84 



Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



In this classification there are two important points that stand out clearly. 

 The first is that the Copper Eskimos are more concerned with the nature of the 

 relationship than with the sexes of the individuals themselves. Where we 

 make a distinction between nephew and niece they draw the dividing line be- 

 tween a man's and a woman's brother's child, and a man's and a woman's sister's 

 child (22, 24, 25; cf. 20-23). The second point is that in the case of siblings 

 there are six distinct terms which differentiate according to age and sex (10-15). 

 There are no separate terms for grandson or granddaughter, nor even a general 

 word for parent, though this is found in some other Eskimo dialects (e.g. 

 Barrow anak). Again there is no distinction of parallel and cross cousins; all 

 are included together in the general term nuatkattait. Whether first cousins 

 are allowed to marry or not is uncertain. The Rev. H. Girling thought that 

 they were; on the other hand I know of a case where a girl would sleep indiffer- 

 ently with her brother or with her cousin, the latter a young man of about 17 

 years, though there was no question of marriage between them. Rink says that 

 in Greenland the Eskimos disapproved of marriage between cousins.^ 



Adopted children are classed as real children; an adopted child, for ex- 

 ample, may not marry the real child. The same rule naturally apphes to half- 

 brothers and half-sisters. The girl above mentioned eventually married her 

 step-cousin, so there is a hmit to the restriction in this case. An interesting 

 point in regard to this marriage is that the step-cousin was also the adopted 

 son of the girl's step-father. 



Children, as they grow up and marry, form new and distinct famiUes of 

 their own. I have already spoken of the Eskimo .^'amily with which I spent the 

 summer of 1915; the man Ikpakhuak, his wife Higilak, her daughter (by a form- 

 er husband) Kanneyuk, and Ikpakhuak's adopted son Haugak (who was really 

 his nephew, being the son of a deceased brother). Higilak's married son Av- 

 ranna and his wife Milukkattak accompanied us all through our wanderings. 

 Occasionally, for convenience, both famihes lived in a single snow-hut or tent, 

 but nearly always each had its own. Kanneyuk generally remained with her 



iCf. Lacombe, Dictionnaire de la Langue des Oris, p. 671 . 



•^Aijiga is therefore the term for a "sibling-in-law" of the other sex, except in the ease of the older 

 brother s wife. It is difficult to understand the reason for this exception. There is no trace of the levirate; 

 indeed a man is apparently not allowed to marry his deceased brother's wife. 



'Possibly the same word ningauga is used also tor "wife's brother" (male speaking), and so is a generic 

 term for a "man's brother-in-law". See next note. 



■•No other term was found for this relationship, though perhaps ningauga may be used instead. Hak- 

 kianga IS certainly used for other "-in-law" relationships, e.g., in place of ukkwanga, and is probably the 

 general term for them all. 



'Meddelelser om Gr^pnland, Vol. XI, p. 23. 



