunting gear, a sledge, and dogs of his own,
he can arrange a separate fireplace in the hut.
In summer most families have each their own tent, but in the fall from
two to four join in building a house. Frequently the parents live on one
side, the family of the son-in-law on the other, and a friend or
relative in a small recess. Sometimes two houses have a common entrance
or the passages communicate with one another. The inhabitants of both
parts usually live quite independently of one another, while the oldest
man of every house has some influence over his housemates.
If the distance between the winter and the summer settlement is very
great or when any particular knowledge is required to find out the
haunts of game, there is a kind of chief in the settlement, whose
acknowledged authority is, however, very limited. He is called the
pimain (i.e., he who knows everything best) or the issumautang. His
authority is virtually limited to the right of deciding on the proper
time to shift the huts from one place to the other, but the families are
not obliged to follow him. At some places it seems to be considered
proper to ask the pimain before moving to another settlement and leaving
the rest of the tribe. He may ask some men to go deer hunting, others to
go sealing, but there is not the slightest obligation to obey his
orders.
Every family is allowed to settle wherever it likes, visiting a strange
tribe being the only exception. In such a case the newcomer has to
undergo a ceremony which consists chiefly in a duel between a native of
the place and himself. If he is defeated he runs the risk of being
killed, by those among whom he has come (see pp. 465, 609).
There are numerous regulations governing hunting, determining to whom
the game belongs, the obligations of the successful hunter towards the
inhabitants of the village, &c.
When a seal is brought to the huts everybody is entitled to a share of
the meat and blubber, which is distributed by the hunter himself or
carried to the individual huts by his wife. This custom is only
practiced when food is scarce. In time of plenty only the housemates
receive a share of the animal.
A ground seal belongs to all the men who take part in the hunt, the skin
especially being divided among them. A walrus is cut up at once into as
many parts as there are hunters, the one who first struck it having the
choice of the parts and receiving the head. A whale belongs to the whole
settlement and its capture is celebrated by a feast (p. 603).
A bear or a young seal belongs to the man who first saw it, no matter
who kills it.
Lost objects must be restored to the owner if he is known, game,
however, excepted; for example, if a harpoon line breaks and the animal
escapes, but is found later by another man, the game belongs to the
latter. In Hudson Bay he is also allowed to keep the harpoon and line.
There is no way of enforcing these unwritten laws and no punishment for
transgressors except the blood vengeance. It is not a rare occurrence
that a man who is offended by another man takes revenge by killing the
offender. It is then the right and the duty of the nearest relative of
the victim to kill the murderer. In certain quarrels between the
Netchillirmiut and the Aivillirmiut, in which the murderer himself could
not be apprehended, the family of the murdered man has killed one of the
murderer’s relations in his stead. Such a feud sometimes lasts for a
long time and is even handed down to a succeeding generation. It is
sometimes settled by mutual agreement. As a sign of reconciliation both
parties touch each other’s breasts, saying, Ilaga (my friend)
(Klutschak, p. 70).
If a man has committed a murder or made himself odious by other outrages
he may be killed by any one simply as a matter of justice. The man who
intends to take revenge on him must ask his countrymen singly if each
agrees in the opinion that the offender is a bad man deserving death. If
all answer in the affirmative he may kill the man thus condemned and no
one is allowed to revenge the murder. (See Appendix, Note 4.)
Their method of carrying on such a feud is quite foreign to our
feelings. Strange as it may seem, a murderer will come to visit the
relatives of his victim (though he knows that they are allowed to kill
him in revenge) and will settle with them. He is kindly welcomed and
sometimes lives quietly for weeks and months. Then he is suddenly
challenged to a wrestling match (see p. 609), and if defeated is killed,
or if victorious he may kill one of the opposite party, or when hunting
he is suddenly attacked by his companions and slain.