GILBERTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 73 



a most shameless extent with the sailors of the whaling fleet 

 by many of the women&quot; (46:420, cf. 54; also 1.1:202, 310), 

 but among the natives themselves, &quot; prostitution for gain is 

 unknown.&quot; (Ibid.) Of the natives of Labrador we are told 

 by Waldmann that &quot;since they have been in contact with the 

 fisherman, there has been a relaxation of their morals.&quot; 

 (69:435.) Nansen discusses at length the effect in this regard 

 of European occupation of West Greenland, which he regards 

 as decidedly detrimental, in spite of the efforts of the mission 

 aries. (43:163.) He says a young native woman &quot;positively 

 glories&quot; in illicit relations with a European, and &quot;seems to 

 procure additional consideration among her female friends.&quot; 

 Trebitsch received just the opposite impression, namely, that 

 &quot;girls who cohabit with Europeans are derided by the na 

 tives.&quot; (65:50.) He gives samples of satirical songs about such 

 girls. He also believes that &quot;prostitution is unknown in all 

 Greenland.&quot; (65:16.) 



Without attempting to resolve the contradictions in the evi 

 dence, I think we can conclude as true of the Eskimo in general, 

 what Murdoch declares concerning the natives of Point Barrow, 

 that while their sexual laxity &quot;seems too purely animal and 

 natural to be of recent growth,&quot; and hence can hardly be said 

 to have been introduced by the whites (Holm s statement about 

 the East Greenlanders is of special importance on this point, 

 30:96), yet this laxity has undoubtedly been encouraged by the 

 whites, and, finally, these &quot;taught them prostitution for gain.&quot; 

 (42:420.) 



There is more agreement of observers as to the extra-nuptial 

 intercourse of married people than as to the sexual relations 

 of the unmarried. To quote Nansen: 



&quot;The strict morality which obtained among the unmarried youths and! 

 maidens on the west coast in the heathen days [he follows Hans Egede, 

 quoted above], seems to have been considerably relaxed when once they 

 were married. The men, at any rate, had then the most unrestricted free 

 dom.&quot; (43:167.) 



According to Crantz, &quot;the married will break their vows 

 on both sides with the utmost shamelessness. &quot; (16.1:176.) One 

 restriction to unlimited license is found in the objections of 

 the husband of the woman in the case, when his consent has 

 not been given. Nansen is of the opinion that if a heathen 

 and in many cases, even a Christian Greenlander 



