142 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



described by other writers, one of whom says that a 

 good host always has the lamps put out at night when 

 there are guests in the house. 1 



Among some Eskimo polyandry has been alleged 

 to exist, and there seems to be foundation for the 

 statement. 2 "A strange custom/' writes Dr. Boas, 

 concerning the Eskimo of Davis Strait and Cumber- 

 land Sound, " permits a man to lend his wife to a 

 friend for a whole season or even longer, and to 

 exchange wives as a sign of friendship. On certain 

 occasions it is even commanded by religious law. 

 Nevertheless I know of some instances of quarrels 

 arising from jealousy. Lyon states, however, that 

 this passion is unknown among the Iglulirmiut [of 

 Baffin Land]. The husband is not allowed to 

 maltreat or punish his wife ; if he does she may leave 

 him at any time, and the wife's mother can always 

 command a divorce. Both are allowed to remarry as 

 soon as they like, even the slightest pretext being 

 sufficient for a separation." A friend on a visit for a 

 season is accommodated with the loan of one of his 

 host's wives if the latter have more than one. At the 

 great religious feast of the autumn, the object of 

 which is to drive away the evil spirits and procure 

 fine weather for the coming winter, two gigantic 

 masked figures appear. Silently with long strides 

 they "approach the assembly, who screaming press 

 back from them. The pair solemnly lead the men to 

 a suitable spot and set them in a row, and the women 



1 Nansen, 169. Is this the same custom as referred to by 

 Schell, Globus, xciv. 86 ? According to him it would seem too 

 that the Eskimo of East Greenland are matrilineal. 



2 Nansen, 145, cites from Nils Egede a case of a woman who 

 had two husbands ; but both she and they were angakut. 



