369 



having a more protected position than before. It has further 

 led to the woman being married at a much earher age than 

 previously, even so early as 12 — 13 years, though she is said 

 not to develop appreciably earlier than the European woman. 

 On the other hand, the men do not marry before they are 

 fully developed hunters, that is, about twenty years of age or 

 more. At present there is said to be only one man in the 

 tribe who has 2 wives. The well-known Eskimo system of 

 exchanging wives is carried out under festive ceremonies and 

 is also a custom of practical importance ; for example, if a man 

 "Wishes to undertake a journey and his wife for one reason or 

 another is unable to accompany him, the matter can be ar- 

 ranged by making an interim exchange with another man whose 

 wife has no such hindrances. Nevertheless, the Polar Eskimos 

 are to be reckoned among the nature-peoples of good morals ; 

 a woman is judged very strictly if she gives herself away to 

 any other but her own husband, unless he commands her to 

 do so, and in their relations to strangers it is exceptional that 

 a man offers his wife in order to gain something by it. 



When the Polar Eskimos are face to face with cases in 

 which the settled "public opinion" cannot at once decide the 

 matter, or where a difficult case of sickness or want arises, 

 the "angakok" is called in to clear up the problem by exorcism. 

 In religious matters the Polar Eskimos relies exclusively on 

 the "angakok", who by his art and genius and his conjura- 

 tions is supposed to make himself master over the powers 

 which rule over life and death, sickness and strength, weather 

 and the animals of the hunt. Knud Rasmussen "^ once obtained 

 a characteristic answer from a Polar Eskimo: "We do not be- 

 lieve in any God as you do. We do not all understand the 

 things that are hid, but those who say, that they understand, 

 them we believe in. We believe in our "angakut" (plural of 



^ Nye Mennesker, pp. 136—137. 



