COSTOMS “OF PAE ESKIMOS. 165 
Of course, I am here speaking in a general way, for I 
_ have already spoken of the occasional fights which take 
place. 
The Eskimo marriage is an exceedingly simple insti- 
tution, and is not performed in any ceremonious way. 
It is purely a love union, requiring only the sanction of 
the parents of the bride. When a young man and young 
woman come to the conclusion that they were made for 
each other, and desire to become one, having the consent 
of the girl’s parents they simply take each other and 
start up an igloe of their own. Eskimo brides are 
usually very young, and often very bonnie creatures. 
They lose much of their beauty, however, in early life, 
and at about forty mature into ugly old dames. 
An Eskimo family rarely consists of more than three 
children, and these, in turn, for about two years are 
carried in the hood upon their mother’s back. During 
this time they have no clothing apart from their mother’s. 
New-born infants are licked by their mother’s tongue, 
and are sometimes kept in a rabbit-skin or bag of 
feathers for a time before being carried upon the 
mother’s back. | 
It is usual for a man to have only one wife, though 
it is not uncommon for him to bave two, or even three, 
if he can provide for them. The first Eskimo encoun- 
tered on our recent visit to the north, as I have 
related, had two wives, each having three children. As 
a rule the men are faithful to their wives, although 
sometimes they trade with each other for a few weeks 
or months, and afterwards receive again their first loves. 
If any member of the family is seriously ill, a peculiar 
kind of prayer is repeated over the afflicted one by the 
