[Marriage.]—

As far as we could learn, the marriage relation was entered upon generally from reasons of interest or convenience, with very little regard for affection, as we understand it, though there often appeared to be a warm attachment between married people. A man desires to obtain a wife who will perform her household duties well and faithfully, and will be at the same time an agreeable companion, while he often plans to marry into a rich or influential family. The woman, on the other hand, appears to desire a husband who is industrious and a good hunter. There were, nevertheless, some indications that real love matches sometimes took place. Marriages are usually arranged by the parents of the contracting parties, sometimes when the principals are mere children. We knew of one case when a young man of about twenty-two offered himself as the prospective husband of a girl of eight or ten, when she should reach a marriageable age. This practice of child betrothal seems to be practically universal among the Eskimo everywhere.[520]

Dr. Simpson, in describing the marriage customs at Point Barrow, says:

The usual case is, that as soon as the young man desires a partner and is able to support one, his mother selects a girl according to her judgment or fancy, and invites her to the hut, where she first takes the part of a “kivgak” or servant, having all the cooking and other kitchen duties to perform during the day, and returns to her home at night. If her conduct proves satisfactory, she is further invited to become a member of the family.[521]

We only knew this to be done on one occasion; and on the contrary knew of several cases where the bridegroom became a member of the wife’s family.

One youth, who had had his lips pierced for the labrets just previously to our arrival, was, we soon learned, betrothed to a young girl at Nuwŭk. This girl frequently came down from Nuwŭk and visited her lover’s family, staying several days at a time, but we could not discover that she was treated as a servant. She went with them to the spring deer hunt, but we were distinctly given to understand that the young couple would not be married till after the return from this hunt, and that no intercourse would take place between them before that time. When the season came for catching reindeer fawns, the couple started off together, with sled and dogs and camp equipage in pursuit of them, and always afterwards were considered as man and wife.

Most of the marriages took place before we heard of them, so that we had no opportunity for learning what ceremony, if any, occurred at the time. Some of the party, however, who went over to make a visit at Utkiavwĭñ one evening, found the house full of people, who were singing and dancing, and were told that this was to celebrate the marriage of the daughter of the house. Marriage ceremonies appear to be rare among the Eskimo. A pretended abduction, with the consent of the parents, is spoken of by Bessels at Smith Sound[522] and Egede in Greenland (p. 142), and Kumlien was informed that certain ceremonies were sometimes practiced at Cumberland Gulf.[523] Elsewhere I have not been able to find any reference to the subject. A man usually selects a wife of about his own age, but reasons of interest sometimes lead to a great disparity of age between the two. I do not recollect any case where an old man had a wife very much younger than himself, but we knew of several men who had married widows or divorced women old enough to be their mothers,[524] and in one remarkable case the bride was a girl of sixteen or seventeen, and the husband a lad apparently not over thirteen, who could barely have reached the age of puberty.

This couple were married late in the winter of 1882-’83, and immediately started off to the rivers, deer hunting, where the young husband was very successful. This union, however, appeared to have been dissolved in the summer, as I believe the girl was living with another and older man when we left the station. In this case, the husband came to live with the wife’s family.

As is the case with most Eskimo, most of the men content themselves with one wife, though a few of the wealthy men have two each. I do not recollect over half a dozen men in the two villages who had more than one wife each, and one of these dismissed his younger wife during our stay. We never heard of a case of more than two wives. As well as we could judge, the marriage bond was regarded simply as a contract entered into by the agreement of the contracting parties and, without any formal ceremony of divorce, easily dissolved in the same way, on account of incompatibility of temper, or even on account of temporary disagreements.

We knew of one or two cases where wives left their husbands on account of ill treatment. One of these cases resulted in a permanent separation, each of the couple finally marrying again, though the husband for a long time tried his best to get his wife to come back to him. In another case, where the wife after receiving a beating ran away to Nuwŭk, and, as we were told, married another man, her first husband followed her in a day or two and either by violence or persuasion made her come back with him. They afterwards appeared to live together on perfectly good terms.