Marriage, Childbirth, etc. 159 



bride is to be taken to another settlement the bridegroom makes a small pay- 

 ment to her parents; they then give a farewell feast in her honour, and she is 

 led away, weeping because she is leaving her famihar surroundings and going 

 out into a new and unknown world. No payment is made if the new couple intend 

 to remain in the same district; the bridegroom merely sets up his hut or tent 

 and the bride moves over to it without any ceremony, taking with her a lamp 

 and a few household things. A well-bred maiden should show some reluctance, 

 however willing at heart she may be, and often the bridegroom has to lead her 

 across -with a show of force. In 1915 Mr. Wilkins, the photographer of -the 

 expedition, was travelling in Coronation gulf with an Alaskan Eskimo named 

 Natkusiak. Natkusiak wanted to take a wife back with him to Banks island, 

 and made overtures for a young girl named Tupik, offering her father and her 

 brother a rifle in payment for taking her away. They gave their sanction to 

 the match as soon as the brother had tested the rifle and found it satisfactory ; 

 but at the last moment the father stipulated that Natkusiak should spend 

 the first year in Coronation gulf, on the ground that the girl was too young 

 to be taken so far away from home at once. Natkusiak, however, had to return 

 with Mr. Wilkins the same summer, so the negotiations came to nothing. Nat- 

 kusiak then made overtures to the relatives of a middle-aged widow named 

 Kaulluak, but no decision was reached. Mr. Wilkins was about to leave the 

 settlement when suddenly Kaulluak's brother appeared and held a short con- 

 versation, with Natkusiak. A few minutes later the brother walked calmly 

 away with the rifle and a youth was sent to bring out the woman; she came, 

 and at the suggestion of some of the natives took her place in front of the sled 

 and began to run ahead of the dogs, accompanied for a short distance by several 

 of the young men. Mr. Wilkins gives an amusing picture of their farewell. 

 "They would frequently stop, and one or other of the youths would grasp 

 Kaulluak round the waist and press his nose against hers . . . Our dogs 

 were always on the heels of the people running ahead, and with the frequent 

 stops were getting tangled up, so I told Kaulluak to come and ride on the sled. 

 Here one of the youths sought to engage in a long nose push, but the load of 

 the two of them on the sled was too heavy, so I made them get off. He ran 

 beside for about a quarter of a mile, but soon got tired and dropped behind. 

 Several times during the day she pretended to run away, and Natkusiak had 

 to bring her back with his arm round her waist. They were not very serious 

 attempts, for once when Natkusiak was several miles ahead and she could 

 have escaped had she wished she followed steadily in his trail. She disappeared 

 in the morning, and Natkusiak had to search for an hour before he found her 

 on a small island near the camp. After one or two more pretences at escape 

 the claims of modesty were satisfied and she settled down quite cheerfully 

 as his wife." In the end, however, she did not go to Banks island, but left 

 Natkusiak and returned to her own people. 



Real "marriage by capture" is not infrequent, though only, I believe, 

 with women who are or have been already married.' A man would hardly 

 dare to carry off a young girl against her own wishes and those of her parents. 

 On the other hand he might with impunity carry off a widow who was only 

 a burden to her kinsmen, and he might even deprive another man of his wife. 

 Uloksak, who had two wives already, took a fancy to Hakungak, Kikpak's 

 young wife. Kikpak was only a youth with no one to back him up and Hakun- 

 gak was either not adverse to being transferred to so influential a man or afraid 

 to offer any opposition. At all events Uloksak made her his third wife, leaving 

 Kikpak with none. The change did not benefit the girl very much, for she 

 became the drudge in her new household and lost her good looks before the 

 year was out. 



'The "scrimmage for wives with deer-antlers", which the Bailhe island natives told Mr. Stefansson 

 was the custom among the Nagyuktogmiut (My Life with the Eskimo, p. 159), is half-legendary. 



