78 JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY 



In considering the phases of Eskimo morality brought out 

 in the foregoing, the following comment by Nansen is worth 

 noting : 



&quot;We should beware how we fix ourselves at one point of view, and un 

 sparingly condemn ideas and practices which the experience of many 

 generations has developed among another people, however much they may 

 conflict with our own. There may be underlying reasons which do not 

 at once meet the eye, and which place the whole matter in a different 

 light. . . . Their way of thinking in these matters is less ideal and 

 more practical than ours, and their point of view entirely different. Their 

 habit of exchanging wives, for example, and their treatment of barren 

 women, seems to us wanton and immoral; but when we remember that the 

 production of offspring is the great end and aim of their conduct, and 

 reflect what an all-important matter this is for them, we may perhaps 

 pass a somewhat milder judgment.&quot; 



He remarks that to the Eskimo the exhortation to increase 

 and multiply seems to be of greater weight than the prohibition 

 of the seventh commandment. And he adds a very important 

 suggestion, &quot;The reason may partly be that his race is by 

 nature unprolific.&quot; (43:169 sq.) 



Homosexual practices have been reported by several writers 

 on the Eskimo. It has been rather prominently noted among 

 the extreme western tribes. (For details see 32:120; 56:173, 

 176; 2.1:82.) It is almost entirely confined to males who play 

 the role of the opposite sex. No cases have been reported from 

 other sections. Some references in folk-lore may, however, be 

 of significance. A tale from Cumberland Sound tells of a 

 woman who transformed herself into a man and married her 

 adopted daughter. (6:248.) In another from the same region, 

 one man took another for wife. (6:325.) Still a third, from 

 Greenland, deals with a woman who disguised herself as a man, 

 and took her daughter-in-law for wife. Her son killed his 

 &quot;despicable mother.&quot; (53.) 



23. POSITION AND TREATMENT OF WOMEN 

 Several writers speak of the Eskimo women as the &quot;property&quot; 

 of their husbands (48:60; 43:121, 147; 50:62) ; others of their 

 life as one of &quot;slavery.&quot; (2.1:65; 16.1:151.) But such ex 

 pressions cannot be taken in a literal or legalistic sense. In 

 deed, some of the authors referred to above would be among 

 the first to deny implications which such statements might 

 convey. 



