1º. Abundance of food. In Greenland vegetable food is very scarce. The flesh of the reindeer is most valued by the Greenlanders, but is not available in large quantities; so they have to live chiefly upon sea-animals, seals, fish and sea-birds280. Boas states that “the mode of life of all the Eskimo tribes of North-Eastern America is very uniform.” They depend entirely on animal food, especially seals and deer281. Bancroft, speaking [247]of the Eskimos of Alaska, remarks: “Their substantials comprise the flesh of land and marine animals, fish and birds; venison, and whale and seal blubber being chief”282. Though we nowhere find it stated that food is exceedingly scarce, the details given here sufficiently prove that it is not nearly so abundant as on the Pacific Coast. Shell-fish, fruits, roots, and other vegetables, acquired so easily and in large quantities by the tribes of the Pacific Coast, do not enter for any considerable part into the food of the Eskimos.

2º. As for fishing, taken in the wider sense (including the killing of water animals besides fish), all Eskimos are fishers.

3º. Fixed habitations, large groups, preserving of food. Though the Eskimos move about much for the purpose of obtaining food, they are not quite nomadic. In winter-time they live in solidly constructed dwellings283. Rink states that they have their winter-houses on the same place during several generations284. Boas remarks: “There is no need of any new buildings, as the Eskimo always locate in the old settlements and the old buildings are quite sufficient to satisfy all their wants”285. And Crantz tells us that a Greenlander is not generally much inclined to leave the place where he was born and bred and settle somewhere else; for in nearly every place there is a peculiar method of fishing and seal-hunting, which the newcomer has to learn; and in the meantime, often for several years, he is poorly off286. An Eskimo village most often consists of a single house287, but Eskimo houses accommodate several (in Greenland from 4 to 10) families288. Among the Western Eskimos, however, there are larger villages289. Food is preserved for winter use by the Eskimos, though not in such large quantities as on the Pacific Coast. “The Esquimaux” says a writer on British North America “possess a quality which I may say is almost unknown among Indians, namely, providence; thus, in the season, when the animals are plentiful on the shores of the Arctic Sea, they make “caches” of large quantities of meat for winter use”290. The Greenlanders, though laying up some provision for the winter, are rather improvident. [248]As long as they have abundance of food, they feast and gorge themselves with it; but in the winter they often live in the greatest misery291. Boas, speaking of Central Eskimo store-houses, remarks: “In winter, blubber and meat are put away upon these pillars, which are sufficiently high to keep them from the dogs.” Yet “the house presents a sad and gloomy appearance if stormy weather prevents the men from hunting. The stores are quickly consumed, one lamp after another is extinguished, and everybody sits motionless in the dark hut”292. Among the Eskimos of Alaska “meats are kept in seal-skin bags for over a year.… Their winter store of oil they secure in seal-skin bags, which are buried in the frozen ground”293.

4º. Trade and industry. Rink states that the Eskimos make long journeys for the purpose of interchanging such commodities, as are found in some districts only and yet are necessary to all the tribes. The trade is carried on from Asia to Hudson Bay294. The Greenlanders mutually exchange the articles they need. With some of them bartering is quite a passion; they often exchange useful things for worthless trifles. They have a kind of annual fair, at which the inhabitants of several districts interchange the products of their country. “A great article of commerce are vessels made of soapstone, which are not found in all parts of the country; and, as the Southern Greenlanders have no whales and the Northern no wood, there come, all through the summer months, from the South and even from the East of the country many boats with Greenlanders from 100 to 200 miles, to Disko, bringing new kyaks and women’s boats with the necessary implements. They receive in exchange horns, teeth, bones, whale-bones and whale-tendons, part of which, on their homeward voyage, they sell again”295. Among the Central Eskimos “two desiderata formed the principal inducement to long journeys, which sometimes lasted even several years: wood and soapstone. The shores of Davis’ Strait and Cumberland Sound are almost destitute of driftwood, and consequently the natives were obliged to visit distant regions to obtain that necessary material. Tudjaqdjuaq [249]in particular was the objective point of their expeditions. Their boats took a southerly course, and, as the wood was gathered, a portion of it was immediately manufactured into boat ribs and sledge runners, which were carried back on the return journey; another portion was used for bows, though these were also made of deer’s horns ingeniously lashed together. A portion of the trade in wood seems to have been in the hands of the Nugumiut, who collected it on Tudjaqdjuaq and took it north. Another necessary and important article of trade, soapstone, is manufactured into lamps and pots. It is found in a few places only, and very rarely in pieces large enough for the manufacture of the articles named.… The visitors come from every part of the country, the soapstone being dug or “traded” from the rocks by depositing some trifles in exchange. In addition to wood and soapstone, metals, which were extremely rare in old times, have formed an important object of trade. They were brought to Baffin Bay either by the Aivillirmiut, who had obtained them from the Hudson Bay Company and the Kinipetu, or by the Akuliarmiut. Even when Frobisher visited the Nugumiut in 1577 he found them in possession of some iron. The occurrence of flint, which was the material for arrow-heads, may have given some importance to places where it occurs. Formerly an important trade existed between the Netchillirmiut and the neighbouring tribes. As the district of the former is destitute of driftwood and potstone, they are compelled to buy both articles from their neighbours. In Ross’s time they got the necessary wood from Ugjulik, the potstone from Aivillik. They exchanged these articles for native iron (or pyrite), which they found on the eastern shore of Boothia and which was used for striking fire. After having collected a sufficient stock of it during several years, they travelled to the neighbouring tribes”296. The Eskimos of Alaska are also very commercial. “On the shore of Bering Strait the natives have constant commercial intercourse with Asia.… They frequently meet at the Gwosdeff Islands, where the Tschuktschi bring tobacco, iron, tame-reindeer skins, and walrus-ivory; the Eskimos giving in exchange wolf and wolverine [250]skins, wooden dishes, seal-skins and other peltries. The Eskimos of the American coast carry on quite an extensive trade with the Indians of the interior, exchanging with them Asiatic merchandise for peltries”297. We see that most of the Eskimo trade is bartering of raw products. This agrees with what Rink remarks, viz. that there is no division of labour; each group that has a tent or boat is entirely self-dependent298.

In industry they display much skill. Their boats are ingeniously made and have excited the admiration of all travellers. “The kajak (qajaq) is almost exclusively used for hunting by all Eskimo tribes from Greenland to Alaska”299. Crantz tells us that the implements the Greenlanders use for procuring their subsistence are simple, but so well adapted to their purpose that they are more convenient than the costly implements of the Europeans. Their harpoons consist of several pieces, but are so ingeniously made that not a single piece is superfluous. Their boats are also greatly admired by this writer300. And Bancroft tells us that “the Hyperboreans surpass all American nations in their facilities for locomotion, both upon land and water. In their skin boats, the natives of the Alaskan seaboard, from Point Barrow to Mount St. Elias, made long voyages, crossing the strait and sea of Bering, and held commercial intercourse with the people of Asia. Sixty miles is an ordinary day’s journey for sledges, while Indians on snow-shoes have been known to run down and capture deer”. “So highly were these boats esteemed by the Russians, that they were at once universally adopted by them in navigating these waters. They were unable to invent any improvement in either of them”301.

5º. Property and wealth. It is nowhere stated that a man’s rank or power depends upon his wealth. The Greenlanders live without any government; the head of each family is independent. When several families live together in one house, they have no control over each other, but voluntarily obey the most respected head of a family, i.e. the one who is best acquainted with hunting and the signs of the weather. Yet our [251]informant also states: “If several Greenlanders live together, they like to keep an angekok (priest), to avail themselves of his advice. And if they do not keep one, they are despised or pitied by the others as being poor men”302. So poor people are despised, but this applies to villages or settlements rather than individuals. This agrees with what Rink tells us of their communistic régime. Only the indispensable implements and utensils are individual property, and also provisions sufficient for less than a year. If an individual or group have got too much, they are compelled by public opinion to give it to those who have too little303. Among the Central Eskimos men unable to provide for themselves are employed as servants, but their position “is a voluntary one, and therefore these men are not less esteemed than the self-dependent providers”304. Among the Eskimos of Alaska “now or then some ancient or able man gains an ascendency in the tribe, and overawes his fellows.” “Caste has been mentioned in connection with tattooing, but, as a rule, social distinctions do not exist”305.

Though the Eskimos are dependent for their subsistence on the possession of boats, houses and implements, they do not want more property than is needed for procuring their daily food. According to Rink, the benefit of an inheritance is smaller than the duties it involves; for boat and tent continually require so much mending, that a single hunter is hardly able to keep them in order306. In Greenland, if a man dies leaving no full-grown son, his goods devolve upon the next of kin, who is obliged to provide for the widow and her children. But if he already possesses a tent and a boat, he will leave the inheritance and the duties connected with it to an alien; for nobody is capable of keeping two tents and two boats in repair307.

6º. Condition of women. Though not quite so bad as in Australia, woman’s condition is not so good here as among the Indians of the Pacific Coast. Greenland women lead a hard and almost slave-like life, says Crantz308. And Bancroft tells us that among the Eskimos of Alaska “the lot of the women is but little better than slavery”309. The principal cause of this [252]difference perhaps is, that female labour among the Eskimos is not productive. In Greenland “a man who has two wives is not despised; on the contrary he is looked upon as an able provider”310. This proves that subsistence depends upon male, not as in Australia upon female labour. Among the Central Eskimos “the principal part of the man’s work is to provide for his family.… The woman has to do the household work, the sewing, and the cooking”311. Among the Western Eskimos “polygamy is common, every man being entitled to as many wives, as he can get and maintain”312. So the man maintains the family; female labour, however useful, is not so indispensable as male. The men know this quite well. In Greenland “the man hunts and fishes, and having brought the animals ashore he pays no more attention to them; it would even be a disgrace for him to carry the captured seal on land”313. This is quite another state of things than what we have seen to exist on the Pacific Coast, where female labour, especially in the preparation of articles of commerce, is highly valued.

7º. Militarism. Among the Greenlanders warfare is unknown314. Boas, speaking of the Central Eskimos, says: “Real wars or fights between settlements, I believe, have never happened, but contests have always been confined to single families”315. In Alaska it is otherwise, for “the Northern Indians are frequently at war with the Eskimos and Southern Indians, for whom they at all times entertain the most inveterate hatred”316. This absence of militarism enables the Greenlanders and Central Eskimos to have men performing women’s work living among them, as we have seen in § 1 of this chapter317.

So the Eskimos, like the slave-keeping Indians of the Pacific Coast, are accomplished fishers, have fixed habitations, are industrially highly developed, and generally not warlike. On the other hand there is no abundance of food, wealth does not exist, and woman’s condition is not nearly so good as on the Pacific Coast. Also in the size of their groups, the preserving of food, and the development of trade, they are decidedly [253]inferior to the slave-keeping tribes of the N. W. Coast of North America.

The principal cause why the Eskimos do not keep slaves evidently is the difficulty with which food is procured. We have seen that female labour, being unproductive, is little valued. Male labour only is indispensable, and this is labour of high quality. Navigating in the kyak is a matter of much skill. Crantz tells us that Europeans who tried it, could move about a little in very calm weather; but they were not able to fish while being in the kyak, nor to save themselves when the least danger occurred. This requires peculiar skill, and Eskimos take several years to learn it. There are indeed men unable to capture seals; they are much despised318. Bancroft also states that considerable skill is required in taking seals319, and Boas describes at great length the ingenious methods used in seal, walrus, and whale hunting320. Unskilled labour is not wanted; and widows and orphans who have lost their bread-winner may be glad if any one is willing to receive them into his house321.

Sometimes an Eskimo wants labour. In Greenland a married couple having no children at all or no full-grown children, adopt male and female children whom they treat as their own; the adopted son is considered the future head of the family322. Among the Central Eskimos too, as to the right of inheritance “an elder adopted son has a preference over a younger son born of the marriage”323. Thus we see that a normally constituted family is self-dependent. If there are no children, their place has to be supplied by strangers; boys have to perform the same highly skilled labour as the father, and girls to help the mother in her work that, though less valued, has also to be done. But a further increase of the family by slaves performing menial work is not wanted; the man, if able, would not be willing to maintain them. The only kind of work indispensable here cannot be imposed upon slaves; and the cost of maintaining slaves performing other [254]work would be greater than the profit they would yield. Food is not preserved in such large quantities as on the Pacific Coast; shell-fish and vegetable food are almost entirely unknown here; nor is any fish, oil, etc. prepared for commercial purposes.

There is one more cause at work among the Eskimos, preventing the existence of slavery: the dependence of labour upon capital. Boas, describing the Central Eskimos, states that among the adopted people “who may almost be considered servants” there are “men who have lost their sledges and dogs.” Such servants “fulfil minor occupations, mend the hunting implements, fit out the sledges, feed the dogs, etc.; sometimes, however, they join the hunters. They follow the master of the house when he removes from one place to another, make journeys in order to do his commissions, and so on”324. And Crantz tells us that among the Greenlanders many boys are neglected in their youth, as the providing of them with kyak and implements is very costly325. Among the Indians of the Pacific Coast the possession of capital gives great advantage; thus among the Makah the owner of the canoe receives a proportionate share of the booty from the crew326; but it is not indispensable. Here it is. A man destitute of capital cannot provide for himself, and is therefore at the mercy of the capitalist. Now the Eskimo capitalist most often allows such men to share his house and food, and makes them feed the dogs, etc. rather as means of procuring employment for them, than because such work requires hands outside the family. The capitalist does not want labourers; but even if he did, there would always be widows and orphans, and men destitute of capital, who would readily enter into his service. The Eskimos have to struggle with “unemployment” difficulties, not with scarcity of hands; therefore a slave-dealer visiting them would not find a ready sale for his stock-in-trade. [255]