420 
assembled at the seasliore, the daylight was short, and blizzards 
often kept the men from sealing and the entire community within 
(ioors. It was then, when food supplies were low and anxiety weighed 
on every heart, that cjuarrels were most apt to arise, that suspicions 
of sorcery found ready lodging, and hirlden jealousies came io the 
surface. Even the certainty of blood-revenge did not always check 
a sudden knife-thrust that left its victim gasping in the snow. 
Generally the murderer and his family fled to some distant com- 
munity, but the feud remained unforgotten and sooner or later a 
retaliatory murrler kindled its flame afresh. Tliese never-ending 
blood-feuds, to which innocent women and children fell victims as 
often as the murderers themselves, greatly increased the insecurity 
of life. and. combined with all the other hazards, produced in the 
l^skimo a profound fatalism only half concealed by their unfailing 
cheerfulness. 
Other dark features in the social life wei’e the frecjiiency of 
infanticide, and the al)andonment of the aged and infirm, customs 
that were perhaps unavoidable in many districts owing to the hard 
sti’uggle for existence. The Eskimo were really very fond of their 
children, and treated ihem with great indulgence. Both boys and 
girls were subjected to a number of taboos that related for the most 
j)art te their diet, and women endured many restrictions, especially 
in times of childbirth; but the seclusion of adolescents, enforced by 
many Indian tribes, was unknown. Marriage took place without 
ceremony, although the son-in-law generally hunted with his wife’s 
]iarents for a season or two. Either party could dissolve the union 
at will and husbands even exchanged wives temporarily, for the 
Eskimo ranked friendship above chastity, aiul indeed held the latter 
in little esteem. Nevertheless, couples nearly always clung together 
after tliey liad issue, ami domestic quarrels occurred far less fre- 
quently than in more civilized homes. Women had a well-recognized 
position, less inferior to men’s than among any Indian tribe except 
perhaps the Iroquoians; but whereas Iroquoian women derived their 
higher status mainly from the economic importance of their corn- 
fields, Eskimo women owed their position largely to the indispensa- 
bility of expert seamstresses for making the tailored clothing neces- 
sary to withstand an Arctic climate. 
