578 THE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



lumps of meat are passed around, everybody cutting off a piece and 

 taking a swallow of the soup, which is passed around in a large 

 leather cup. These dinners, which are held in the evening after the 

 return from the hunt, are almost always enlivened by a mimic 

 performance. A man or an old woman sits down in the center of 

 the circle and amuses the assembly by singing and dancing or by 

 making faces. A favorite performance is one in which a man, with 

 blackened face and mth a thong tied around his head, writhes and 

 makes odd grimaces. 



After dinner the men sit cliatting or gambling before the huts, 

 while the women and children amuse themselves by running about, 

 playing at ball, or dancing. 



A strict religious custom forbids the Eskimo to work on the deer- 

 skins which ;n'f <ibtained in suunucr liefore the ice has formed ; they 

 are only diicil ^md 1if(l ii]i in lai'^c bundles. In the fall, when on their 

 way to ill!' winter scttlmicnts. the Eskimo travel rather quickly. 

 The boats are piled up with the spoils of the summer hunt and the 

 place of destination is generally reached before the -stormy weather 

 sets in. 



When it gets colder short excursions are made by boat in order to 

 collect shrubs for covering the tents. Several families join in build- 

 ing a common hut, and on a fine day the old tents are torn down and 

 the tent poles are converted into a strong frame, which is covered 

 with a double roof. The bed and the platforms for the lamjjs are 

 raised and henceforth all the cooking is done inside. 



As soon as the first seals are caught with the hai'poon the deer 

 skins are prepared. If they were deposited under stones in summer, 

 sledges set oiit to bring them to the settlements, and then they are 

 distributed for winter clothing. According to Hall the western 

 tribes are in the habit of spreading all the skins on one place and 

 distributing them among the inhabitants of the settlement. I did 

 not observe the same custom among the eastern tribes. Then they 

 devote themselves to dressing the skins. On Davis Strait this work 

 falls to the share of the women, while among the Hudson Bay 

 tribes it is done by the men. At "this season the great religious feasts 

 of the natives are celebrated, which announce, as it were, the com- 

 mencement of -w'inter. 



SOCIAL ORDER AND LAWS. 



The social order of the Eskimo is entirely founded on the family 

 and on the ties of consanguinity and affinity between the individual 

 families. Generally children are betrothed wheil very young, but 

 these engagements, not being strictly binding, may be broken off at 

 any time. When the children reach maturity the girl learns the 

 duties of a woman and the bov those f)f a man. As soon as he is 



