The remedies employed are only those afforded by the beating of the drum and the mumblings of the shaman, who claims to have control of the spirit which causes all disease and death. They are, however, firm believers in the efficacy of potions compounded by the white trader, who is fully as ignorant of the disease as the subject himself is. Often a harmless mixture of red ink, red pepper, ginger, or other pungent substance is given, with a multiplicity of confusing directions, bewildering the messenger dispatched for relief, who, in repeating them, often makes mistakes and advises that the whole quantity be swallowed. The effect is sometimes magical, and the patient recovers. Powders are rubbed over the seat of pain and liniments swallowed with avidity. Strange as it may seem, they often report good effects, and rarely fail to ask for more of the same kind. Both sexes attain a great age—in some instances certainly living over seventy years. Some assert that they were well advanced in years before the white men came in 1827.
The marriage ceremony is simply a consent to live together, obtained by request if possible, and by force, if necessary. The man takes a wife as soon as he considers himself able to support one. When the ceremony is to be undertaken the consent of the girl’s parents or nearest relatives is sought, and by holding out tempting inducements in the form of presents, the suitor wins them to his favor. The consent of the girl, if she has not yet been married is, of course, granted, if she desires to comply with the wishes of her relatives. If not, the prospective husband is informed that they can do nothing to turn her heart. The matter is understood, and in a short time she is taken forcibly to his or his father’s tent. The tie binding the couple is very loose, and on the least provocation may be dissolved by either party. Continence on the part of either wife or husband is unusual, and only notorious incontinence is sufficient to cause the offender to be put away. Their sexual relations are very loose among themselves, but their immorality is confined to their own people. To take a second, a third, or even a fourth wife, is not uncommon, but the additional wives are taken principally for the purpose of performing labor imposed by the energy of a successful hunter. It is only the wealthy men who can afford a plurality of wives. The several wives often dwell in the same tent, but as jealousies frequently arise they resort to fighting among themselves to settle their differences. The husband looks on calmly until matters go too far. When he interferes the women are sure of being soundly thrashed. A woman, however, often assails her husband, and in some instances gives him an unmerciful pounding, much to the amusement of the bystanders, who encourage her to do her best. The man is a subject for ridicule for weeks afterwards. Either sex can endure being beaten, but not being laughed at. They rarely forgive a white man who laughs at their discomfiture. An amusing incident occurred within a stone’s throw of Fort Chimo. An Indian had his clothing stripped from him by his enraged wife. She then tore the tent from the poles, leaving him naked. She took their property to the canoe, which she paddled several miles up the stream. He followed along the bank until she relented, whereupon their former relations were resumed, as though nothing had disturbed the harmony of their life. The man was so severely plagued by his comrades that for many days he scarcely showed his head out of the tent. Rivalry for the favor of a woman or man is occasionally the source of serious affrays. An instance was related to me where two men sought the hand of a woman, and to settle which should have her, they determined to go in their canoes to the lake near by and fight with their deer spears. One of the men was killed and the other thereupon obtained the woman, who is now living.
The sexes have their special labors. Women perform the drudgery and bring home the food slain by their husbands, fetching wood and water, tanning the skins, and making them into clothing. The labor of erecting the tents and hauling the sleds when on their journey during the winter falls upon them, and, in fact, they perform the greater part of the manual labor. They are considered inferior to the men, and in their social life they soon show the effects of the hardships they undergo.
The females arrive at puberty at the age of 14 or 15, and are taken as wives at even an earlier age. So early are they taken in marriage that before they are 30 years of age they often appear as though they were 50. Some of them are hideously ugly, and are so begrimed with smoke from the resinous wood used for fuel and with filth that it is purely guesswork to even approximate their age. The women appear to be exempted from the curse of Eve, and deliver their children with as little concern as is exhibited among the brutes. The child is not allowed to receive nourishment until the third day, and no water must touch its body. The infant is swaddled in wrappings of skins and cloths. Sphagnum moss is used next the body and changed every other day. They begin to walk at an early age, and this is, doubtless, the principal cause of the bowing of the legs so often observed. The girls are neglected and the boys given every advantage. The latter soon discover their importance and rarely fail to show their domineering ways to the other sex.
It is quite rare that twins are born. It is not usual for a mother to have more than four children, although as many as six or eight may be born. As the paternal origin is often obscure, the person having that woman as wife at the time of the child’s birth is supposed to be its father.
The mortuary customs of the Naskopie were but imperfectly learned, for when a death occurred at the trading station the body was buried like a white man’s. A shallow grave was dug in a sandy soil, as this offered less trouble in digging, and the body placed in a rudely constructed coffin and covered with dirt. A small branch from a tree was placed at the head of the grave, but with what signification I could not satisfactorily determine. I received the reply that the white men put something at the head of their graves, and so do the Indians.
Away from the post the Indians suspend their dead from the branches of trees, if the ground be frozen too hard to excavate, and endeavor to return in the following summer and inter the body. A person who has distinguished himself among the people is often buried where the fire has been long continued within the tent and thawed the ground to a sufficient depth to cover the body. The tent is then removed to another location. The Indians have not that dread of a corpse which is shown so plainly among the Eskimo. The former have been known to strip the clothing from recently deceased Eskimo, and it is not infrequent for them to appropriate the gun or other implement placed by the side of a dead Innuit.
In response to my inquiry how they disposed of their dead in former ages, I obtained evidence that scaffold burial and suspension from trees were formerly practiced and that subterranean burials were introduced by the missionaries.
The dead are mourned for according to the position they occupied in life, a favorite child often causing an alarming grief in the mother who mourns for many days, constantly bemoaning her loss and reminding the listeners of the traits in the child’s nature so well remembered. The body is taken to the place of final rest by the friends, the relations seldom accompanying it.
The life of these people is a constant struggle to obtain food and raiment. Nothing, however unimportant, is done without much deliberation and repeated consultation with friends.