136 HU'NTING AND FISHING EACES 



mature.^ The existence of early betrothal as a widespread habit 

 has no doubt betrayed some authors into an error.^ We know 

 little of the customs of the Bushmen in this as in most other 

 respects. Statements have been made, however, to the effect that 

 marriage took place at so early an age that the girls could not 

 have been mature.^ 



Passing to the Eskimos it would appear that pre-puberty inter- .• 

 course is not uncommon. Of the Eskimos of Greenland we read as' 

 follows : ' Often indeed he marries before there is any chance of 

 the union being productive.' ^ Murdoch says of the Port Barrow 

 Eskimos that ' promiscuous sexual intercourse between married 

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

 upon merely as a matter for amusement ' ; ^ similarly Turner says 

 of the Eskimos of the Ungava district that ' many of the females 

 are taken before that period ' (i.e. before maturity).^ There are 

 some indications that similar habits occur among the Indian tribes 

 of the far north and of the Pacific Coast. Boss reports of the 

 Eastern Tinneh that ' they marry sometimes, but not often at ten, 

 and have their menses at thirteen '.' Bearing in mind the average 

 age at which menstruation begins among American Indians, the 

 following statement by Gibbs, referring to the tribes of Western 

 Washington and North-western Oregon, points to the same conclu- 

 sion, ' Cohabitation of unmarried females among their own people 

 brings no disgrace if unaccompanied by childbirth. . . . This com- 

 mences at a very early age, perhaps ten or twelve years.' ^ There 

 does not seem to be any definite statement with regard to the 

 Calif ornians ; nevertheless the common accounts of marriage at 

 twelve or thereabouts, coupled with statements as to freedom 

 before marriage, are suggestive. Speaking generally of the Cah- 

 fornians. Powers says that * marriage frequently takes place at the 

 age of twelve or fourteen ',^ and that ' there is scarcely an attribute 



1 See, for example, Parker, EimMayi Tribe, p. 56, and, for the tribes of Western 

 Victoria, Brown, J. A. I., vol. xliii, p. 158. 



2 Early betrothal is also common among other races of this group ; but, unless 

 otherwise stated, this should not be taken as meaning that cohabitation follows 

 until after puberty. The more careful accounts usually state that it does not ; 

 for the Thompson Indians, for instance, see Teit, Jesvp North Pacific Expedition, 

 vol. i, p. 321. 



2 Hartland, Primitive Paternity, vol. i, p. 267. This author has dealt at some 

 length with the prevalence of this habit. * Nansen, First Crossing of Green- 



land, p. 320. = Murdoch, 9th A. R. B. E., p. 419. " Turner, 11th 



A. R. B. E. p. 188. See, for Behring Strait Eskimos, Nelson, 18th A. R. B. E., 

 p. 292. ' Ross, A. R. S. I., 1860, p. 305. « Gibbs, U.S. Oeog. and Geol. 



Survey, vo\. I, T[\. 199. ' Powers, ibid., vol. iii, p. 413. 



