410 THE POINT BARROW ESKIMO. 



I regret much that we did not save and bring home any of the pencil 

 drawings made by these people. The children especially were anxious 

 to get lead pencils, and made themselves rather a nuisance by covering 

 the painted walls of the observatory with scrawls of ships and various 

 other objects, perhaps rather more accurately done than they would 

 have been by white children of the same age. The style of the figures 

 on the hunting scores already described, however, is very like that of the 

 pencil drawings. 1 



DOMESTIC LIFE. 



Marriage. As far as we could learn, the marriage relation was en 

 tered upon generally from reasons of interest or convenience, with very 

 little regard for affection, as we understand it, though there often ap 

 peared to be a warm attachment between married people. A man de 

 sires to obtain a wife who will perform her household duties well and 

 faithfully, and will be at the same time an agreeable companion, while 

 he often plans to marry into a rich or influential family. The woman, 

 on the other hand, appears to desire a husband who is industrious and 

 a good hunter. There were, nevertheless, some indications that real 

 love matches sometimes took place. Marriages are usually arranged by 

 the parents of the contracting parties, sometimes when the principals 

 are mere children. We knew of one case when a young man of about 

 twenty-two offered himself as the prospective husband of a girl of eight 

 or ten, when she should reach a marriageable age. This practice of 

 child betrothal seems to be practically universal among the Eskimo 

 everywhere. 2 



Dr. Simpson, in describing the marriage customs at Point Barrow, 

 says: 



The usual case is, that as soon as the young man desires a partner and is able to 

 support one, his mother selects a girl according to her judgment or fancy, and invites 

 her to the hut, where she first takes the part of a &quot;kivgak&quot; or servant, having all 

 the cooking and other kitchen duties to perform during the day, and returns to her 

 home at night. If her conduct proves satisfactory, she is further invited to become 

 a member of the family. 3 



We only knew this to be done on one occasion; and on the contrary 

 knew of several cases where the bridegroom became a member of the 

 wife s family. 



One youth, who had had his lips pierced for the labrets just previ 

 ously to our arrival, was, we soon learned, betrothed to a young girl 

 at Nuwtik. This girl frequently came down from Nuwiik and visited 

 her lover s family, staying several days at a time, but we could not 



1 Compare these with Nordcnskiiild s figurea of &quot;Clmkch&quot; drawings, Vega, vol. 2, pp. l. )2, 133. Tim 

 latter are completely Eskimo in character. 



Compare Crantz, vol. 1, p. !&quot;&amp;gt;!&amp;gt; (Greenland) ; Knmlien, Contribution!), p. 164 (Cumberland Cull ) ; Hall, 

 Arctic Researches, p. 567 (liatiin Laud) ; Tarry, 2nd Voyage, p. 528 (Fury and Ilecla Straits) ; Sehwatka, 

 Science, vol. 4, No. 98, p. r&amp;gt;44 (King William s Land); Gilder, Sehwatka s Search, p. 250 (Hudson s 

 Bay) ; Franklin, First Exp., vol. 2, p. 41 (Chesterfield Inlet) ; Hooper, Telits, etc., p. 209 (Plover Bay) ; 

 Norclenskiiild, Vega, vol. 2, p. 26 (Pitlekaj). 



&quot;Op. eit., p. 252. 



