The new-made bridegroom does not leave his parents’ home and set up his own establishment until he is able to maintain it by hunting. If the husband and wife belong to different tribes, the woman is adopted into that of the man. The men sometimes maltreat their wives, if aggravated by shrewish tempers or bad household management, but children very seldom experience any but the kindest and most indulgent treatment. The writer knew a boy who stabbed his mother in the arm during a fit of temper, but was merely scolded for it. That he knew no better was the excuse alleged in his defence, and it was his elder’s business to teach him self-control and good behaviour. Children are devotedly loved by the Eskimo, and maternity (never prolific in the arctics) is held in the highest esteem. If the men occasionally beat the women it has never been known that children are ever abused or neglected. All travellers and observers agree in this respect. A girl will be attended in childbirth with her first baby, but not after that. The expectant Eskimo mother has to be alone (except on the first occasion), in a little house set apart for her, and without assistance. After it is born, the baby is never washed but rubbed down with a soft fur or bird skin and put straight away, stark naked, into the capacious hood of its mother’s tunic. The woman must, however, never eat alone during this time, lest a Tougak with three fingers steal her food and bring evil upon the child. She must pay no visits until she has quite recovered in the space of a full month, and only then if she has a new suit of clothes. As an illustration of what has been said about some real reason underlying such injunctions as the foregoing, it may be remarked that, why the mother may not eat alone is probably to ensure that she does not starve. She is in solitary confinement, and cannot procure and prepare food for herself. To ensure her being fed she must have the food brought to her and the messenger stays to share the meal. Again, an expectant mother must always run out of her igloo or tupik during the day when the dogs howl. They do not howl incessantly, as might be imagined, since they are away with the hunters in the day, and asleep, buried in the snow, at night. The woman has to sit up on her haunches when she hears the dogs in the night-time, and not lie down again until they cease. After all, there is good sense in this. The women sit about in their houses for the most part, and get comparatively little exercise. The two rules involved in this dog howling enactment ensure the expectant mother a modicum of exercise and fresh air, which she might not otherwise exert herself to obtain.