140 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
s; thus, korang (reindeer) is pronounced by the women kosang, 
tirkir (the sun) tiskis, and so on. 
The women work very hard. Not only the management of 
the children, the cooking, the melting of the ice, the putting 
the tent in order, the sewing, and other “ woman’s work,” lie to 
their hand, but they receive the catch, in winter in the tent, in 
summer at the beach, cut it in pieces, help with the fishing, at 
least when it is in the neighbourhood of the tent, and carry out 
the exceedingly laborious tanning of the hides, and prepare 
thread from sinews. In summer they collect green plants 
in the meadows and hill-slopes in the neighbourhood of the 
tents. They are therefore generally at home, and always busy. 
The men have it for their share to procure for their family food 
from the animal kingdom by hunting and fishing. With this pur¬ 
pose in view they are often out on long excursions. In the tent 
the man is for the most part without occupation, sleeps, eats, 
gossips, chats with his children, and so on, if he does not pass 
the time in putting his hunting implements in order in a quite 
leisurely manner. 
Within the family the most remarkable unanimity prevails, 
so that we never heard a hard word exchanged, either between 
man and wife, parents and children, or between the married 
pair who own the tent and the unmarried who ocasionally live in 
it. The power of the woman appears to be very great. In 
making the more important bargains, even about weapons and 
hunting implements, she is, as a rule, consulted, and her advice 
is taken. A number of things which form women’s tools she 
can barter away on her own responsibility, or in any other 
way employ as she pleases. When the man has by barter pro¬ 
cured a piece of cloth, tobacco, sugar, or such like, he generally 
hands it over to his wife to keep. 
The children are neither chastised nor scolded; they are, 
however, the best behaved I have ever seen. Their behaviour 
in the tent is equal to that of the best-brought-up European 
