Part 3 (1/2)
Cases of suicide are not rare, considering the few people of that locality. Pitching themselves from a cliff or producing strangulation are the usual methods. Sometimes a gun is used. Remorse and disappointed love are the only causes of suicide.
A man discovered, during a period of great scarcity of food, that while he went in quest of food his wife had secretly stored away a quant.i.ty of fish and ate of them during his absence only. Coming home unexpectedly, he caught her eating and she endeavored to secrete the remainder. He quietly went out of the snow hut and blocked up the entrance. She inquired why he did so. His reply was for her to come out and she would discover why it was done. His tone was not at all rea.s.suring. She remained within the hut and perished from starvation, knowing she would be killed if she went out.
Instances are reported where, in times of great scarcity, families have been driven to cannibalism after eating their dogs and the clothing and other articles made of skins. Unlucky or disliked women are often driven from the camp, and such must journey until they find relief or perish by the wayside.
DISEASES.
The princ.i.p.al diseases from which these people suffer are pulmonary troubles, chiefly arising from their filthy manner of living in crowded huts, too ill ventilated to allow the escape of the odors emanating from their own bodies and from acc.u.mulations of slowly decomposing animal food. All openings must be closed as quickly as possible in order to economize the heat within, for when once chilled it is difficult to restore the house to the proper degree of warmth. An Eskimo would always prefer to erect a new hut of snow rather than pa.s.s the night in one which has been deserted for only a single night if the doorway has not been tightly closed with a block of snow.
Within the walls, reeking with the exhalations of various putrid matters, the people breathe and rebreathe the air filled with poisonous gases; so fully one-half of the Eskimo die of pulmonary troubles. The other prevailing diseases are those causing devitalization of the blood, such as scurvy. Sores break out on the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The ravages of these diseases proceed at an astonis.h.i.+ng rate, soon carrying off the afflicted person.
The means of relief usually employed are those which the shaman (or conjurer, as he is locally known) is able to effect by working on the imagination of the sick, who is in this condition easily influenced.
The will power of both the patient and shaman is stretched to its utmost tension, and as faith with them, as with many others of fairer skins, often produces more of the relief than the ministrations of drugs or drafts, the cure is effected, or else the shaman, like the physician, has not the devil on his side.
The magnitude of the disease is generally measured by the amount of the patient's worldly wealth.
MARRIAGE.
A woman is married as soon after p.u.b.erty as a male comes along who has the requisite physical strength to force her to become his wife. Many of the females are taken before that period, and the result is that few children are born to such unions and the children are generally weakly.
The ceremony between the couples is quite simple. The sanction of the parents is sometimes obtained by favor or else bought by making certain presents of skins, furs, and other valuables to the father and mother.
The girl is sometimes asked for her consent, and, if unwilling, often enlists the sympathy of the mother, and the affair is postponed to a more favorable opportunity, or till the suitor becomes disgusted with her and takes somebody else.
If the parents are not living, the brothers or sisters must be favorable to the union. There is often so much intriguing in these matters that the exact truth can seldom be ascertained.
Where all obstacles are removed and only the girl refuses, it is not long before she disappears mysteriously to remain out for two or three nights with her best female friend, who thoroughly sympathizes with her.
They return, and before long she is abducted by her lover, and they remain away until she proves to be thoroughly subjected to his will.
I knew of an instance where a girl was tied in a snow house for a period of two weeks, and not allowed to go out. She finally submitted, and they returned with the other couple, who were less obstreperous, and doubtless went along to help their male friend and companion. The woman left her husband in the course of two or three weeks, and when he was asked about it he acknowledged that she had pulled nearly all the hair from his head and showed numerous bruises where she had struck him. This same woman was afterward tied to a sled to make her accompany the man she subsequently chose as her husband, who wished her to go to another part of the country. It was a lively time, some of the old women pus.h.i.+ng her and persuading, the younger ones doing all in their power to obstruct her. Children are often mated at an early age, and I have known of several instances where two friends, desirous of cementing their ties of fellows.h.i.+p, engage that their children yet unborn shall be mated. In such instances the children are always recognized as married, and they are allowed by the parents to be so called. I knew a small boy of less than seven years who always addressed a girl of apparently a year older as his wife.
The marriageable age of the female varies greatly, although p.u.b.erty takes place early. I have known of a child of fourteen having children.
I heard of a half-breed girl, on the Labrador coast, who became a mother a few months after the age of thirteen.
Monogamy is generally the rule, but as there are so many counteracting influences it is seldom that a man keeps a wife for a number of years.
Jealousy resulting from a laxity of morals produces so much disagreement that one or the other of the parties usually leave with little ceremony.
In rare instances, where there is a compatibility of temper and a disposition to continence, the pair remain together for life.
Many of the girls bear children before they are taken for wives, but as such incidents do not destroy the respectability of the mother the girl does not experience any difficulty in procuring a husband. Illegitimate children are usually taken care of by some aged woman, who devotes to it all her energies and affections.
The number of children born varies greatly, for, although these Eskimos are not a prolific race, a couple may occasionally claim parentage of as many as ten children. Two or three is the usual number, and many die in early childhood.
When the family is prosperous the husband often takes a second wife, either with or without the approval of the first, who knows that her household duties will be lessened, but knows also that the favors of her husband will have to be divided with the second wife. The second wife is often the cause of the first wife's leaving, though sometimes she is sent away herself. Three or four wives are sometimes attained by a prosperous man, and one instance was known where the head of the family had no less than five wives. The occupation of a single snow house by two or three wives brings them into close intimacy and often produces quarreling. The man hears but little of it, as he is strong enough to settle their difficulties without ceremony, and in a manner better adapted to create respect for brute strength than affection for him.
The females outnumber the males, but the relations.h.i.+p among the Koksoagmyut is now so close that many of the males seek their wives from other localities. This, of course, connects distant people, and interchange of the natives of both s.e.xes is common.
Separation of couples is effected in a simple manner. The one who so desires leaves with little ceremony, but is sometimes sought for and compelled to return. Wives are often taken for a period, and an exchange of wives is frequent, either party being often happy to be released for a time, and returning without concern. There is so much intriguing and scandal-mongering among these people that a woman is often compelled by the sentiment of the community to relinquish her choice and join another who has bribed a conjurer to decide that until she comes to live with him a certain person will not be relieved from the evil spirit now tormenting him with disease.
The only way for the couple against whom such a plot has been laid to escape separation is for them to flee to another locality and remain there until the person gets well or dies, whereupon the conjurer declares it was their cohabitation as man and wife which afflicted the invalid. A designing woman will often cause a man to cast off the legal wife to whom he is much attached and come and live with her. In such instances the former wife seldom resents the intrusion upon her affections and rights but occasionally gives the other a severe thras.h.i.+ng and an injunction to look to herself lest she be discarded also. The children of the cast-off woman are frequently taken by her and they go to live with her relatives as menials on whom devolve the labor of severest kinds, she being glad to obtain the refuse of the hovel to support her life in order that her children may be well taken care of.