GILBEETSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 63 



between legal relatives. Thus, Crantz says that rarely did a 

 man marry two sisters or a mother and her daughter; &quot;such a 

 contract draws down general odium upon the parties con 

 cerned.&quot; (16.1:147; 30:95.) On the other hand, Boas found 

 no rule against a man s marrying two sisters among the Cen 

 tral Eskimo. (5:579.) Folk-lore tells of troubles resulting 

 from efforts to marry sister-in-law and daughter-in-law, but 

 it is doubtful whether the relationship of the parties plays 

 any part in the narrator s mind. (53:397; 6:286.) 



Nansen says that, in Greenland, &quot;a man should, if possible, 

 seek his wife in another village.&quot; (43:175.) Neither descrip 

 tions nor folk-lore give the impression that this is any wide 

 spread rule. The close kinship of fellow-villagers may lead 

 to such conditions. Turner speaks of a group in which, al 

 though the females outnumber the males, the relationship is so 

 close that many seek their wives from other localities. (66 :189.) 



There are frequent references in folk-lore to marriages within 

 the prohibited degrees. This does not imply a similar fre 

 quency in real life. The contrary seems to be true. The most 

 prominent incest-motive in Eskimo mythology is the story of 

 the origin of the sun and moon. A man had sexual relations 

 with his sister, who blackened his face with soot. He pursued 

 her into the sky, where she became the sun, and he, with the 

 sooty face, the moon. (20:54; 63:275; 6:173; 37:179; 30:99; 

 31:268.) A Cumberland Sound tale relates how a man was 

 hated because he cohabited with his mother; he was killed by 

 his brother (6:283); similar, with foster-mother (6:297). In 

 a Greenland tale, a couple thought that the cause of their chil 

 dren s dying was &quot;perhaps we are too near kin.&quot; (53:391.) 

 Turner reports a case where a son took his mother for wife, 

 apparently at her wish, but &quot;the sentiment of the community 

 compelled him to discard her.&quot; (66:180.) 



Necessity appears to be an extenuating circumstance. The 

 natives of Southampton Island ascribe their ancestry to a man, 

 who was driven to the island, where he married his daughter; 

 &quot;the people are the descendants of this couple.&quot; (6:478.) 

 According to a Greenland tradition, a man married his adopted 

 sister; for they lived alone. (53:170.) A somewhat different 

 situation was that of the giant who married his sister, &quot;because 

 she was the only woman tall enough for him.&quot; (6:292.) No 



