166 A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



Eskimos if the Garden of Eden had been close 

 to the North Pole. 



There is apparently no government or law 

 among these Eskimos. They have no chiefs. 

 When it becomes necessary to conduct any busi- 

 ness of public importance with outsiders, it is 

 looked after by the old men. The Eskimos are 

 a race, one may say, of individuals. Each one 

 lives his life according to his own ideas ; without 

 let or hindrance. Each is a law unto himself. 

 Under these conditions one might expect they 

 would hold to the rule of the strong arm under 

 which might makes right. This is far from true. 

 There is little crime among them. Murder is 

 extremely rare. Though they sometimes steal 

 from white men — the sailors on the brig were 

 warned that they would steal anything not nailed 

 down — they are said never — or hardly ever — ^to 

 steal from each other. They have a nice respect 

 for the rights of their neighbors. They are not 

 exactly a Golden Rule people, but they mind 

 their own business. 



The infrequency of crime among them seems 

 stranger when one learns that they never punish 



