Chapter VII · ESKIMOS (CONTINUED).

The natives of the Labrador peninsula and those of Cumberland gulf, under the influence of the missionaries, are gradually giving up many of their ancient beliefs and customs. At present these can only be studied among the tribes as yet unvisited by the missionaries, such as those of the northwest coast of Hudson bay, who, although long acquainted with the whalers, have not been so influenced by them as to change their superstitions and beliefs.

The writer spent the winter of 1903-04 among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus on that coast, and paid some attention to these matters, deriving at the same time a large amount of information from Captain George Comer, of the whaling schooner Era, wintering alongside the Neptune. Captain Comer had already made several voyages to Hudson bay and Cumberland gulf, on all of which he had made ethnological collections and notes for the American Museum of Natural History, New York. A considerable amount of his information has been published by Dr. Franz Boas. With the exception of the Rev. Mr. Peck, at Cumberland, Captain Comer is probably the greatest authority upon the manners and customs of the Eskimos.

The different tribes of Eskimos have no hereditary or elected chiefs. Each tribe is divided into a number of small bands, usually close blood relations. The head man of each band is nearly always advanced in years, and holds a sort of patriarchal sway over his sons and younger relations, altogether due to their willingness to be guided by his advice and experience and not to any sense of duty. At other times, when the older men are not forceful in character, a successful younger hunter largely influences the actions of the band. The authority of the leader is not great, and he never asserts it by direct orders issued to the other men; if he wants anything done he asks them if they are willing to do it; any member is quite at liberty to refuse, and to follow his own judgment or inclinations.

The head man is usually an Angekok, conjuror or medicine man, and in consequence derives some power over the band through their superstitions. It is not quite clear if more than one angekok belongs to each band, but they are quite numerous, and it seems likely, therefore, that the number is not limited to one.

As regards the family relations among the uncivilized Eskimos, the marriage tie is very loose, and can easily be broken by either party. This is often done for the most trivial cause. The Eskimos practise polygamy, and in some tribes, polyandry, where there are fewer women than men. Many of the men have but one wife, owing to their inability to support more, the successful hunter being known by the number of his wives, although two is the usual limit. There does not appear to be any ceremony in connection with marriage, beyond a present to the nearest male relative, who gives his consent to the union.

Divorce is common, the chief causes being failure to produce male children and incompatibility of temper. When a woman is divorced she returns to her family, taking her children with her, and both parties are free to form a new alliance.

Jealousy caused by infidelity on the part of the wife is exceedingly rare, the man taking rather a pride in the appreciation of his wife’s charms by others. The women are jealous of one another, and I have seen a wife take away her husband whom she found dancing on board the ship with another woman.

An exchange of wives is customary, after certain feasts, or after the angekok has performed his conjuring tricks, either to cure sickness or to take away the effects of the breaking of some of the many taboos. These customs make polyandry easy where it is found necessary, as in the case of the Nechilliks, or where only one woman accompanies a hunting party.

As a rule the women are treated fairly by their husbands, and it is only in the case of a shrew, or of constant neglect of attention to the cooking and other household duties, that corporal punishment is resorted to; but when administered, it is severe.

The missionaries are exerting their influence to make the Eskimos monogamous; this is probably a mistake. In a greater number of the bands there are more women than men. Under their old customs, a man had as many wives as he could support, and all of them were nearly on an equality. Under the new practice he has but one wife, and the other women whom he supports have no standing in the household, being domestic drudges and concubines.

The Eskimos display a great deal of affection for their children, especially if they are boys. Corporal punishment is rarely, or never, inflicted, and does not appear to be required. In the case of orphans, or where a man is childless, adoption often takes place, a child sometimes being bought from its parents. Adopted children are rarely treated harshly. Instances of the destruction of female children are known, but they are rare.

The aged are respected, and as a rule well looked after. In cases of starvation, the aged sometimes voluntary elect to be left to starve, or die of cold; in rare cases of this kind, old people, or cripples, have been known to be abandoned, but it has generally been a choice between being embarrassed by these weaklings and all perishing, or of leaving them on the chance of the remainder of the party surviving.

Cases of murder and cannibalism during periods of starvation have been authenticated among the natives of the west shore of Hudson bay, and have been reported among other tribes, but are resorted to only in extreme cases.

Murder from private reasons is very rare, and entails a blood feud unless a settlement can be made by presents to the nearest relatives of the murdered man.

If an individual becomes dangerously obnoxious, or insane, a consultation of the men of the band is held, and one or more of them are deputed to remove the criminal or lunatic; in such a case the individuals acting are held blameless in the matter.

Supposed incurables commit suicide, which is not looked upon as a crime, as suicides are supposed to go, after death, to an upper heaven along with other good people.

When a death occurs, the body is sewn up and kept for some time in the iglo, after which it is drawn to a convenient spot on the land, and there covered with boulders as a protection against dogs, wolves and foxes. The body is removed from the snowhouse through a hole cut in the side, and not through the door. The reason for keeping the body a few days is due to the belief that the spirit hovers about it during that time before departing, and might be displeased if it were buried immediately.

There appears to be a great deal of doubt in regard to the action of the soul after death, and at times one is led to think that the Eskimos believe in a dual soul, one of which leaves the body and its surroundings shortly after death, the other remaining in its environment and gradually departing for longer and longer periods as the body decays.

A number of customs are observed after death among the Aivilliks and Kenipitus. No work or hunting is permitted for five days, and the women confine themselves closely to the house. During this period the snow must not be scraped from the ice window, the bed must not be shaken, nor the willow mats disturbed; the drippings from the lamp must remain, and snow for melting must not be cut. The women are forbidden to wash faces, comb hair or dry boots. The men must not work on iron, wood, stone or ivory. Some of these regulations extend beyond the period of five days. The belongings of the dead are not used by the others, and, if they cannot be traded to the whites, are abandoned. When a man dies, his gun and hunting implements are laid beside his grave, and allowed to remain there for a certain time, until his spirit is supposed to have no further use for them, having ceased to remain with the body, or until the spirit is supposed to have forgotten about them. In the case of a woman, articles of a personal nature of use to the spirit are put alongside her grave. For some time after death visits are made to the grave, and one-sided ‘conversations’ are held with the spirit there to show respect and to keep it from becoming lonely; at the same time small presents of tobacco or other articles are left at the grave.