MfKi.orn.1 CHILDREN. 417 



were so scarce and seemed so highly prized that we never even thought 

 of inquiring if infanticide was ever practiced. Nevertheless, Simpson 

 speaks of the occurrence of a case during the IMover s visit; &quot;but a 

 child, they say, is destroyed only when afflicted with disease of a fatal 

 tendency, or, in scarce seasons, when one or both parents die. 1 &quot; Infan 

 ticide, according to Bessels, is frequently practiced among the Eskimo 

 of Smith Sound, without regard of sex, 2 and Schwatka speaks of fe 

 male infanticide to a limited extent among the people of King Wil 

 liam s Land. 3 



The affection of parents for their children is extreme, and the chil 

 dren seem to be thoroughly worthy of it. They show hardly a trace of 

 the fretfulness and petulance so common among eivili/ed children, and 

 though indulged to an extreme extent are remarkably obedient. Corpo 

 ral punishment appears to be absolutely unknown and the children are 

 rarely chidden or punished in any way. Indeed, they seldom deserve it, 

 for, in spite of the freedom which they are allowed, they do not often get 

 into any mischief, especially of a malicious sort, but attend quietly to 

 their own affairs and their own amusements. 



The older children take very good care of the smaller ones. It is an 

 amusing sight to see a little boy of six or seven patronizing and pro 

 tecting a little toddler of two or three. Children rarely cry except from 

 actual pain or terror, and even then little ones are remarkably patient 

 and plucky. The young children appear to receive little or no instruc 

 tion except what they pick up in their play or from watching their elders. 



Boys of six or seven begin to shoot small birds and animals and to 

 hunt for birds eggs, and when they reach the age of twelve or fourteen 

 arc usually intrusted with a gun and seal spear and accompany their 

 fathers to the hunt. Some of them soon learn to be very skillful hunters. 

 We know one boy not over thirteen years old who, during the winter of 

 188L- 82, had his seal nets set like the men and used to visit them regu 

 larly, even in the roughest weather. Lads of fourteen or fifteen are 

 sometimes regular members of the whaling crews. In the meantime 

 the little girls are learning to sew, in imitation of their mothers, and by 

 the time they are twelve years old they take their share of the cooking 

 and other housework and assist in making the clothes for the family. 

 They still, however, have plenty of leisure to play with the other chil 

 dren until they are old enough to be married. 



Affection for their children seems a universal trait among the Eski 

 mo and there is scarcely an author who does not speak in terms of 

 commendation of the behavior and disposition of the Eskimo children. 

 Some of these passages are so applicable to the people of Point Barrow 

 that I can not forbear quoting them. Kgede says: 4 



They have a very tender Love for their Children, and the Mother always carries the 

 infant Child about with her upon her back. They suck them till they are 



1 Op. cit., p. 250. Naturalist, vol. 18. pt. 9, p. 874. 



* Science, vol.4, p. 544. * Greenland, p. 146. 



!&amp;gt; ETH 21 



