TRIAL MARRIAGE.
The trial marriage is au ineradicable custom among the Esquimaux (writes Commander Peary). If a young man and woman are not suited with each other, they try again, and sometimes several times ; but when they find mates to whom they are adapted the arrangement is generally permanent. If two men want to marry the same woman they settle the question by a trial of strength, and the best man has his way. These struggles are not fights, as the disputants are amiable. If a man grows tired of his wife, he simply tells her there is no room for her in his igloo. She may return to her parents, if they are living ; she may go to a brother or sister, or she may send word to some man in the tribe that she is now at liberty, and is willing to start life again. I n these cases of primitive divorce the husband keeps one or all of the children if he wants them ; if not, the woman takes them with her. On my last expedition, as on those of former years, I found that a number of matrimonial changes had taken place among my northern friends since I was previously among them.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19100521.2.26
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 842, 21 May 1910, Page 4
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206TRIAL MARRIAGE. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 842, 21 May 1910, Page 4
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