GILBERTSON: ESKIMO CULTURE 75 



when received as guest by the other, is given the use of his 

 host s bed with the wife during his stay. When the visit is 

 returned, the same favor is extended ; as a consequence * neither 

 family knows who is the father of the children.&quot; (45:292; 

 see also 5:579; 42:413.) 



Sometimes this expression of good-will is connected with 

 decided practical advantage. Thus, to quote Rasmussen, 



&quot;if a man has to go away on a long hunting expedition, and he wants a 

 woman with him, he can, if his own wife, for instance on account of preg 

 nancy, is unfitted to endure the hardships of an expedition by sledge, lend 

 her to a man who is remaining, and in return receives his.&quot; 



Also 



if a young wife is homesick for friends and family who live a long way 

 off, if her husband is willing to humor her, but does not himself wish to 

 undertake the journey, a man fond of travelling will often announce him 

 self as agreeable to take the other on her visit, leaving his own wife as 

 hostage.&quot; (50:64.) 



Murdoch reports a similar case where a man, on going on 

 a hunting expedition, borrowed his cousin s wife, &quot;as she was 

 a good shot, and a good hand at deer hunting,&quot; while his own 

 wife went with the other man on a trading expedition. 

 (42:413.) 



A temporary exchange is sometimes made permanent. 

 (43:148.) Murdoch gives as the reason that &quot;the couples find 

 themselves better pleased with their new mates than with the 

 former association.&quot; Another reason, given by Holm, is that, 

 since the men at the same time exchange various things besides 

 wives, they &quot;do not wish to part with the things they have 

 come into possession of.&quot; (30:98.) But there may be also a 

 quite different effect. &quot;When marriage is disturbed, the man 

 often exchanges his wife for an indefinite period,&quot; says Ras 

 mussen, &quot;It is asserted that the two are soon anxious to be 

 together again, for a man generally discovers that his own 

 wife is in spite of all the best.&quot; (50:64.) 



Hans Egede describes a remarkable &quot;game&quot; found among 

 the Eskimo of West Greenland, for which &quot;married men and 

 women come together, as to an assembly.&quot; After feasting, 

 singing, and dancing, every man retired with some other man s 

 wife. &quot;They are held as examples of the best and noblest 

 disposition who without chagrin, lend their wives to others.&quot; 



