As they told me when speaking of the matter, "So
much shooting is no good."
Their method of carrying on this sort of warfare is not at all like the
duello of Christendom. They don't stand up and fight it out, facing
each other; but, on the contrary, appear to be good friends all the
time, until the aggrieved one finds what he considers to be the
propitious moment, and acts accordingly. They never do anything on the
spur of the moment. It takes them a long time to make up their minds,
and whatever they do they do deliberately. The rapid and just
retribution that followed the killing of the child alluded to in this
illustration is the only instance of the kind I know of, though I know
of a number where a few weeks or years intervened, the enemies
associating like the others and eating in common.
There are no wedding ceremonies among the Esquimaux, and hardly
anything like sentiment is known. The relation of man and wife is
purely a matter of convenience. The woman requires food, and the man
needs some one to make his clothing and to take charge of his dwelling
while he is hunting. Marriages are usually contracted while the
interested parties are children. The father of the boy selects a little
girl who is to be his daughter-in-law, and pays her father something.
Perhaps it is a snow-knife, or a sled, or a dog, or now, that many of
them are armed with firelocks, the price paid may be a handful of
powder and a dozen percussion caps.
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