t the hut calling his intended by the familiar appellation of
_N~o~oll=e-~a_ (wife), to the great amusement of the parents.
When a man has two wives there is generally a difference of five or six
years in their ages. The senior takes her station next the principal
fire, which comes entirely under her management; and she is certainly
considered in some respects superior to the other, though they usually
live together in the utmost harmony. The men sometimes repudiate their
wives without ceremony, in case of real or supposed bad behaviour as in
Greenland, but this does not often occur. There was a considerable
disparity of age between many of the men and their wives, the husband
being sometimes the oldest by twenty years or more, and this also when
he had never married any former wife. We knew no instance in which the
number of a man's wives exceeded two, and, indeed, we had every reason
to believe that the practice is never admitted among them. We met with a
singular instance of two men having exchanged wives, in consequence
merely of one of the latter being pregnant at the time when her husband
was about to undertake a long journey.

The authority of the husband seems to be sufficiently absolute,
depending, nevertheless, in great measure on the dispositions of the
respective parties. Iligliuk was one of those women who seem formed to
manage their husbands; and we one day saw her take Okotook to task in a
very masterly style, for having bartered away a good jacket for an old
useless pistol, without powder or shot. He attempted at first to bluster
in his turn, and with most women would probably have gained his point.
But with Iligliuk this would not do; she saw at once the absurdity of
his bargain, and insisted on his immediately cancelling it, which was
accordingly done, and no more said about it. In general, indeed, the
husband maintains his authority, and in several instances of supposed
bad behaviour in a wife, we saw obedience enforced in a very summary
manner. It is very rare, however, to see them proceed to this extremity;
and the utmost extent of a husband's want of tenderness towards his wife
consists in making her walk or lead the dogs, while he takes his own
seat in the sledge and rides in comfort. Widows, as might be expected,
are not so well off as those whose husbands are living, and this
difference is especially apparent in their clothes, which are usually
very dirty, thin, and ragged; when, indeed, they hap