TREATMENT OF CHILDREN A.ND OLD PEOPLE. '240 



Being in the habit of making frequent journeys of four or five 

 days without taking more than two days' provisions, they appeal 

 to rely on the kindness of others as they pass ; and as this is perhaps 

 never denied, hospitality to strangers may be esteemed a duty. We 

 are of opinion, however, this has its limits. A man of good name 

 would have no difficulty in procuring food and shelter while 

 travelling through any part of his country, as, where he ceased to 

 be known by his own reputation, he would be accepted as a guest 

 on mentioning the name of his last entertainer ; and we have never 

 entered a strange hut without inquiry being made as to whit s..it 

 of food we used, and generally some of their best was set before 

 us, or an apology made that they had nothing to offer which we 

 would relish. But an Eskimo never undertakes a distant journey 

 unless he well knows the people he is going among, or he goes in 

 company with others on whom he can depend for a welcome. In 

 a society so large as that at Point Barrow, it is impossible that 

 different families should be at all times totally independent of each 

 other, and the successful hunter of to-day lends to his neighbour, 

 who, when the luck turns, repays the favour ; but dealings of this 

 kind are pi-actised no more than necessity requires. A man 

 returned during the hunting-time to the village, and his own hut 

 being closed, he lived with a relative for four or five days ; in 

 return for which, when the season was over, that relative and some 

 of his family spent a whole day in the other's hut, where they were 

 entertained with reindeer-flesh, which was then very scarce. 



For the tender solicitude with which their own infancy and 

 childhood have been tended, in the treatment of their aged and 

 infirm parents they make a return which redounds to their credit, 

 for they not only give them food and clothing, sharing with 

 them every comfort they possess, but on their longest and must 

 fatiguing journeys make provision for their easy conveyance. In 

 this way we witnessed among the people of fourteen summer tents 

 and as many boats, one crippled old man, a blind and helpless old 

 woman, two grown-up women with sprained ankles, and one other 

 old invalid, besides children of various ages, carried by their re- 

 spective families, who had done the same for the two firs! during 

 many successive summers. Here, again, the tie id' kindred dictates 

 the duty, and we fear it would go hard with the childless. \\ hen 

 a man dies, his next of kin supports his widow ; or if unprovided 

 already, he may make her his wife, unless he allows her to he' taken 

 by a stranger. Orphan children are provided for in the same way, 

 and adoption is so frequenl among them thai it becomes almost im- 

 possible to trace relationship ; this is, however, of uo importance, 



