San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-11-18
EsoUIMAU SOCIETY.

| Grows Cold In the Arctic Regions
From the Edinburg Scotsman.
DIR. Eansen read. an interesting pa
per on the Esquimaux i'm the Anthro-
biological section of the British ASS
ociation. He modestly disclaimed
any knowledge of anthropology, and
confined his remarks to few facts
regarding the lie and customs OF the
Esuuimaux. Limiting his observa-
lions to the inhabitants of Greenland,
some of whom, he promised, came
originally from North America, he
divided them into classes, civilized
and uncivilized, exhibited a speci-
mon oftheir picturesbus costumes, and
| described their customs and mO1e OF
life. He mentioned that the people
in one part of the country took two
years to journey to the nearest mer-
chants shop and two years to re-
turn. The people had no written
laws, but they, were orderly and
abiding. The Eastern Esquimaux
had warmer clothes than The West
| ern Esquimaux, where many of them
had nothing on q portion of the leg.
The young girls wore their hair loose,
and it was tied up into high knot
to show that they were ready for
marriage.
When an Esquimau man fell in love
with q woman he did not go and pour
passionate utterance into her ear-he
simply took her by the hair of the
head and dragged or pulled her to
his hut. OF course woman in Green
land must, as in all other places pre-
tend not to like it. The women were
not considered well educated if they
did not run back home two or three
times after being dragged away. If
they ran away too often the men did
not like it. There is the case of a man
going oyer and over again to drag the
girl of his choice to his hut, but she
always ran back. He desisted for
some time, and again tried. The
girls friends saw him in the distance
and they protected her at her re-
quest. ne went away without her,
and the next day she was missing
she had gone to comfort her broken
hearted lover. The husbands labor
was OH the sea, and after the game
was caught the woman looked after
it. The men in the house were, as "a
rule, very laZy-they did nothing
but eat and look after their weapons.
The women were always working
either sewing, spinning, making
clothes or busy in household work.
They look well after their children, of
whom they were very fond. The
men, as rule, married early-as
soon as they could catch seals enough
to provide for wife and family. The
reasons they gave for marrying were
to have the skins of the seals atten-
ded to and to keep their clothes in
order of course, there were other reas-
Ons.
Very often Esquimau husband and |
wife separated, and this they did |
without any ceremony. Cases were
known in which men as well as wOm- |
ell had been married six or eight |
time. They seemed to consider their |
wives more as property than as wiv-
es-that was one of the very few cas-.
es in which the Esquimaux had prop |
erty. When the men married again,
if man liked his new wife he kept |
her, but if not he passed her on.
When children were born, more
solid relationship was established
between wife and husband. Quarrel
ing between husbands and wives |
was not uncommon. Sometimes the |
women got their husbands knives
into ther arms or legs, but after
wards the relationship seemed to be
just as good as before. Cousins never
married, and seconds cousins tried to
avoid it. They tried if possible to get |
wives from other parts of the coun try.
In this respect the EsquimauX were
tn hn /
were. The peasants thought it very
proper to marry their cousins, espec-
tally when they had money, because
they said the money ought not to 60
out of the family.
1t very often happens that good
catchers on the East coast had two
wives. Gases ofmore than two wiv-
es were not known. The reason Civ
en- for more than one wife was that |
one wife could not prepare the skins
of the seals caught, and also that two
women had to be used TO pull the |
boat. Sometimes one vile when she
could not manage the work and the |
house, asked her husband to take |
another wife. Husband and wife
did not kiss, but saluted by pressing
noses. Parents never punished their
children, and he never heard an Es-
quImau speak angrlly,to his children.
In spite of this the youngsters be-
have very well. A mother suckles
her child two years. He had seen a
strapping little fellow eating bread
sta ding by his mothers lap and
taking fluid from the maternal fount.
Young girls very often got small
knives and learned how to prepare
skins This WAS uaru innnnrtant To