283 



We can readily see that the Polar Eskimos have raised 

 themselves high above the level of the ''collectors". Further, 

 we also find that the sport-like hunting plays a more promi- 

 nent part than the simple collection of the means of life; the 

 natural conditions indeed do not give much opportunity for 

 the latter. Berried fruits and eatable insects hardly occur and 

 the beach is practically bare of edible shell-fish. Nevertheless 

 this essentially woman's mode of livelihood does occur. It 

 appears typically in the case of the few, fresh plant-materials 

 which may be eaten, namely, some sweet-tasting flower-buds 

 and some sourish leaves , which are eaten either raw or after 

 boiling with a little water, and it is as a rule the women and 

 children who enjoy this kind of food. To balance matters the 

 men are able to obtain another kind of plant-food, as they eat 

 the contents found in the stomachs of reindeer; this is a very 

 favourite food and as only the men have access to the reindeer 

 meat stored in the depots, it is specially a man's dish. Again, 

 the women take part in the catching of the Little Auk, which 

 takes place on the readily accessible, sloping cliffs by means 

 of a large net attached to a 2—3 meter long pole, the hunter 

 lying down among the stones and stretching up the net to 

 catch the birds as they sweep in thousands over his head. On 

 the other hand, the hunting of the Great Auk and the collec- 

 ting of its eggs on the steep sides of the cliffs, where the 

 hunter is let down from above by a rope , is purely man's 

 work. Similarly it is for the man to fetch the eggs of the 

 eider duck from some small islands, e. g. from Dalrymple Rock. 

 In connection with these conditions we can also note a ten- 

 dency on the man's part to make the eggs his own particular 

 property and to forbid the women touching this delicacy, which 

 is enjoyed even though the development of the embryo is far 

 advanced Ч 



' cf. Josephine Diebitsch- Peary : M\ Arctic Journal. London 1894. 

 pp. 163—164 

 XXXIV. 1!) 



