Note 308 — Chapter II · HUNTERS AND FISHERS.

6º. Condition of women. Though not quite so bad as in Australia, woman’s condition is not so good here as among the Indians of the Pacific Coast. Greenland women lead a hard and almost slave-like life, says Crantz308. And Bancroft tells us that among the Eskimos of Alaska “the lot of the women is but little better than slavery”309. The principal cause of this difference perhaps is, that female labour among the Eskimos is not productive. In Greenland “a man who has two wives is not despised; on the contrary he is looked upon as an able provider”310. This proves that subsistence depends upon male, not as in Australia upon female labour. Among the Central Eskimos “the principal part of the man’s work is to provide for his family.… The woman has to do the household work, the sewing, and the cooking”311. Among the Western Eskimos “polygamy is common, every man being entitled to as many wives, as he can get and maintain”312. So the man maintains the family; female labour, however useful, is not so indispensable as male. The men know this quite well. In Greenland “the man hunts and fishes, and having brought the animals ashore he pays no more attention to them; it would even be a disgrace for him to carry the captured seal on land”313. This is quite another state of things than what we have seen to exist on the Pacific Coast, where female labour, especially in the preparation of articles of commerce, is highly valued.