H4 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



of men or women for change of spouse, and adds* 

 " The shaman may do about as he pleases with the 

 marriage ties, which oftener consist of sealskin thongs 

 than respect and love." 1 



With regard to temporary exchanges similar to 

 those of other Eskimo at festivals, Dr. Boas, writing 

 of shamanistic performances among the Eskimo of 

 the western coast of Hudson Bay, says: " It seems 

 that the incantations of the angakut [pi. of angakok\ 

 are always performed in the evening. After each of 

 these ceremonies the people must exchange wives. 

 The women must spend the night in the huts of the 

 men to whom they are assigned. If any woman 

 should refuse to go to the man to whom she is 

 assigned she would be sure to be taken sick. The 

 man and the woman assigned to him, however, must 

 not be near relations/' 2 The more westerly Eskimo 

 of Point Barrow make a great many changes before 

 they settle down to a permanent union. They are 

 also in the habit of exchanging wives for a period. 

 " For instance, one man of our acquaintance planned 

 to go to the rivers deer-hunting in the summer of 1882, 

 and borrowed his cousin's wife for the expedition, as 

 she was a good shot and a good hand at deer-hunting, 

 while his own wife went with his cousin on the trading 

 expedition to the eastward. On their return the wives 

 went back to their respective husbands. The couples 

 sometimes find themselves better pleased with their 

 new mates than with the former association, in which 

 case the exchange is made permanent. This happened 

 once in Utkiavwin to our certain knowledge. This 



1 Turner, Rep. Bur. Ethn. xi. 178, 188, 189, 199, 200. 



2 Boas, Bull. Am. Mus. N. H. xv. 158. 



