Psychology and Morality 239 



naked into a single sleeping bag. Towards morning they separated, Avranna 

 with two of Uloksak's wives removing to another sleeping bag, while Uloksak 

 remained with the other two women and the baby. 



Whatever the causes may be sexual immorality is certainly very rife 

 amongst them, and as certainly disregarded as a matter of no importance. 

 Even the children are doubtfully pure. A married man deliberately mishandled 

 a little girl in the presence of other people, and his action met with no condem- 

 nation. The relatives would doubtless interfere if the children were subjected 

 to any annoyance, but as long as no trouble arises no one takes any notice. I 

 never knew of any girl being a mother before she married, for the simple reason 

 that girls always marry about puberty, and never remain single for any length 

 of time afterwards, at least not as long as they retain their youth. On the other 

 hand I never observed any instance of that hospitality so notorious among 

 other Eskimos, wherein a man lends his wife to his guest. It may occur never- 

 theless, and an honoured guest who made such a request would certainly be 

 gratified; but travelling natives are almost invariably accompanied by their own 

 wives, and cement their friendships, if they so wish, by the regular method of 

 exchanging wives rather than by borrowing. Of course, in the end, there is very 

 little difference as far as the results are concerned. 



Another trait in the character of the Copper Eskimo is a ratl^er thoughtless 

 ci-uelty. I can better explain my meaning perhaps by the apparently para- 

 doxical statement that while they have much sympathy they have very little 

 real pity. They grieve at the death or misfortune of their relatives, but they 

 calmly look on and allow a helpless babe to be murdered without the slightest 

 compunction. It could not be expected perhaps of a race of hunters that 

 they should feel any pity for their victims; hence we are not surprised that a 

 native should allow a wounded deer to lie in agony for hours when by a little 

 extra trouble he could put an immediate end to its misery. One of Higilak's 

 dogs bore a litter of six pups, only two of which could we possibly carry along 

 with us. It gave Higilak great pleasure to crush the heads of the other four 

 with a stone; "Will you never die?" she cried, as their little bodies lay quivering 

 on the ground. She called Kanneyuk and myself to watch the slaughter, 

 but to Kanneyuk's credit be it said that she fled from the sight with tears in 

 her eyes. 



Notwithstanding such cruelty towards blind and helpless pups, the dogs 

 that are reared by the natives are treated with great kindness in most cases.' 

 They have the status of 'servant children, as it were, and are named, like real 

 children, after the dead relatives of their owners. I heard a man tell a woman 

 one day to tie up his "grandfather," meaning a dog that had the same name 

 as his grandfather.^ Whenever her dog was nosing about the house Higilak 

 would cry in a high-pitched, ironically-seductive tone arnennoak, "girl," and 

 the dog would slink out of doors again. A dog began to howl one night outside 

 our tent, and she cried tikitlutin tikitugalluak "And yet you have reached the 

 end of your day's journey." Of the two pups that she kept in the summer 

 one was given to Kanneyuk, and both mother and daughter carried them in 

 the hoods of their coats, or in a bag on their backs, until the animals were strong 

 enough to walk. Ayallik's old wife during one winter migration carried a 

 little pup snug and warm in her boot-leg. In winter dogs with pups are shel- 

 tered in the house at the back of the sleeping platform, or in a cosy nook especially 

 constructed for them in the wall; their bed is strewn with willow-twigs, over 



iMr. Stetansson's picture of their life (Anthrop. Papers, A.M.N.H., Vol. XIV, pt. I, p. 241), is never- 

 theless a little too rosy. Cf. Parry, Vol. IV, p. 28 et acq. 



'Children are never called by the terms of relationship that would be applicable to the persons after 

 whom they are named. Avranna, for example, never called his child "father," though it was named 

 after his father. This is an important point of difference between the Copper and the western Eskimos, 

 reflecting the difference in their conceptions of the after-life. 



