418 THE POINT BAKROW ESKIMO. 



three or four years old or more, because, in their tender Infancy, they cannot digest 

 the strong Victuals that the rest must live upon. The Education of their Children is 

 what they seem little concerned about, for they never make use of whipping or hard 

 words to correct them when they do anything amiss, but leave them to their own 

 Discretion. Notwithstanding which, when they are grown, they never seem inclined 

 to Vice or Roguery, which is to be admired. It is true, they show no great Respect to 

 their Parents in any outward Forms, but always are very willing to do what they 

 order them, though sometimes they will bid their Parents do it themselves. 



According toCapt. Holm, in East Greenland, &quot;De opvoxe i denmest 

 ubuudne Frihed. Forseldrene mere en ubeskrivelig Kjierlighcd til dem 

 og straffe dem derfor aldrig, selv oni de ere nok saa gjenstridige. Man 

 maa imidlertid beuudre, hvor velopdragne de smaa alligevel ere.&quot; 



Parry speaks still more strongly:&quot; 



The affection of parents for their children was frequently displayed by these people,, 

 not only in the mere passive indulgence and abstinence from corporal punishment 

 for which Esquimaux have been before remarked, but by a thousand playful endear 

 ments also, such as parents and nurses practice in our own country. Nothing, indeed 

 can well exceed the kindness with which they treat their children. It must be 



confessed, indeed, that the gentleness and docility of the children are such as to 

 occasion their parents little trouble and to render severity towards them quite un 

 necessary. Even from their earliest, infancy, they possess that quiet disposition, 

 gentleness of demeanor, and uncommon evenness of temper, for which in more mature 

 age they are for the most part distinguished. Disobedience is scarcely ever known; 

 a word or even a look from a parent is enough; and I never saw a single instance of 

 that frowardness and disposition to mischief which, in our youth, so often requires 

 the whole attention of a parent to watch over and to correct. They never cry from 

 trifling accidents, and sometimes not even from very severe hurts, at which an 

 English child would sob for an hour. It is, indeed, astonishing to see the indifference 

 with which, even as tender infants, they bear the numerous blows they accidentally 

 receive when carried at their mothers backs. 



I should be willing to allow this passage to stand as a description of 

 the Point Barrow children. It is interesting to compare with these pas 

 sages Nordenskiold s account 3 of the children at Pitlekaj, who, if not as 

 he and other writers believe, of pure (Jliukch blood, are at any rate of 

 mixed Chukch and Eskimo descent: 



The children are neither chastised nor scolded. They are, however, the best be 

 haved I have ever seen. Their behavior in the tent is equal to that of the best 

 brought up European children in the parlor. They are not perhaps so wild as ours, 

 but are addicted to games which closely resemble those common among us in the 

 country. Playthings are also in use. If the parents get any delicacy they 



always give each of their children a bit, and there is never any quarrel as to the size 

 of each child s portion. If a piece of sugar is given to one of the children in a crowd 

 it goes from mouth to mouth round the whole company. In the same way the child 

 offers its father and mother a taste of the bit of sugar or piece of bread it has got. 

 Even in childhood the Ohukchs are exceedingly patient. A girl who fell down from 

 the ship s stairs head foremost and thus got so violent a blow that she was almost de 

 prived of hearing scarcely uttered a cry. A boy three or four years of ago, much 

 rolled up in furs, who fell down into a ditch cut in the ice on the ship s deck, and in 

 consequence of his inconvenient dress could not get up, lay quietly still until he was 

 observed and helped up by one of the crew. 



&quot;Geograttak Ticlskrift. vol R, p. 91. 

 2 Second Voyage, p. 529. 

 3 Vega, vol. 2, p. UO. 



