70 JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY 



(42:411; cf. 45:392; 5:579.) Crantz writes that the husband 

 only gives an undesirable wife a sour look, and then absents 

 himself for a few days. 



She immediately takes the hint, packs up her effects, and withdraws to 

 her relatives, demeaning herself in the future, as discreetly as possible, in 

 order to chagrin him, and bring scandal upon his conduct/ (16, 1: 147; 

 cf. 43: 143.) 



Desire for children, which we have seen to be perhaps the 

 chief reason for polygamy, is also a potent cause of divorce. 

 Crantz says that a childless wife lives &quot;in continual dread of 

 divorce&quot; (16.1:151), while 



it rarely happens that a separation takes place when they have children, 

 and especially sons, who are their greatest treasure, and best security 

 against future want.&quot; (16, 1: 148.) 



Holm says that in East Greenland, disagreements between 

 married people are usually settled without rupture of the mar 

 riage relation, 



&quot;especially if the woman has children. If she has no children it is not 

 infrequent that the woman or the man, when opportunity offers, leaves 

 without saying anything.&quot; (3D: 97.) 



The author just quoted enumerates an interesting and repre 

 sentative list of grounds for divorce, including the following: 

 They had tired of each other, the wife was a poor seamstress, 

 the wife wanted to live where her family lived, her husband s 

 family neglected her. One man gave as his reason that &quot;she 

 ate so much that he didn t get enough to eat.&quot; (30:100.) As 

 illustrating the frequency of divorce in some cases, he mentions 

 one woman, twenty years old, who had had six husbands, and 

 had just married the seventh. (30:101.) Another, after hav 

 ing tried eight husbands, remarried No. 6, whom she pronounced 

 &quot;the best of her husbands&quot;; although he had struck and 

 whipped her, &quot;she longed so for him that she couldn t sleep at 

 night.&quot; (30:103.) 



Folk-lore, in this feature as in all others, truthfully reflects 

 Eskimo life. Characteristic is the tale of a man who separated 

 from three wives, with each of whom he lived only a month 

 or two. Two of these he had divorced &quot;because they didn t 

 keep his boots in order.&quot; (31 :329 ; see also 53 :255, 303.) Boas 

 records a tale, indicating that ideas of &quot;emancipated women&quot; 

 are not unknown among the Eskimo. (5:628.) 



