, 1880-11-12
Singular Custom.

among the EsquimauX and hardly any.
! thing like sentiment is known. The re.
lation Of man and wife is purely mat
ter of convenience. The woman re
| ouires food and the man needs some one
to make his clothing and to take charge
of his dwelling while he is huuting.
| Marriages are usually contracted while
the interested parties are children. The
father of the boy selects a little girl
who is to be his daughterin.law and
pays her father something, Perhaps it
it a snow.knife or a sled or dog, or
now that many of them are armed with
frelocks the price paid may be a hand
full of powder or dozen percussion caps.
The children are then aftianced, and
when arrived at a proper age they live
together. The wife then has her face
tattooed with lampblack and is regarded
as matron in society. The method of
tattooing is to pass a needle under the
skin, and as soon as it is withdrawn its
course is followed by athin piece of pine
stick dipped in oil and rubbed in the
SCOT from the bottom of kettle The
forehead is decorated with letter Y in
double lines, the angle very acute, pass
ing down between the eyes almost to the
bridge of the nose and sloping gracefully
to the right and left before reaching the
roots of the hair. Each cheek is adorned
with an eggshaped pattern, commenc-
ing near the wing OF the nose and slop-
ing upward toward the corner Of the
eve; these lines are also double. The
most ornamented part, however, is the
chin, which receives gridiron pattern !;
the lines double from the edge of the
, lower lip, ard reaching to the throat to-
ward the corners of the mouth, sloping
outward to the angle Of the lower jaw
This is all that is required by custom,
but some of the bellies do not stop here
Their hands, arms, legs, feet, and in fact
their whole bodies are covered with blue
tracery that would throw Captain Con,
stantinus completely in the shade. Ionic
columns, Corinthian capitals, together
with Gothic structures OF every kind are
erected wherever there is an opportuni-
ty to place them, but l never saw any
attempt at figure or animal drawing for
personal decoration The forms are gen.
orally geometrical in design and SYM
metrical in arrangement, each limb re-
ceiving the same ornamentation as its
fellow. None of the men are tattooed.
Some tribes are mole profuse in this
sort of decoration than others. The
Iwillik and Kinnepatoos are similar and
as / have described, but the Netchilik,
Ookjoolik and Ooquesiksillik women
have the designs upon their faces, con-
structed with three tines instead of two,
one of them being broader than the
others, The pattern is the same as that
Of the Iwilliks and Kinnepatoos, with
the addition of an olive branch at the
, outside corners of the eyes and mouth
Marriage with them is not the sacred
institution of civilization, but exchanges
are very common. If man who is
going on journey has wife encum
bered with child that would make
travelling unpleasant, he exchanges wives
5 with some friend who remains in camp
t and has no such inconvenience. Some.
: times man will want younger wife to
1 travel with and in that case effects an
: exchange, and sometimes such exchanges
$ are made tor no especial reason, and
among friends it is usual thing to ex.
change wives for week or two about
: every two months. Unmarried men
t who are going on q journey have no diff
fculty in borrowing a wife for the time
being, and sometimes purchase the bet
i ter half altogether.
) 1t might be supposed that in such a
! state of society there would be no ro-
( mances, no marrying for love; but tha:
> would be mistake, for there have been
r several romantic little episodes that
I came under my observation during ny
t residence in North Hudson's Bay.
There is poor old man dwelling with
: the Iwilliks, near Depot Island named
lteguark, who had two very attractive
and useful wives, or Nu-leeaug-ar, as is
the native term, The old man had beer
: a good hunter, but few years ago met
}, with an accident that resulted in hi.
right knee becoming stifened, and his
5 hunting days were over. He can still
Z hunt seals through the ice, but cannot
work up to them on top of the ice, mol
q can he chase the reindeer and musk OF
on his native hills Then it was that
i Oxeomadiddlee looked with enyious eyss
I upon the youngest and tairest of Ite
o guark's wives and induced her to come
and live with HIM. She knew that he,