112 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



morals; but this is not the case. Neither among the young women is 

 there a large proportion of immoral characters. There are in every vil- 

 lage women who are known to be immoral, but they are the exception. 



Occasionally a man will whip his wife for some real or fancied wrong, 

 and when he does so his conduct is generally approved by the woman's 

 relatives and the public generally, who seem to regard the cause suffi- 

 cient without inquiring into the particulars of it. This curious practice 

 appears to be a sort of generally established right that the husband is 

 entitled to indulge in, and it seems that the woman thinks more of her 

 husband after her chastisement. 



While it is true that a white man may secure an Eskimo girl from 

 almost any family as a wife, it is not true that one can prostitute his 

 wife or daughter at pleasure. They are very sensitive on this point, 

 and only in view of securing a better home and plenty of food and 

 clothing than her parents are able to provide her with is she induced 

 to live with him or to secure the consent of her parents to the arrange- 

 ment. 



Plurality of wives is a x>ractice also that is by no means common, 

 and when it does occur it is among men who, by virtue of their possess- 

 ing more property than their neighbors, are able to support more than 

 one wife. When the custom prevails, there appears to be no disturb- 

 ing or quarrelsome disposition, and if there is any the aggrieved 

 woman bottles her wrath, doubtless from fear that she will be turned 

 out to shift for herself, which is more to be dreaded than any pang of 

 envy or jealously she might experience. 



When a man and woman separate, it is the practice for the man to 

 take possession of all her personal belongings, even stripping her of 

 any part of her clothing that could be made useful for another wife. 



The practice of human sacrifice or inhuman treatment of any char- 

 acter among the Eskimos is never indulged in, and if it ever was the 

 custom to kill one who had become too old to be able to take care of 

 himself, it has been abandoned, as the large number of aged and de- 

 crepit persons now living among these people will bear witness. 



Neither is it the present practice in this neighborhood to put a woman 

 about to be confined in a tent or hut by herself, unprovided with food, 

 for any length of time, or fuel by which she can keep warm. In the 

 large number of confinements that have occurred during the past year 

 among the Eskimo along the coast and in the interior, not an instance 

 has occurred where a child has been born outside of the mother's reg- 

 ular abode, and where she has not had the benefit of the care and atten- 

 tion a woman in her condition should receive. 



In the matter of courtship, it seems that when two persons meet who 

 think they are adapted to each other, all that has to be done is to 

 obtain the consent of the parents of the girl. If the youth possesses 

 the means to give his wife a comfortable home, and his reputation as a 

 hunter or fisherman justifies the parents in placing her in his keeping, 



