MCKDOCII.J CHILDREN RIGHTS AND WRONGS. 419 



The only extraordinary tiling about the Chukch children is their 

 large number, mentioned by the same author. 1 This looks as if the 

 infusion of new blood had increased the, fertility of the rare. All 

 authors who have described Eskimo of unmixed descent a {free in 

 regard to the generally small number of their offspring. &amp;lt; &amp;gt;ther accounts 

 of Eskimo children are to be found in the writings of Bessels, 2 Crantz, 3 

 Sclvwutka, 4 Gilder, 5 J. Simpson, 6 and Hooper. 7 



The custom of adoption is as universal at Point Harrow as it appears 

 to be among the Eskimo generally, and the adopted children are, 

 treated by the parents precisely as if they were their own flesh and 

 blood. Orphans are readily provided for, as there are always plenty 

 of families ready and willing to take them, and women who have sev 

 eral children frequently give away one or more of them. Families that 

 have nothing but boys often adopt a girl, and, of course, vice versa, 

 and we know of one case where, a woman who had lost a young infant 

 had another given her by one of her friends. 



This very general custom of giving away children, as well as the 

 habit already mentioned of temporarily exchanging wives, rendered it 

 quite difficult to ascertain the parentage of any person, especially as it 

 seems to be the custom with them to speak of tirst cousins as &quot;milu 

 atauzik&quot; (&quot;one breast,&quot; that is, brothers and sisters). While a boy is 

 desired in the family, since he will be the support of his father when 

 the latter grows too old to hunt, a girl is almost as highly prized, for 

 not only will she help her mother with the cares of housekeeping when 

 she grows up, but she is likely to obtain a good husband who may be 

 induced to become a member of his father-in-law s family. 8 



RIGHTS AND WRONGS. 



I have already spoken of the feelings of these people in regard to 

 offenses against property and crimes of violence. As to the relations 

 between the sexes there seems to be the most complete absence of what 

 we consider moral feelings. Promiscuous sexual intercourse between 

 married or unmarried people, or even among children, appears to be 

 looked upon simply as a matter for amusement. As far as we could 

 learn unchastity in a girl was considered nothing against her, and in 

 fact one girl who was a most abandoned and shameless prostitute among 

 the sailors, and who, we were told, had had improper relations with 

 some of her own race, had no difficulty iii obtaining an excellent husband. 



Iteuiarks of the most indecent character are freely bandied back and 

 forth between the sexes in public, and are received with shouts of 

 laughter by the bystanders. Nevertheless, some of the women, espe 



Vega, vol. 1, p. 449. Science, vol. 4, No. 98, p. 544. 



Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 874. Schwatka s Search, p. 287. 



&quot;History of Greenland, vol. 1, p. 162. Op. cit., p. 250. 



Tents, etc., pp. 24, 201. 



8 Accounts of this custom of adoption are to be found in Crantz, vol. 1, p. 165; I arry. Second Voy 

 age, p. 531 ; Kuralien, Contributions, ]&amp;gt;. 17; Gilder, Schwatka s Search, p. 247, and the passage con 

 cerning children quoted above, from Dr. Simpson. 



