Page:Across the sub-Arctics of Canada (1897).djvu/181

 Of course, I am here speaking in a general way, for I have already spoken of the occasional fights which take place.

The Eskimo marriage is an exceedingly simple institution, and is not performed in any ceremonious way. It is purely a love union, requiring only the sanction of the parents of the bride. When a young man and young woman come to the conclusion that they were made for each other, and desire to become one, having the consent of the girl's parents they simply take each other and start up an igloe of their own. Eskimo brides are usually very young, and often very bonnie creatures. They lose much of their beauty, however, in early life, and at about forty mature into ugly old dames.

An Eskimo family rarely consists of more than three children, and these, in turn, for about two years are carried in the hood upon their mother's back. During this time they have no clothing apart from their mother's. New-born infants are licked by their mother's tongue, and are sometimes kept in a rabbit-skin or bag of feathers for a time before being carried upon the mother's back.

It is usual for a man to have only one wife, though it is not uncommon for him to have two, or even three, if he can provide for them. The first Eskimo encountered on our recent visit to the north, as I have related, had two wives, each having three children. As a rule the men are faithful to their wives, although sometimes they trade with each other for a few weeks or months, and afterwards receive again their first loves.

If any member of the family is seriously ill, a peculiar kind of prayer is repeated over the afflicted one by the