w, and without the tiresome
preliminaries which generally precede a Tchuktchi marriage. For, on
ordinary occasions, a man must first obtain the consent of his
_fiancee_, then that of her parents, and when these points are settled
he must reside for several months as an inmate of the girl's hut before
he becomes her husband. A Tchuktchi may put a wife away on the slightest
pretext, but no crime on his part entitles his wife to a divorce. A
curious custom here is that of exchanging wives with a friend or
acquaintance, who thereupon becomes a brother, even legally, and so far
as the disposal of property is concerned.

A Tchuktchi may have as many wives as he pleases or can afford, but
married life here is usually a happy one, which is probably due to the
fact that a wife is never idle. Not only must she attend to the wants of
the household, needlework, cooking, washing, and in winter clearing the
roof of the _yarat_ of snow, but there are hides to be tanned and
deerskins to be dressed and sewn into clothing. A married woman must
also pass cold and weary hours in winter watching for seal and walrus,
and in summer probe the depths of boredom by fishing with a line for
"Tom cod." And from a feminine point of view, there is no reward for her
labours, no balls or parties, nor smart hats or gowns to excite the
envy of her neighbours; all the Tchuktchi spouse can hope for being a
"quid" of tobacco, so rare a luxury that it only reaches her lips when
her husband has extracted most of its flavour. While smoking, the
Tchuktchis, like the Yakutes, use tiny pipes; the smoke is not ejected
or inhaled, but swallowed, and the rankest tobacco is so precious here
that it is usually eked out with seal-hairs.

Tchuktchi-land teems with legends and superstitions of which Whalen had
its full share. A rock off the coast hard by was said to sing and talk
whenever a chief of the village was about to die, and the following
curious legend was gravely related to me by Yemanko. Many years ago
there lived at Whalen a chief with a wife so pretty that even fish were
attracted to the land by her charms. Amongst the dwellers of the sea was
a whale, with whom, unknown to her husband, she contracted a union.
Eventually a young whale was born to the amazement of the settlement,
which, regarding it as a mysterious gift from the spirits, paid the new
arrival great homage. A huge tank was dug and contained the monster
until it had attained its full growth, whe