'"■•■'I""" I nilLDKEN KIGins AND WKONCS. II!) 



The only cxtTaordiiiMrv tliiiiu' alxmt tin- Clnikcli .■liiMivii iv il„.ip 

 large immher, mentidiicil l>y tlic s:nin' nnllmr.' This Idoks :is if ilic 

 infusion of now Ivlood li^nl iiicrc;i.sfil tlic lcitilit\ ol' the ran-. All 



authors who have (h'sciilx'd Kskiii f iininixrd (h'sccnt auicr in 



regard to the .neuendly small luunber of their orrsi)riiig. (H lier a(<-uiiiits 

 of Eskimo chihUen are to l.e Ibiiiid in (lie writings ot I'.essels,' ('rant/,.' 

 Schwatka/ Gilder/' J. .Simpson." and Iloopei.- 



The custom of adoption is as universal at I'oint llaiiow as it appears 

 to be among the Eskimo generally, ami tlir a<lopte<l children are 

 treated by the parents preeis.-l\- as if they wcr.- Ilnarown tlcsli and 

 blood. Orphans are readily provided tbr, as there are always plenty 

 of families ready and willing to talce them, and women who lia\c sev- 

 eral ehildreu frefinently give away one or more of them. I'amiliis that 

 have nothing but boys often adopt a girl, and, of eonrse, \ ice \ersa, 

 and we know of one case wheie a woman who had lost a yonng infant 

 had another given lier by one of her fiiends. 



Tlii.s very general custom of giving away <'hildren, as well as the 

 habit already mentioned of temporarily exchanging wives, i-eiidered it 

 quite difficult to ascertain the parentage of any person, esju'cially as it 

 seems to be the custom with them to speak of first cousins as "mdu 

 atauzlk" ("one breast," that is, brothers and sisters). While a lioy is 

 d(!sired in the family, since he will be the support of his father when 

 the latter grows too old to hunt, a girl is almost as highly jirized. for 

 not only will she help her mother ^vith the cares of housekeeping when 

 she grows up, but she is likely to olitain a good husband who may be 

 induced to become a member of his father-in law's family.^ 



i;i(iIITS VND WRONGS. 



I have already spokiMi of the feelings of these people- in regard to 

 offenses against property and crimes of violence. As to the relations 

 between the sexes there seems to be the most complete absence of what 

 we consider moral feelings. Promiscuous sexual intercourse betwe(>n 

 married or unmarried people, or even among children, appears to la- 

 looked u]ioii simply as a matter for amusement. As far as we eonld 

 learn nnchastity in a girl was considered nothing ag;iinst her. and in 

 fact one girl who was a most alcindoned and shameless inostitiite among 

 the sailors, and who, we were t(dd, had had improper relations with 

 some of her own race, had no dittieulty in obtaining an excellent husl)aiid. 



Kemarks of the most indecent character are freely bandied back and 

 forth between the sexes in public, and are received with shouts of 

 laughter by the bystanders. Nevertheless, some of the women, esjie 



' Vi'ya, vol. 1, ]>. 449. "Science, vol. 4, No. 98, p. 544. 



'Naturalist, vol. 18, pt. 9, p. 874. 'Schwatka's Search, p. 287. 



3 History of Cireenland. vol. 1, p. 1H2. 'Op. cit., p. 250. 



'Tent8,'ctc., pp. 24, 201. 



"Accounts of this cuatom of adoption are to be found in C'rantz, vol. 1. p. I6S; Tarry, Scicmcl Voy- 

 age, p, .^31; Kumlien, Contributions, p. 17: Gilder, Schwatka's Search, p. 247, and the pa.snaRc con- 

 cerninj; children quoted above, from Dr. Simpson. 



