ESKIMOS AT HOME AND AT WORK 55 



the death of his parents-in-law that the man is com 

 pletely his own master. 



The list of things necessary for starting house 

 keeping is an extremely limited one. The lady 

 needs her sewing materials a circular knife for 

 cutting out skin garments, a stone kettle, and a 

 lamp. The gentleman's outfit consists of his 

 dogs' sledge and hunting weapons. He joins no 

 building society ; purchases no building site ; knows 

 no landlord, no tax-gatherer, no rate-collector ; 

 leases and agreements are farther removed from 

 him than the myths of the Greeks; he knows 

 only one system of dwelling upon the earth, 

 namely, that of God's freehold, and he builds his 

 snow-house or pitches his tent, according to the 

 season, where he will ; and when game is fairly 

 abundant he appears to lead a very happy life. 



Polygamy is not common among the Eskimos ; 

 it is not, however, regarded as improper. It is 

 probably the difficulty of providing for more 

 than one wife and family which keeps the prac 

 tice within bounds. Divorce is quite common, 

 and wives are put away at times for the most frivo 

 lous causes. It may be readily understood that the 

 sanctity of the marriage bond cannot be held in 

 very high estimation when religion itself or friend 

 ship can not only sanction, but demand, a temporary 

 exchange of wives. 



Widows are generally cared for by their relatives. 



