580 TWE CENTRAL ESKIMO. 



for his relatives who have no provider. He must drive the sledge in 

 traveling, feed the dogs, build the house, and make and keep in order 

 his hunting imijlements, the boat cover and seal floats excepted. 

 The woman has to do the household work, the sewing, and the cook- 

 ing. She must look after the lamps, make and mend the tent and 

 boat covers, ^jrepare the skins, and bring up young dogs. It falls to 

 her share to make the inner outfit of the hut, to smooth the jjlat- 

 f orms, line the snow house, &c. On Davis Strait the men cut up all 

 kinds of animals which they have caught; on Hudson Bay, however, 

 the women cut up the seals. There the men prepare the deerskins, 

 which is done by the women among the eastern tribes. Everywhere 

 the women have to do the rowing in the large boats while the man 

 steers. Cripples who are unable to hunt do the same kind of work 

 as women. 



Children are treated very kindly and are not scolded, whipped, or 

 siibjectcd to any Cdriioral ]iuuishment. Among all the tribes infant- 

 icide has lii'.cii inactircd tn some extent, but probably only females 

 or childiijn uf \\"i(ji_)w,s or widiiwers have been murdered in this way, 

 the latter on account of the difficulty of providing for them. It is 

 very remarkable that this practice seems to be quite allowable among 

 them, while in Greenland it is believed that the spirit of the mur- 

 dered child is turned into an evil spirit, called angiaq, and revenges 

 the crime (Rink, p. 45). 



Besides the children properly belonging to the family, adopted 

 children, widows, and old people are considered part of it. Adoption 

 is carried on among this people to a great extent. 



If for any reason a man is unable to provide for his family or if a 

 woman cannot do her household work, the children are adopted by a 

 relative or a friend, who considers them as his own children. In the 

 same way widows with their children are adopted by their nearest 

 relative or by a friend and belong to the family, though the woman 

 retains her own fireplace. 



It is difficult to decide which relative is considered the nearest, 

 but the ties of consanguinity appear to be much closer than those of 

 affinity. If a woman dies the husband leaves his children with his 

 parents-in-law and returns to his own family, and if a man dies his 

 wife returns to her parents or her brothers, who are the nearest 

 relatives next to parents or children. "When a woman dies, how- 

 ever, after the children are grown up the widower will stay with 

 them. In case of a divorce the children generally remain with the 

 mother. 



As a great part of the personal property of a man is destroyed at 

 his death or placed by his grave, the objects which may be acquired 

 by inheritance are few. These are the gun, harpoi>n. slcdni'. dogs, 

 kayak, boat, and tent poles of the man and the lani]) ami ]h,1s <>f the 

 woman. The first inheritor of these articles is the ekli'st son living 



