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AN ANTHROPOGEOGRAPHICAL STUDY pes
v

OF THE

ORIGIN OF
THE ESKIMO CULTURE

BY

H. P. STEENSBY

SAERTRYK AF MEDDELELSER OM GR@ONLAND. LIIL

KOBENHAVN
BIANCO LUNOS BOGTRYKKERI
1916

PREFACE

n this work, which I have called an Anthropogeographical Study,

I have further carried out the scientific method and the consider-
ations which I had already set forth in my preliminary paper on the
subject “Om Eskimokulturens Oprindelse” which was published in
Danish in 1905. The present work, however, must not be regarded
as a mere translation of the named paper. The three introductory
chapters have been revised, but their contents are otherwise mainly
the same. As regards the following descriptions of the types of Eskimo
culture, some of the chapters have been rewritten, and in regard to
all the chapters I have as far as possible taken into consideration the
results of the later expeditions and explorations. As regards the
Polar Eskimo and the Greenlanders, I must in this connection mention
my own observations and studies, made in the intervening time. The
chapters following the description of types are, on the other hand,
quite new, it having been possible for me to give a more elaborate
argumentation for my results and to carry them somewhat further
than I was able to do in 1905. Among the various things which have
made this possible may be mentioned the important results brought
home during the last 10 years by the Danish expeditions to the east
and north coasts of Greenland, which have enriched our knowledge
as regards an important and hitherto missing link in the chain of dis-
tribution of the Eskimo.

I wish to call attention to the fact that in citing authors I give
only the name of the author and the Roman figures which in the
Bibliography are prefixed to the titles of their works, when these
number more than one. ‘Meddelelser om Grénland” is in most cases
abbreviated to M. o. G.

H. P. Steensby.

Introductory Sections.

The Eskimo Culture and Theories on its Origin.

HE Eskimo have never played a great réle in the world’s history,

and it is scarcely likely that they ever will have the chance of
doing so. Since early times their part in history has consisted only
in the small, but dramatic, episode of the destruction of the Scandi-
navian Colonies in South Greenland.

Their later contact with the Europeans has been distinctly marked
by peacefulness, and by the absolute impotency in a general martial ~~
and political sense, of this small population. On the other hand they
have gained a certain respect from the Europeans with whom they estab-
lished a connection, by producing a culture which has overcome the
difficult conditions of subsistence in the Arctic North, and also, be-
cause, as regards certain dexterities, they really furnish an example
of the utmost effort of human ability.

As regards popularity, the small, badly groomed, Eskimo have always
been outshone by the Indians in their traditional form. Scientifically, also,
a strong diversity has been conceived. As regards the purely physical
appearance it seemed even to Cranz that there was more similarity
between Eskimo and Tunguses and Kalmucks than there was between
Eskimo and Indians; and when Rink, in 1871, read a paper in the
Anthropological Institute in London, where he maintained the in 3
rican origin of the Eskimo, it was refuted by CHarNoox, who empha-
sized the gulf between the Eskimo and the Northern Indians, i
linguistic, physical and other respects.

In this way there are two continents in which the dispute as to
the primeval home of the Eskimo is contested: America and Asia. The
dispute is old, and can still be said to be far from being finally decided.

Along what paths the knowledge of the Eskimo has passed into
European literature is witnessed in the name of the tribe itself. The
term Eskimo (Esquimaux) is, so to say, the French form for an Al-
gonquin word, which means something like “those who eat raw meat.”
The Frenchmen in Newfoundland and Canada heard it from the Ab-
nakis who lived on the north side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in
unceasing hostility to their Eskimo neighbours on the coast of Labrador;

42 H. P. Sreenspy.

but, by the Cree-Indians the name is also used for the Eskimo west
of Hudson Bay. From French and English literature the name passed
to all other languages.

Another name used for the Eskimo is innuit (plural of inuk, hu- ©
man being), which originates from the Eskimo themselves. In the
middle ages, except in Scandinavia, there was little use for the old —
Seandinavian term Skreling (plural Skrelinger); nor did the term
Orarians, or coast inhabitants, as proposed by Dati, become current.

The home of the Eskimo is the Arctic north coast of the Ame-
rican Continent and the Arctic Archipelago situated in front of it,
together with the large island of Greenland. Consequently, they are
what Fr. Ratzet has designated a “border people,” or a people which
lives along one of the outer edges of the inhabited world.

Such a people is, as a rule, at a low stage of culture. In the
literature on the subject the low cultural standpoint of the Eskimo
is also frequently emphasized. And it cannot be denied that in
certain directions, for instance as regards social organisation, the
Eskimo display somewhat inferior development. But it is a question
whether this inferior social differentiation is due to primitiveness, or
whether it is not rather a result of the natural conditions under
which the Eskimo have lived from time immemorial.

No deep knowledge of the Eskimo culture is needed to see that_
it is a culture which has been obliged to employ an immensely large
part of its force simply to develop the means wherewith to gain a
livelihood, or the mode of procedure by which each individual man
or bread-winner may secure his own and his family’s supply of food
and clothes, and a dwelling — three things which are equally neces-
sary in the polar regions.

When we take into consideration the high development reached
by the Eskimo hunters as regards skill in the making of a livelihood

/ we must, without doubt, rank Eskimo culture high within this class
of culture — viz., hunting culture — to which it belongs in the
system of historical culture. The special development of hunting
ability in the way of enduring fatigue, suffering hardships, showing
courage, and especially as regards the adroitness in the use of the
implements, naturally results in the more individual qualities being
specially brought under cultivation, while the more social side of the
culture in question has, as a rule, been allowed to lag behind, or
perhaps, in certain cases, may even be regarded as having fallen into
decay compared with the more differentiated conditions of former
times. These are all questions, however, which are not going to be
investigated here.

The economic culture of the Eskimo has often awakened the
admiration of travellers by the cleverness with which it is adapted
to the natural conditions, and, considering they are a primitive people,

=)

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 43

by the unusually large number of implements which are in use. It
has been described so often, however, and is so well-known, that here
only the principal forms of implements, articles for use, dwelling-houses,
and lastly a few specially important hunting methods will be called
to mind. Some other hunting methods of importance will be men-
tioned and described in the following chapters.

These are the kayak, umiak (woman’s boat), harpoon, and bird-
dart with throwing board, the three-pronged salmon-spear, the com-
pound bow, strengthened by a backing of sinew, the dog sledge, the
snow shoe, the winter house and snow house with the lamps for burning
blubber oil, and the platform, tbe summer tent, and lastly the skin-
garments. The nearer description of these various contrivances as
adapted to one another must here be taken as known.

Among the various methods of hunting, the hunting of seals
from a kayak is well known, while the Maupok method has been less
noticed. The word “Maupok” signifies “he waits” and refers to the
fact that the hunter stations himself at the hole which the seal keeps
open in the ice during winter, and waits until the seal comes up to
blow. The hunter stands motionless, or he sits upon a small three-
legged stool, sometimes for hours, before the seal comes up to the
breathing hole, when he instantly thrusts the harpoon into the animal,
which disappears into the water as quick as lightening, pulling off
the harpoon head and disengaging the detachable foreshaft. It soon
gets exhausted, however, so that it can be hauled up and killed; the
hole is then widened and the prey drawn up.

This method of hunting is practised throughout the winter. In
the spring, on the other hand, the seal creeps up onto the ice to
sun itself and is hunted as follows: the hunter lies down and, imit-
ating the movements of a seal, approaches his prey. If he succeeds
in getting within a convenient distance of the seal, he rushes up to
it and thrusts the harpoon into it. The point is to be quick, as the
seal never goes far from its hole in the ice, but lies ready to plunge
into the water. This method of hunting is called the ““Utok method”
from the Greenland expression for a seal that has come up upon
the ice to sun itself. Besides these, there are other methods of
hunting which are connected with ice, and are of ethnographical
importance. For the present, I shall only call to mind the hunting
at cracks in the ice, which is carried on during the latter part of
spring and early summer, when the ice begins to break up.

It has been said that scarcely anywhere else on earth does there
exist a people living in groups scattered over so extensive an area
which at the same time shows such remarkable homogeneity both
in culture and language as the Eskimo do, and there can be no doubt
as to the correctness of this.

As regards culture, in particular, the congruity has been obvious

X

44 H. P. STEENSBY.

enough. With its characteristic skin-boats, its individual missile-
weapons, and its whole coastal character, the Eskimo culture was
easily distinguishable, whether met with in the most north-west parts
of the Atlantic Ocean or the northernmost part of the Pacific: and its
aloofness from that of the neighbouring folk is marked by an equally
distinct stamp of individuality. As will be seen from the following des-
cription of types, there are, however, several cultural nuances within the
Eskimo culture, and some of these present themselves under conditions
which only an anthropogeographical treatment can satisfactorily explain.

As regards language the Eskimo are conspicuous among their
surroundings by a similar stamp of individuality and a similar homo-
geneity. The philologist, G. Kiernscumipt, pointed out that the
languages in Greenland and! ‘Labrador were “less different than, for
instance, Danish and Swedish or Dutch and Hamburg Low-German.”
It is to be regretted that no actual philologist has had occasion
personally to compare the Eskimo languages in Greenland and La-
brador with those spoken furthest west in Alaska, but there is
sufficient evidence that the differences are not so great that the
Eskimo from the easternmost regions would not quickly learn to.
understand those from the westernmost regions.

The Danish philologist, W. THaLBirzeR, who is one of those who
have most recently treated these questions, writing about the languages.
from two places so far apart as the east coast of Greenland (Ang-
magssalik) and the Asiatic side of Bering Strait says “there exists a
difference of dialect about equivalent to the difference between two
related languages (like English and German). The transitions from
dialect to dialect seem to take place on the whole steadily and
gradually in the interjacent districts,...”.' As regards the indep-
endence of the Eskimo language, he writes in the same place that it
“constitutes an indepedent family of languages. No one has as yet.
succeeded in finding any language either in Asia or among the American
Indians which might possibly have been originally related to it.”

In this connection, however, it should be remarked even here
that there are two peoples which, while culturally exhibiting the
Eskimo characteristics, differ linguistically. They are the so-called coast
Chukches in northern Asia (who should not be confused with the-
Asiatic Eskimo). These coast Chukches speak Chukche, and are a
branch of the Chukches, but have adopted the Eskimo economic
culture, Then there are the Aleuts, called after the islands on which
they live, or, strictly speaking, the original inhabitants of the Aleutian
Islands, who live in the same way as their neighbours, the Eskimo.

of South Alaska, but who, linguistically, are decidedly apart from
them.

«M. o. G., Vol. 31, p. 45.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 45

It is evident that such congruities both in culture and language “=
over such an extensive area can only be the result of a compara-
tively late dissemination from a more limited area. To find out this _
Iimited area by studying the various nuances of the economic culture
is the main object of this work. The easternmost point where indi-»
viduals possessing Eskimo culture have been met with is the east
coast of Greenland situated about 20° W. long., and the westernmost
is the Siberian Tschaunbay situated about 170° E. long. The southern-
most limit to which the Eskimo wandered — at any rate during the
later centuries — was the Strait of Belle Isle, situated 51° N. lat., and
the northernmost Robeson Channel and Danmarks-Fjord in northern-
most Greenland, situated 82°—83° N. lat. Consequently, the disse-
mination extends over 30 degrees of latitude, and over half of the
entire circumference of the earth in the southern part of the North
Polar Zone. :

Rink has computed the distance from the southernmost point
of the Eskimo range in Alaska to the most south-eastern point in \
Labrador to be 10—11,000 kilometres along the coast, which thes v
Eskimo follow. And the distance from Labrador to the east coast.
of Greenland, which indicates the third corner of the angle in the
great triangular area of distribution, the two other corners being
South Alaska and Labrador, tb be just as great. In comparison
with these enormous distances over which the Eskimo are distributed,
the area of their lands is relatively small, as they usually inhabit
the coasts only, while the interior of the countries is, as a rule, either
destitute of population or occupied by other tribes.

Apart from the Aleuts and the coast Chukches the Eskimo are
frequently divided into a western and an eastern section, Warrz set
the boundary between these sections at the mouth of the Mackenzie.
Rink shifted the point of demarcation to the somewhat more easterly
situated Cape Bathurst (127° W. long.), which is now that generally
adopted. But this boundary is not really a fortunate one either, as
the same tribe wanders about on both sides of this headland. The
now uninhabited stretch of coast between Darnley Bay and Dolphin
and Union Strait, or approximately between 124° and 116° W.
long., must be regarded as a better boundary. But in reality the
distinction between West and East Eskimo is quite artificial, or
practically of a geographical nature. A boundary of any great im-
portance does not exist at the place in question, a fact which,
especially lately, has been proved by SrEransson’s observations.

Boas! has shown how there are connecting routes between the
eastern groups of Eskimo, which, though not regularly used, yet
probably, at some time within living memory, have given occasion

1 Boas, I, p. 89.

46 H. P. STEENSBY. 14

/ tor connection between the groups or tribes. This link extends from

? Baffin Land to the Melville Peninsula, from Rae Isthmus to the

/ Boothia Isthmus, and from Simpson Strait to Corpnation Gulf. A

| conflux exactly corresponding and at least as well developed took
place among the West Eskimo. Not only was there a lively connec-
tion across Bering Strait, but from here the trading route went
southwards to Norton Sound, and also northwards along coasts and
rivers to the Arctic Ocean, and further towards the east to the
Mackenzie Eskimo. When, from the south, the English travellers
came to these, they found them in possession of articles of Russian
manufacture, which the Eskimo said they had obtained along the
trading route mentioned above. On the other hand, no such commo-
dities were found at Coronation Gulf; but this only serves to show
that the Eskimo here lived more out of the beaten track, just as it
reminds us that their trading connection ultimately took the direction
of Hudson Bay.

For practical reasons it is usual to divide — the Eskimo into
Greenlanders, Labradors, Central Eskimo (by which is understood the *
East Eskimo in the Arctic Archipelago and on the coast of the~
adjacent mainland), Mackenzie Eskimo,the-Eskimo_ in Alaska and in
Asia, and, lastly, Aleuts._

This division is, however, not _of great importance as regards
their culture, historically. On the other hand, it is of importance
in anthropogeographical respects in order to distinguish between Arctic
and Subarctic, as the Eskimo inhabit both distinctly Arctic_regions
and tracts of coast with a_cold-temperate coast climate. The Green-
landers south of Holsteinsborg and the inhabitants of Alaska south
of the Yukon Delta are reckoned as being distinctly Subaretic. The
related conditions in climate and the nature of the ocean in and
near South Greenland and South Alaska effect a predominance of
certain fixed features in the conditions of culture, so that it is fully
justifiable to talk of a Subarctic form of Eskimo culture in contra-
distinction to the Arctic form in the more decidedly Arctic regions.

The total number of individuals of the whole tribe was estimated
by Rink to amount in 1887 to 31—32,000 souls. Of this number,
one third or about 10,000 fell to Greenland, about 4,000 to the
Archipelago, some 2,000 to Labrador, and he assigned a similar
number to Mackenzie and to Asia, and, lastly, fully 11,000 to Alaska.
Of these numbers, that given for Alaska is evidently wrong. In 1880
the U.S. A. instituted a thorough census, with the result that there
were 17,617 Eskimo in Alaska besides 2,143 Aleuts. In further
conformity with this, Kurr Hasserr in 1891 estimated the total
number of Eskimo at about 40,000; a number which must be
assumed still to have approximate validity.

A complete description of the history of the discovery of the

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 47

Eskimo will not be given. Here the intention is only shortly to
point out how it is the Eskimo culture in its Subarctic condition

which first_b ver today holds good
8 being the_typic scientific treatment and_the
erlyati i i i i tion

From the days of Eric the Red till about 1400 the Scandinavian:

Greenlanders were to a certain extent in touch with the Eskimo, to
which the Saga reports bear witness. Vinland travellers met people
who decidedly must have been Eskimo; the interesting question whether
they also came into contact with the Indians will not be entered
upon here. From 1400 till the beginning of the 18th century sailing-
expeditions from time to time came across polar peoples, and even
seized whole families, whom they carried back to Europe, where
they caused a certain sensation.

It was, however, neither the Sagas nor the later reports of the
travellers Jonn Davis and Martin FropisHer which laid the foun-
dation of the modern conception of the Eskimo.

Not until 1719 did the Dutch, and, somewhat later, the English,
begin to engage in regular whale-hunting in Davis Strait or the west
coast of Greenland as far as Disco. If matters had been allowed to
run their own course here, as formerly in Labrador, where the natives
and the hunters carried on a mutual war of extermination}, there is
hardly any doubt that history. would have repeated itself; happily
this did not happen. In 1721 Hans Eeepn’s mission began, and the
sensible measures which resulted therefrom permitted the Eskimo
economic culture to thrive in peace, while at the same time the
people became possessed of those benefits of European culture which
were suited to them.

Several Danes who then spent a great part of their lives in
Greenland were men of high culture; they described the people with,
for that time, exceptional thoroughness and perspicuity, so that the
Greenland and especially the South Greenland Subarctic form of
Eskimo culture was in the literature established as the type of the
Arctic mode of living.

These authors were Hans and Povit EGEeps£, missionaries; OrTrTo
Fasricius, clergyman; and Davip Cranz, Moravian Brother. A more
vivid and impressive description of the Eskimo spirituality than that
which Povit Ecrepr has given in his “Reports on Greenland”? must
be searched for, and a better ethnographical account of the Eskimo
implements and their use than that given by Fasricrus is hardly to
be found even today. Finally, Davrip Cranz, in his “History of
Greenland” written in German, has contributed to make the Eskimo.
and their individual culture known to the world at large.

1 CARTWRIGHT, pp. 1 sqq.

48 HL P. Sreenssy.

For all later travellers and portrayers of Eskimo culture the
representation of the Danish Eskimo was the starting point, and
naturally their first endeavour was to find conformity with these,
and to point out the cultural unity of the Eskimo. Cranz proved
that the Labradors were of the same people as the Greenlanders,
and at the same time drew attention to the quite corresponding
descriptions given by Russian travellers of the inhabitants of Bering
Strait, which even in 1618 had been navigated by Drscunev, and
again in 1728 by Brerrne.

From 1734, after Brrina’s last journey, a large number of
Russian adventurers whose only object was to turn to account the
wealth jin furs, streamed to the Aleutian Islands and the nearer
American Islands south of Alaska. With great daring these, to a
great extent, un-nautical people undertook the sea-route from
Ochotsk to Kadjak, the geographical position of which they were
incapable of reckoning. In order to get the islands charted, and
navigation set in order, the Russian government, after 1764, frequently
sent out Naval officers, whose reports, however, got no further than
the government offices in Petrograd. By degrees the Russian dis-
coveries extended along the coasts of Norton and Kotzebue Sounds,
and certain expeditions went to the interior of Alaska. Besides
their activity on the Aleutian Islands and in Kadjak, which in 1798
became the seat of “the United Russian-American Co.,” the Russians
founded the more northern trading station St. Michael in Norton
Sound; but the literature had all the while to be content with
the rough descriptions given by individual mariners like Cook and
LANGSDORIF.

Not until towards the middle of the 19th century did more expli-
cit accounts about the inhabitants of the Alaskan coast and the Aleu-
tian Islands begin to arrive. VENJAMINOV, to whom WRANGEL gave the
honourable title of “the second Egede,”’ worked during 1824—38, but at
that time the Aleuts and the Eskimo had already been for a hundred years
under destructive influence, and much of their individuality had been
lost. In 1839 Wrancet’s account of the colonial conditions in Russian
America was published. In 1852 the hydrographic department of the
Russian Admiralty communicated important extracts from LEVASCHEV’s
diary for 1764—69, and at the same time Erman’s Archive brought
the most important parts of other older reports of travels.

In this manner ethnographical authors like Hotmpere and Dari
got the necessary material for their studies and descriptions of the
Eskimo culture furthest west. The first result was the establishment
of the similarity of the culture in question to the well-known South
Greenland Eskimo culture. The same skill in the handling of the
water-craft, and the same kinds of implements and hunting methods
being found in Greenland as in South Alaska. On the strength of

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 49

these similarities one without further ado established the cultural
unity of all Eskimo groups in the Subarctic form of culture, inasmuch |
as the extremes were known and not much heed was paid to the
interjacent Arctic districts, where it was taken for granted that the
same culture would be found in a poorer and more straitened form.

One started with the understanding that the Eskimo were typical
inhabitants of the coast, who in a pronounced degree sought their
living on the open sea, and, for the rest, this has been the prevailing
conception until the present day. One of the objects of this work
is, however, to show that this conception is greatly deficient and
one-sided: the cultural conditions with the Arctic Eskimo tribes
must be elicited for further elucidation.

Of all problems, that of the origin of the Eskimo culture cannot
be solved without paying necessary regard to the Eskimo culture in
its purely Arctic form. ‘

Hitherto, most of the investigations in the origin of the Eskimo
culture have rather _ai finding out the descent and relationship
of the Eskimo populati roper, inasmuch as one has relied on
GORAUIONS of face or on the linguistic conditions, or on some cultural
feature bearing a distinct stamp, as, for instance, the kayak,

throwing-board, etc. It has been taken for granted that a proving

of the descent of the population also_explained_the origin of its
culture, which is, however, by no means the case.

It has been directly inviting to start_with the race-t e
Mongolian race-type is so unmistakably present amongst the Eskimo.
To deduce, without more ado, an Asiatic origin from this fact will not

: . feet
amongst the Eskimo; certain groups, namely i istricts,
remind us much more of the Indians than of the Mongols, Finally,
eside with the Eskimo the Mongol-type occurs also with Indian
inhabitants in the North-western parts of North America. This
distribution seems, then, to speak mostly in favour of the Mongol-
type having ata secondary.stage, come to North America, and
‘having been spread_in some way or another, either by joint immi-
_ gration or by infusion of small dri
~~ Nor has" consideration of the linguistic conditions given any
standpoint for deciding how the Eskimo came about, because, as
already mentioned, the Eskimo language stands isolated. Some have
‘maintained _that_this Eskimo family of languages, according to_its
structure, must be placed together with the American family of
Tanguages, or go into a larger group together with these. This was the
view even of PricHARD and GALLATIN, and later Rink, D. G. Brinton
and several others. Some, on the other hand, separated the family
of languages from North America and associated it with North-east
Asia, inasmuch as they have placed it together with the language
Litt. 4

eR

50 H. P. Sreenspy.

of the Paleasiatic in the so-called hyperborean group; this applies
especially to language systematists like Frrepertch Miner and
F. N. Finck.

That the cultural development of a tribe must be kept sharply
distinct from its linguistic history and from its anthropological career
has not always, or more correctly has seldom, been realized. These

widely different matters have frequently been inquired into as one,
without distinguishing between them, and on the whole no end of*

theories as to the descent of the Eskimo have arisen. Attempts
have been made to locate the place_of their origin in no less than
three continents.

he views,as to their origin may conveniently be divided into
three groups. () The first connects the Eskimo with the paleolithic
tribes in Europe or America during and after the glacial perioK2T he
second makes them descend from Asia, and endeavours to explain
their appearance in the Arctic regions in connection with historical
events amongst the Mongols\Y Finally, to the last group, fall all the
attempts to solve the problem by absorption in the ethnographical
conditions.

The foundation for the assumption that the Eskimo descend
from the paleolithic inhabitants of Europe is the discoveries made in
the river-basins and caves of Northern France of bone implements,
which call to mind Eskimo fish-spear-heads of bone, together with
carved bone figures of reindeer for example, which likewise resemble
Eskimo carvings. Special stress has been laid on the finding of
indubitable harpoon-heads of bone; but in consequence of this,
attention must be drawn to the fact that the counterparts of the
appurtenances of bone spigots and peculiar heads of the essential
Eskimo harpoon have never been found. The discovered heads of
bone with barbs on one side or on both sides are made according to
a principle to be met with all over the world. It is only because
the material is a common one that they resemble the Eskimo heads
in particular. To the account of the material and the related natural
conditions and experiences must be written down the other similarities
which it was thought would be found between paleolithic remains
and Eskimo articles, Eagerness to find congruities has gone so far -
that it has led to a wish to find spiritual relationship between the
Eskimo and paleolithic Western Europeans, in that it has been
thought possible to substantiate that they both evince the same
remissness towards the dead. Naturally this is a step forward
amongst the vague conclusions. For geographical reasons alone,
this theory seems to present itself as an impossibility, which has
= been proved; but, nevertheless, it on and off appears on the
surface.

‘) The idea that the Eskimo are direct immigrants from Asia

WF

— a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 51

cropped up at a very early date. Even Davis! touches on it, and
today it finds advocates. The fundamental reason for this is, besides
general impression, partly an ingrained mistrust in America being a
domain productive of culture, and partly the conceptions of the
independence of the. Eskimo and their culture as opposed to the
other North Americans. Added to this is, that so long as the enigma
oi the descent of the Eskimo stood side by side with numerous other
Arctic mysteries, undreamed of possibilities of a suitable route of
immigration could be hoped for. So long as the theory of an open
sea round the Pole, or the presence of Polinians, had a warm advo-
cate in such an authority as PETERMANN, it is not strange that no ©
one dared deny the possibility of some day coming across groups
of Eskimo, or new travelling tracks, in the polar regions not yet
explored. (C. R. Marknam?, in a lecture delivered in the Royal
Geographical ‘Society in London 1865, encouraged Polar expeditions
on the strength of there being a possibility at every Polinia of
meeting human beings who live on seal and walrus-hunting. As
regards the possibility of the existence of Polinians, he referred to
PETERMANN.

In the meantime knowledge about the Arctic lands increased,
and since Frirnior NANsEN, with ingenious eye and energy, has set
foot upon the two most obscure regions, the Arctic Ocean and the
inland ice of Greenland, and thrown conclusive light on both, the
‘mysticism which was associated with the Arctic anthropogeography
has vanished, and calm investigation can prevail.

The first to form a complete theory on the emigration of the
Eskimo from Asia was Cranz*, who, taking it for granted that not
until the 14th Century did the Eskimo immigrate to Greenland, from
this draws the conclusion that their arrival in the Arctic region is,
on the whole, of very late date. As, next, he thinks to have found
_ physical and linguistic relationship with the Kalmucs in Asia, he
assumes the Eskimo to be a branch of this tribe, which, during
political disturbances in Tartary before the birth of Christ, has
separated and wandered North-east across Bering Strait to America.

A hundred years later this theory gained renewed honour and —
dignity through Markuam’s adoption and fashioning of it. As men-
tioned above, he shared PreTreRMANN’Ss belief in the ‘‘Polinians,” and
the discovery of the Smith Sound Eskimo seemed to him to promise
the possibility of new discoveries of unknown tribes. Then came the
discovery by the English North-west Expedition of numerous, but
certainly deserted, settlements on the southern coasts of the Parry
Islands, and here it was striking that none was found on the opposite

1 Davis, p. 18.
* Marxuam, I, pp. 87—99.
® CRANZ, pp. 333 sqq.
4*

52 H. P, Sreenspy. ~

coasts on the south side of the series of sounds which extend from
Lancaster Sound to Banks Strait. The English naval officers who
navigated Lancaster Sound and its continuation started with the
belief that the southern side must be at least as suitable as the
northern side, and many of them, like SHrrarp OsBorn, concluded
that the dispersion of the deserted settlements indicated an immi-
gration from the west along a route which lay several degrees more
to the north than the north coast of America. OsBorN imagined
the district round Cape Schelagskoj (about 170° E. long.,) on the north
coast of Siberia to be the point of their departure, and supported
this, amongst other things, with a Chukche legend reported by
Wrancet about a people which had gone northward to an unknown
land. Across unknown groups of islands this people was said to have
reached far north, where a deep and never navigated ocean causes a
milder climate and, with it, conditions for more affluent existence?.
From the northern station they followed the southern side of the
Parry Archipelago to Smith Sound and Greenland without, however,
getting any knowledge of their kinsmen on the north coast of the
mainland, who, like another stream of emigrants, are thought to have
likewise started from Asia along the north coast of America parallel
with the more northern stream.

This theory obtained an ardent promulgator in C, R. MARKHAM,
who supplemented it with Cranz’s old idea that the Eskimo migra-
tions should be attributed to political disturbances in Central Asia.
He imagined the Eskimo as originally living from Cape Schelagskoj
to Bering Strait, whence, it was supposed, they had been ousted by
pressure from the south along the two mentioned routes. He gets
at his date by comparing the year 1349, which he supposes to be
the year for the immigration to Greenland, with the Mongolian wars
of conquest in Asia. During the centuries which preceded their first
known appearance in Greenland, there was great unrest among the
people of Central Asia. Toasut Bue (c. 1050), DscHENeiscHan (+ 1227)
and other lesser chiefs led forth large armies bent on conquest. The
pressure exerted by these penetrating waves on the tribes of North
Siberia drove them further towards the north, and this led to the
forced emigration of several tribes. The ruins of houses on Cape -
Schelagskoj indicate the beginning of the long wandering®.

This theory considered spontaneously may be enticing. In other
respects it was soon thoroughly confuted by W. H. Dati‘, who was
a supporter of Ruvx’s hypothesis. As a matter of fact it has played
an important réle, and may yet crop up again, either in full or im

* cf. the maps by Boas, IX and Marxuan, I, p. 87.
* Osporn, I, p. 260.

*-C. R. Marxnam, I and II.

+ DAtt, VI.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 53

part. Thus, K. Hasserr considers it probable that the Eskimo ‘in
rapid flight have hurried through, and not again set foot on,” the
Parry Archipelago. E. Astrup furnishes us with a new variation,
as he is of opinion that the Eskimo from Siberia have crossed the
New Siberia Islands and numerous presumed groups of islands to
North Greenland and Smith Sound. Quite recently W. THatsirzer!
has again referred to MarkHam’s theory in support of his own view
that the Eskimo once lived west of Bering Strait, and from there

have wandered towards the coast. Sosy

Herewith we leave this theory, which obtained its greatest im-
portance by having such a famous exponent as C. R. Markuam. In
the following pages an account will be given of what one hitherto
has thought it possible to conclude about the origin from ethno-
graphical facts. He who did the first, and even to day, most im-
portant work in this domain was H. Rink. After having pointed
out, as mentioned above, that the Eskimo culture must have one
and the same origin, independently of the home of the race, Rink
sets up two general maxims before establishing any proof as to
where the home of the culture may have been situated.

He starts at once with the idea that the culture has originated ~

under similar climatic conditions and under the same distribution of
land and sea as nowadays, and he nextly assumes that the Eskimo

wanderings from the south have taken place through the interior of |
the country outwards to the coast, along rivers, and not from a more |
southern stretch of coast to a more northern one. RunK has, as will |

appear later, come to a right conclusion in his last mentioned remark,
and this conclusion is founded on the fact that the tribe’s enjoyment
of economic culture ‘‘with the settling on the Polar coasts must have
undergone a change which was rather abrupt and also must be sup-

posed to have extended to the entire tribe, and therefore that the
- people did not live scattered as they do now, but so united that a
certain cohesion, and the necessary intercourse, could take place.

But this is not consistent with a wandering along the coast which

more or less suggests the idea of a successive line of advances.”
Rink is undoubtedly right, also, in assuming that the geographical
conditions have not greatly changed since the Eskimo culture was

fashioned. Geologically it may be concluded that this must have—

taken place during the latest geological period, or after the glacial
period®. The linguistic homogeneity is evidence of a comparatively
recent dispersion, and the purely historical fact that the distribution
over the west coast of Greenland was not accomplished till from the
llth to the 14th centuries is perhaps also to be understood as a
proof that it is comparatively young. When one compares the

1M. 0. G., Vol. 39, p. 717 and same page, note 1.
* ef. A. HAmBerG.

Re

54 H. P. Sreenspy.

rapidity with which cultural development and racial propagation can
take place with the many times slower speed with which alterations
occur in the earth’s history, one may surely draw the conclusion that

/ great alterations cannot have taken place in the climatic or geo-

graphical conditions since the days when the Eskimo began their
migrations, and any eventual, periodical oscillation of some metres in
the level of the land or of some degrees in temperature would play

“no encroaching réle.

According to Rix, the Eskimo originally were an inland people,
and lived by fishing in the rivers, and he founds his opinion on
Lewis H. MoreGan’s comments on the mode of living of the primitive
Americans. For the rest, this author regarded the Eskimo as having
immigrated from Asia. Rink next imagines that either by expulsion

} or a general shifting from the interior the Eskimo were forced out to

the sea-coast, where, in accord with their former custom, they supported
life by fishing and hunting, until, little by little, the peculiar Eskimo
culture fashioned itself. Not until it had adjusted itself to conditions

_ of life at the coast did a tribe begin to disperse along the Arctic
\.coasts.

Per se, Rink considers that this development into inhabitants of
the coasts at the mouth of a river might just as well happen in Asia,
where there also are rivers which abound in fish and debouch into
the Arctic Ocean, as in America; but on account of the shape of
the head, the language, the legends and various cultural conditions
of the Eskimo, he was convinced, however, that it had happened in
America.

a to favour the idea _of expulsion from the
interior by a hostile tribe, as he could not otherwise. explain what,
Gould induce the Eskimo to undertake such a radical change in their
culture, which can only be thought of as being carried into effect by
cultural supplies from without, or by the influence of changed natural
surroundings. As the first possibility, in this case, is quite incon-
ceivable, one must fall back on the latter, and it must have been a
powerful and encroaching alteration which took place, since it has
been able to compel a slow and primitive people like the Eskimo,
itself to transform its culture so thoroughly in all directions. ‘When .
one considers the often mentioned stagnation, or extremely slight
change in the conditions of culture, which the Eskimo have been
subjected to during the period of about 1000 years since the Euro-
peans have begun to know of them, it is obvious that quite special
circumstances must have egged them on to activity at the time when
they trained themselves to be what they now are.”! Rink believed,
however, that when he got the Eskimo chased away to the mouth of

1 Rink, IV, p. 219.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 55

a river and held there by the pressure of hostile tribes he had the
forces which were to foster the new culture set aright. His first and
most important claim to this belief was his view that the kayak was
the kernel of the Eskimo culture in implements, or that, which
by its making led to the invention which had by degrees to
drag all the others after it. Rink supposed tbe primitive form of
the kayak to have been an Indian birch-bark canoe. The first step
towards the Eskimo culture, therefore, consisted only in replacing the
birch-bark with sealskin, and at the same time in providing the skin-
boat with a deck, in order to protect it against the waves of the sea.
In this view Rink did not consider that so many other primitive
peoples have used small boats on the sea without covering them,
from which one may conclude that, with the advent of the kayak,
there were other factors which asserted themselves. Rink was, however,
so convinced of the sole validity of the South Greenland or Subarctic
_ form of culture that he started by understanding that, where he found
this form in its simplest and apparently most primitive stage, there
the place of origin must be. And then he thought, just at a place
which fitted in excellently with the rest of his reflections, namely
round the mouth of the Yukon in Alaska, to find Eskimo who rowed
the kayak with a single-bladed paddle, and did not use the water-
proof pelt for kayaking. Here, then, he placed the hearth of the
Eskimo culture, and thought to be able to point to a steady devel-
opment from here to South Greenland, where he believed that the
culture reached its culminating point. He tried in several particulars
to prove this succession of development. Full confidence in the use
of the kayak could only have been attained in Greenland. The double-
bladed paddle first appeared around Point Barrow. In South Alaska
the bladder-dart was used for seal-hunting, and it was only further
north that the idea of separating the bladder from the dart and
joining these two with a cord had been thought of. The harpoon
first attained its most ingenious form in Greenland. In South Alaska |
the houses had the same form and arrangements as the Indian ones,
and further to the north appeared, by degrees, houses with special
Eskimo accomodations and blubber-lamp instead of the hearth. In
Alaska the Eskimo still wear lip-ornaments, but when they migrated
northward to the Arctic regions they had to discard this adornment
on account of climatic conditions. Also in apparel, skill in craft-
manship, and social conditions an apparent development is affected
from Alaska to Greenland, and Rrnx thought, besides, to find support
for his views in the contents and distribution of various legends.

In the various works where Rink treated the subject of the
Eskimo he cleared the way by his sound reflections for the calm

1 Rink, VIII, pp. 6 sqq.

56 H. P. STEENSBY.

study of the Eskimo culture and its origin, and by his own theory
as to the origin, which was supported by multifarious arguments, he
dragged the question down to earth, and established America as being
its home, and pointed out the way which further investigations must
follow. Since the publication of his important work ‘Eskimo Tribes,”
his theory has held a strong position in the scientific world, in spite
of the criticism which has been directed against it, especially by
Murvocsn. Meanwhile it is not difficult to substantiate that Rinx’s
line of argument is wrong, and Murpocs! showed, also, how Rink
was mistaken in pointing to a succession of developments from Yukon
to Greenland. Neither with respect to the structure and use of the
kayak, the distribution of the paddle and bladder-dart, nor the
gradual alteration in the form of the houses did Rryx’s assertions
accord with reality. The use of lip ornaments had not been discarded
northwards on account of the frost, as they have been found right
up to Cape Bathurst, where the use of them stopped, owing, in
Murpocn’s opinion, to lack of connection with the East Eskimo.
Rik has quite overlooked the fact that immediately south and north
of the Yukon Delta are found kayaks which are just as well built as
amongst the South Greenlanders, and are rowed with a double-bladed
paddle with just as great dexterity. That there is no regular
succession in house-building I have elsewhere had opportunity to
point out?.

In spite of these various errors, there are some who think that
Rink may, nevertheless, be right in the main, and that Alaska is, all
the same, the home of the Eskimo culture. The rest of the Eskimo
inhabited coasts, on account of the poverty-stricken Arctic nature
are of so barren a character that many people involuntarily think
that Alaska with its somewhat richer resources and its more varied
population, where it is easy to think of shiftings taking place, must
be the natural source of origin. And that, since the original source
of the culture is laid there, it may finally be assumed (as BAnnson®
assumes) that the main tribe of the Eskimo has gone along the coast
of the mainland, while a branch has spread itself over the Aleutian
Islands. Linguistically, the Aleuts are, if any thing, co-ordinate with
the Eskimo, and their Eskimo culture is, as I shall try to prove -
further on, only a loan from their neighbours.

Of the arguments advanced by Rink in favour of his theory,
there yet remains to be mentioned that by which he sought to support
it along the paths of folk-lore, taking it for granted that the Greea-
land legends containing historic matter had not arisen in the course
of time, but at a definite period, which must, as nearly as possible,

Murpoes, II.

Eskimokulturen, 1905 and M. o. G., Vol. 34.

1
* Baunson, Vol. I, p. 228.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 57

correspond with that in which all the rest of the changes in the
condition of culture took place. After having proved, then, how the
Indians, and even certain tribes, play a réle in many Greenland
legends, which he regards as being just as old as the migrations along
the north coast of America, he apprehends this as proof of his theory
regarding the migrations of the Eskimo. There is, however, much
to be said against this view. The presence in Greenland of the
legends in question can just as well be explained by their having
strayed at a late date, and by verbal communication, from group to
group. Nor is such immense age as Rink assumes, which has to be
reckoned in centuries, compatible with tribes having such inferior
social stability and differentiation. But, for the rest, it is a side of
the question which lies apart from the present task, and, therefore,
will not be discussed further.

Here, on the other hand, it has to be stated that the well-known
American ethnologist, F. Boas, like Rinx, has tried by the employ-
ment of legends and linguistic material to determine the reciprocal
connection and original travelling tracks of the Eskimo groups. Along
these lines he follows up the intercourse between the individual: groups
within the East and the West Eskimo. Thus, the Eskimo term for
“white man’’ is the same with all the East Eskimo, and Boas thinks
that he is able to connect the origin of this term with a legend which
was generally disseminated before the Eskimo became acquainted with
the Europeans. As regards the Eskimo migrations, he also assumes
that the question could be solved by a complete study of the language
and traditions. “From the facts already known we arrive at the
conclusion that the more ancient forms of customs and traditions are
found west of Baffin Bay. In this way we are led to conclude further
that the Eskimo migrated by way of Baffin Land to Greenland and
Labrador. The natives of Labrador and of the south coast of Baffin
' Land believe that the events told in their traditions occurred in the
far north. Those of Fury and Hecla Strait point south and south-
west to the American continent. The Western Eskimo refer to the
east as the place where their heroes performed their exploits. Therefore,
it seems probable that the lake region west of Hudson Bay was the
home of the Eskimo. We find their remains in the most northern
parts of the Smith Sound region. At the present time the East Green-
landers and the West Greenlanders are very different from each other.
Therefore the probability is that the immigrants separated in Smith
Sound, and that one part went south while the other turned north-east,
and thus reached the east coast. A decision of these questions must
be postponed until the ethnology of the Eskimo is more thoroughly
studied.” Yet it is interesting to note that Boas here indicates quite

1 Boas, III.

58 H. P. SteEnssy.

a new direction as the point of origin for the Eskimo. His showing
that the legends with the two groups of Eskimo point inwards towards
the centre is a very important matter.

After contemplating the conditions of culture, Murpocu * has formed
a theory as to the descent of the Eskimo, which agrees with the result
of Boas’s investigations. After having carried through his criticism
of Rryx, whereby he shows that from a cultural point of view there
is nothing which speaks in favour of Alaska as the native land,
Murdoch formulates his hypothesis, which, he says, is probably quite
as correct as Rinx’s. It is his opinion that the central tribes and not
the Yukon Eskimo possess the most primitive culture, and therefore
they are nearest to the original home of the race, which was not the
interior of Alaska but the district south of Hudson Bay. Here a part
has separated, and streamed into Labrador and populated it, while
the main body has gone northwards along the west coast of Hudson
Bay to take possession of the Arctic Archipelago, and finally to reach
Greenland via Smith Sound, leaving as a trace of their wanderings
the house-ruins and other relics which are now found far north of
where the Eskimo are at present stationed on the western side of
Baffin Bay. From the original home — evidently before the Labra-
dors separated — another large section went northwards along lakes
and rivers, always keeping to the east of the Rocky Mountains, until
they could pass westwards along the Yukon basin. Here they again
divided, one section going down the Mackenzie in order to disperse
towards the west as far as Bering Strait and Asia, while the other
section went down the Yukon and the Kuskoquim and dispersed
along the’ coast; where, towards the south, it became more and more
changed on account of the new and peculiar surroundings. It will be
seen that, according to this view, the people in South Alaska are not
primitive, but highly specialized, Eskimo, who have brought with them
to a relatively fertile and temperate district accomplishments which
germinated under widely different circumstances.

What is interesting in these remarks of Murpocn is that he, like
Boas, locates the primitiveness in the central districts. While Rix,
for whom Eskimo culture was the Subaretic sea-coast form, only
counted on the central Arctic districts as the necéssary complementary .
and connecting link between east and west, Murpoon, in consequence
of his long stay at Point Barrow, had his attention directed to just
the Arctic Eskimo groups. His hypothesis as to their migrations,
itself, is not so satisfying, however, in comparison with Boas’s aad
Rink’s calm and penetrating understanding of the shifting of peoples,
in that Murpoou is rather too free in his chapters on the treatment
of the wanderings of the ancient Eskimo.

1 Murpocn, II.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 59

Several other authors who have touched upon the question of the
origin of the Eskimo culture have either concurred with one or another
of the mentioned theories, or have expressed themselves from a special
point of view.

In order to throw further light on the Eskimo constituting a link
in the whole North American body of people, G. Hotm has collected
several congruities in legends and implements with Greenlanders,
Aztecs and Mayas. He chose to search far from the border districts,
just in order to disarm the assertion that the congruities might be
due to the contact of the peoples. The congruities in the use of the
throwing-board, missiles, and salmon-spear, which Ho.m points to, are
certainly common to all North Americans, and can only be apprehended
as a good argument to prove how deeply Eskimo culture is rooted in
America, and it is conceivable that the same holds good as regards
some of the principles of the legends.

Watter Hoven, starting with the idea that Eskimo life is
dependent on the blubber-lamp, investigated the conditions pertaining
to the origin of this, and through this tried to decide where the
hearth of the culture was, whereby he came to the conclusion that
it must have generated on an Arctic coast.

D. G. Brinton! thought that the question of the origin of the
Eskimo should date back to a time when climatic conditions were
different. They then lived on the Atlantic coast, as far south as
Delaware River. ‘It is not improbable that their ancestors lived on
the swamps of New England, when the reindeer grazed there, and
accompanied this animal when it finally strayed northwards. They
pertain historically and characteristically to the Atlantic people.” By
this Brinton means that they rank with the Iroquois, Algonquins,
Beothuks, and Tinne people. And it is on the basis of this consideration
that he gives preference to the hypothesis of his countryman, Joun
Murpocn, and maintains that the regions south of Hudson Bay are
the point of origin for the Eskimo.

Of additional importance as regards the question of the origin of

the Eskimo culture are F. Boas’s publications of the results and
— investigations of the Jesup Expedition. These investigations, and especi-
ally the mythological ones, confirm the above-mentioned view of Boas
that the western Eskimo have come from the east and have cut an
old communication across Bering Strait. As JooHELSON expressed it:
“There is no doubt that the Eskimo appeared on the American-Asiatic
coasts of Bering Sea as an entering wedge which split apart the trunk
of the common mythological tree.”

In his latest great work ‘‘The Ammassalik Eskimo” THatsrrzer
(p. 917) expresses the opinion that “the common Eskimo Mother-

1 Brinton, J, pp. 59 sqq.

60 A. P. Srrenssy.

group has at one time lived to the west of Bering Strait and has
arrived here from the coasts of Siberia.” I must take it for granted
that THaxpirzeR means the north coast of Siberia. But, as will be
seen from the following, I cannot follow him as regards this point.
I do not doubt that it will ultimately be proved that the Eskimo
originally came to the regions around Bering Strait from the north-
east, along the north coast of Alaska.

Even here, however, I can refer to my preliminary paper of
1905 on this subject, where I tried to show that all anthropo-
geographical circumstances favour the belief that the Arctic Archi-
pelago of North America is the original home of the Eskimo culture.
I pointed out Coronation Bay, in particular, as a district especially
adapted to develop such a peculiar economic culture as that of the
Eskimo. In the years which have since passed no weighty evidence
has been produced to question the main points in my paper from
1905, viz., that the Eskimo culture is of Arctic origin and arose as
an adaptation to the natural conditions in the Archipelago. Even
the remarks set forth by A. Hampere have not great interest in
this connection, as this author, in his paper, has not entered on the
problem which I had treated, viz., the adaptability of the Eskimo
culture to the geographical surroundings.

Views of Investigations Before Us.

If one wishes to arrange the Eskimo in a cultural order of...
succession, and amongst the hunting peoples distinguish between
the lower and higher hunters, one must necessarily place the Eskimo
in the latter category.

No doubt there are many authors who rank the Eskimo amongst
the lower hunting peoples, but these authors have not realized how
rich and highly differentiated is the Eskimo inventory of expedients .
for the support of life. From the point of view of social and higher
culture the Eskimo have only had opportunity for poor development.
Owing to the difficult conditions of nature all their efforts are
expended on procuring food, house, and clothes — three things which
are all equally necessary in an Arctic climate.

In all these respects they must suffice for themselves. They
must procure the material for their implements, houses, and clothes;
each must for himself manufacture these things, and the maker must
himself direct the development of his use of the hunting implements,

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 61

such as the kayak and dog-sledge, towards astounding dexterity.
This falls to the lot of the man, but, at the same time, versatile
calls are made on the woman’s ability.

From a purely geographical point of view the Eskimo can be
discriminated in various groups, but a form of tribe such as we
know, for example, from the North American Indians only occurs as
a rare exception in South Alaska. The sociological unity with the
Eskimo is not in the tribe but in the settlement1, but at the same
time it must be remembered that the latter is not stationary, there
being a difference between its location in summer and winter, and
both fluctuate, though with some Eskimo the winter settlement is
almost stationary. Only in a slight degree do the conditions of
descent, language, and the like, form a setting for the appurtenances
of each settlement. Much more do their social, and above all,
economic interests, maintain their unity.

The Eskimo settlements, or rather, perhaps, groups of hunters, ~
are in an eminent degree self-sufficing groups. The Eskimo must
himself procure all that is needful, food as well as material for tools,
dwellings, and clothes. In themselves they bring along with them
their traditional methods, learnt from their fathers, for the use of
hunting implements and for the making of houses and clothes, ete. ;
but, for the rest, they are dependent on the surrounding nature and
its products. This ground for their existence and for the higher
features of their culture I shall call the economic culture?.
Tradition and natural surroundings are the two determining factors
for the culture. What is traditional and customary can be trans-
formed either by something having been learnt from without (borrowed
culture), or by an adaptation having taken place in accordance
with the altered natural conditions (new adaptation).

With a primitive people like the Eskimo which is partly a remote
border-folk and partly inhabits districts with distinct geographical
characteristic features, it is natural to assume that new adaptation
has played an important réle in the origin of the various nuances
of the Eskimo culture, and perhaps, also, in the birth of the culture
itself.

What will be given in this work, then, will be an attempt to
follow the adaptation or the direct dependence of the culture on
nature by studying the relation between the conditions of nature on
the one side and the conditions of culture on the other. Finally an

‘ cf. Mauss et Beucuart, pp. 53 sqq.

* I prefer in this connection the expression “economic culture” to “industrial
culture” or to the even more comprehensive ‘‘material culture”, as I wish
to express that it is just the basis of existence (especially the procuring of
food), answering to the economic basis of the higher forms of culture,
which will here be studied and pursued.

62 H. P. Sreenspy.

attempt must be made, by comparing the results gained hereby, to
form a picture of the development.

Here a purely anthropogeographical problem is in question, in that
we understand by anthropogeography the study of the geographical
factors to which the culture has adjusted itself, and on which its
existence is dependent. It is a well known fact that the geographical
factors, or such circumstances, as, for example, the distribution of
land and water, the form of the coasts, the conditions of ice, rivers
and lakes, climate, and flora and fauna have a determining effect on
human culture — above all on the underlying economic culture, and
nextly on the higher and more complex conditions of culture, such
as the community, the family etc. Frrepricn Rarzer was the first
to bring all these subjects under a general view, and he created the
term anthropogeography for that branch of the science.

Most authors are still content, however, to present the adaptation
of culture to nature in its general features. We, however, must
proceed in a more exact manner, and must divide the Eskimo

domain into its individual geographical provinces, or into the natural.

geographical individualities, i. e., the smaller domains where the
geographical factors must be regarded as homogeneous, and we must
then find and present the typical stamp of the economic culture in
each of these latter domains. This done, we shall try whether it is
possible by comparing all these nuances in the Eskimo economic
culture to ascertain which of them is the oldest.

In many respects the Eskimo territory is extraordinarily well
adapted to be the subject of such anthropogeographical treatment,
as, on account of its lengthiness and its alternations as regards the
position of the coast, the geological structure of this, and the con-
dition of ice, it is relatively easily divided into individual sections
with natural borders. In the next place an otherwise so encroaching
factor as the flora may be almost entirely excluded from these reflec-
tions, because the alimentation of plants plays only a slight but
somewhat variable réle with all groups, and wood, as material,
must almost always be procured by special means (in the first place
from drift-wood). Finally, as a result of the geographical peculiarity,
consequent to the northern latitudes, that the animals are few in .
species but abundant in individual numbers, the only important
means of earning a livelihood, hunting and fishing, is more methodi-
cally carried out than in the southern latitudes, where the physiog-
nomy of the surrounding nature is less sharply defined. ps

Generally speaking, by ‘method of use” is meant those trained
movements and actions which are bound. up with the use of an
implement. Such a “method of use” is_a_real cultural possession,
inasmuch as familiarity with it is a demand which the primitive
community makes on the ‘single individual in order that he may be

An Anthropogeographicai Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 63

recognized as a valid member. In the next place, the method of use,
seeing that it is taught from generation to generation, is fully as
much one of the continuous lines which run through the cultural life
as is the form of the implements — the unbroken transition of which
archeology has proved empirically — and finally it is by that degree
of dexterity and efficacy with which the methods of use are carried
out that the cultural strength and soundness of the tribe is measured.
One of the first injurious results of primitive folk, especially hunting
people, coming in contact with Europeans shows itself in neglect of
the training in economic methods, and a kind of proletariat arises
which is incapable of procuring its food, and may be said to have
neither the one culture nor the other.

This, however, is only the one side of the entity and ethno-
graphical significance of the method of use. Besides their sociological
independence, :the methods of procuring a livelihood are intimately
bound up with the conditions of nature, and an alteration takes
place when the conditions of nature change. Such alterations do
not occur spasmodically. But, from old forms of dexterity, confronted
with new demands, a new method of hunting or fishing is slowly
and cautiously developed

According to this view, the use of the implements is, as has been
stated, the central and fundamental factor in the material culture of
a tribe, inasmuch as the meaning of the word “implement” is appre-

hended in a wider sense. And the trained, concentrated Eskimo
methods, just on account of thei l itions of
nature on the one hand, and_ their value both to the individual and

the community on the other hand, become very important. su injects

for study. They represent, 80 to say, dependence _on_nature,
that part of huntin prores He
wi uman culture. This view holds good generally, but the methods

of use are most easily studied with hunting people like the Eskimo,
with whom they appear in their purest form, and where the greater

part of the culture is directly expended on the means for sub-
sistence.

If one thinks of such a hunting tribe transferred from its native
soil to a district, which in some respects presents changed conditions
of nature, one knows that at first it will try to live in: the old way,
and that only little by little will the new conditions assert themselves
and have an altering influence on their culture. And it is clear
that it is through the methods of hunting and fishing employed that
the influence takes place. At first the old known methods are
employed, but by degrees new possibilities reveal themselves with
some of the methods, while others, perhaps, die out; and while a
revaluation and renewed development takes place amongst the methods
of subsistence the implements follow suit, and shape themselves in

64 H. P. Sreenssy.

accordance with the demands of the new methods of subsistence.
If it were possible to study such a transition of culture on the spot,
it must be maintained that that of pursuing the continuity in the
methods and dexterities would be the most impressive aspect of
cultural development which could be given.

Some Geographical Observations on the Eskimo Domain.

The purely Arctic regions inhabited by the Eskimo belong °

geographically to three different domains. Towards the west one has

the coast of the mainland as far as Dolphin and Union Strait. In_

the centre lies the great Arctic Archipelago with the adjacent main-
land coast, and finally towards the east, like an entity in itself, lies
Greenland. .

The coast of the mainland towards the west, which has an un-
interrupted course without any groups of islands lying in front of it
and is without many protected indentations, lies open towards the
Arctic Ocean. The coast land itself, which is built up of new forma-
tions, is low, and descends evenly into the ocean, which frequently
has banks and bars along the coast. The Archipelago consists of a
confusion of islands and sounds, the charting of which is due to the
English N.W. Passage expeditions and the Franklin search-expeditions,
and, later especially to those of GreeLy and SverpRup. Two water-
ways in particular are to be remarked, both of which imtersect
the Archipelago from east to west.. The northern is formed by
Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Melville Sound, and Banks Strait,
which together separate the Parry Islands towards the north from
the more southern series of large islands which sometimes are called

by a common name after Frankiry, and which consist of Baffin :

Land, North Somerset, Prince of Wales Land, Victoria Land and
Banks Land. Along the south side of these islands runs the southern

water-way, or North-west Passage, which follows the mainland, and-
consists of Hudson Strait, Fury and Hecla Strait, Bellot Strait, »the.
waters round King William Land, Dease Strait, Coronation Gulf ;

together with Dolphin and Union Strait. The two passages are
connected by four straits, of which especially is to be noted Me.
Clintock Channel, which runs from north-west to south-east.

In contrast with the north-western coast lands the Archipelago
consists of old formations. The large region of primitive rock in
North-east America ceases at the west end of Coronation Gulf, and
forms the southern portion of the Archipelago, for which reasons the

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 65

southern passage generally has high granite coasts, with reef and
skerries. Along the north side of the primitive rock runs a belt of
silurian formation, and afterwards, the further one goes towards the
north and the north-west, are always newer paleozoic rocks. The

east coasts of Baffin Land and North Devon are, however, essentially
’ granitic, and face the other great region of primitive rock, Greenland.
The climate is distinctly Arctic, having only two seasons: a short
summer with open water, and a long winter when everything is
congealed. As regards climate the Archipelago has retained much of
the continental character of the mainland. In several places glaciers
are found in the higher regions, but it does not seem that continuous
masses of land ice cover any of the islands~as-they-cover-Greenland._
Both in summer and winter north and north-westerly winds prevail:
Of very great importance are the conditions of the sea ice, as the
existence of the Eskimo is just as much bound up with the condi-
tions on sea as with those on land. But in the Arctic regions, the
sea is a very different element from the undulating billows of milder
zones. Only during a couple of months in the summer, and in the
most favourable areas is it sea in the ordinary sense of the word.
The greater part of the year it is ice-covered and solid; but even this
is not all, because only in a few places is the sea allowed to freeze
smoothly as a lake does with us. Wind_and current frequently drive
masses of loose blocks of ice or pack-ice in towards the coast, whereby
the newly formed ice is broken up, and the surface of the sea becomes
rough and impassable, when the blocks freeze together in a coherent con-
glomeration. Only in the most protected, remote straits and among the
skerries are formed the smooth ice-surfaces which are called winter-
ice_in Contradistinction to pack-ice, which may consist of blocks
several years old. With the winter-ice, which breaks up every year,
must not be confounded the, in places, perennial icefoot which in many
places follows the coast, and forms a smooth and safe path for
travelling, by sledge. In this connection the question of whether the
pack-icve originates as glacier ice or as sea ice is of very small impor-
tance" *The size of the blocks is only of significance in so far as
regards the greater or lesser force with which they press forward, or,
in the-case of their stranding on bars somewhat off the shore, form
a bafrier in front of deep coast waters, over which the winter ice
can form. The latter happens at the north-east coast of Baffin
Land and especially at several places between Bering Strait and
Point Barrow.

~The conditions of ice at Greenland are well known. On the west

——— ——

coast ‘the winter ice lies only on the innermost waters, whereas north
of E, -Egedesminde it may lie further out to sea; and, as a rule, in
North Greenland it is only in the month of July that it entirely
melts away. It is from the drift-ice that Greenland gets the Polar sea-ice,

LOL 5

66 H. P. SreensBy.

“Storisen,” which by the Polar current is carried along the east coast,
rounds Cape Farewell, and blocks the west coast till about 64° N. lat.,
together with the west ice which comes from the ice-filled sounds in
the northern part of Baffin Bay, and in the spring months reaches as
far down as 66°—69° N. lat. On the north and north-west coasts of
Alaska and round the mouth of the Mackenzie, masses of Aretic Ocean
pack-ice lie close in to land, and prevent all intercourse except on
the smooth ice across the level innermost ice over shallow water, whieh
is used in the spring by the Eskimo when travelling by sledge from
Point Barrow and Colville River to the mouth of the Mackenzie.
Only for a couple of months does the ice withdraw and leave a narrow
open water-way between the land and the pack-ice. Of especially great
extent is the open sea west of Point Barrow, where the edge of the
pack-ice in August generally lies north of 70° N. lat., as it also does
off the mouth of the Mackenzie where the warm river-water evidently
plays some part.

In the Archipelago the conditions of ice must be treated with
especially great caution, as the waters and currents are so complicated,
and because no one has yet tried to give a collective description. The
known conditions, which can be taken as a starting point, are the
grouping of the islands, the prevailing north-west winds, with the open
waters, which have been substantiated several times by English sailing
expeditions.

A glance at the map shows with certainty that the ice-masses
can come only from the north and north-west, and on account of the
north-westerly winds there must be pressure in the direction of the
south and south-east. Through Smith Sound and the confusion of
straits between Sverdrup Islands and Parry Islands the above mentioned
west ice stretches out into Baffin Bay, but that this and, on the whole,
the pack-ice in the eastern sounds of the Archipelago are so compara-
tively inferior can only be due to the protecting islands. In the summer
numerous expeditions have passed through Lancaster Sound and Barrow
Strait. Jonn Ross and Mo. Crintrock went south through Prince
Regent Inlet and along the east coast of North Somerset and Boothia
Felix. Joun Frank1In must either have passed this way and through
Bellot Strait, or through Peel Sound and Franklin Strait to the south-
. east end of Mc. Clintock Channel, where his ships were crushed in the
pack-ice on the west-coast of King William Land. A few years later
Mc. Ciure and Coxtnson sailed in two ships from Bering Strait.
Coniinson sailed his ship to Dease Strait and extended his investiga-
tions to Victoria Strait, west of King William Land, but returned when
he saw that he could not advance further on account of the pack-ice. —
A year afterwards, he went up to the north end of Prince of Wales
Strait, but the pack-ice again blocked his way. A year previously,
Mc. Ciure had been stopped at the same spot in Prince of Wales

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 67

Strait, and when he tried to take his ship west of Banks Land he had
to leave it on the north-west coast of the island.

Right through the Archipelago, and following the direction of the
wind from north-west to south-west, runs a fairly broad water-way,
Banks Strait, which las for continuation Mc. Clintock Channel, through
which no ship has ever succeeded in passing, as it is always, winter
and summer, found blocked with pack-ice, or, as it is often designated
on English charts, hummocky ice.

Towards the north-west, Banks Strait is open to the Arctic Ocean.
Towards the south-east the Me. Clintock Channel behaves almost like
a blind alley, inasmuch as it is continued only in the narrow waters
round King William Land. It can be understood, then, how the north-
west wind presses the masses of drift-ice together in this little water-
lane, which has shown itself to be the most effective obstacle to the
navigation of the North-west Passage. Mo. Curnrock, who also found
it unnavigable by ship, thought, however, that it would be possible
for a ship to pass through Bellot Strait and Franklin Strait and then
south-east round King William Land, through Ross Strait and Simpson
Strait, and further west to Coronation Gulf, and AmuNnDsEN’s Gjéa
Expedition realized the thought of navigating the more southern
North-west Passage.

Another peculiar feature which has proved to hold good in these
Arctic regions is that the conditions of ice on the eastern coasts in-
variably are more unfavourable than on the western coasts. This
manifests itself. sharply on the east coast of Greenland as compared
with the west coast, where in Smith Sound, the ice-laden current directly
follows the coast of Ellesmere Land, while the coast opposite is free,
as is also the case in Bering Strait, where exactly corresponding
conditions exist.

The Arctic flora_is of such slight determining importance to coloni-
sation that it is unnecessary to dwell upon it. “Hardly anywhere do~
the~berry fruits and the few other edible vegetable substances have.
any influence on the ‘site of the ‘settlement: And as it is not able either
to yield any wood for implements, the occurrence of drift-wood is of /

a
greater anthropogeographical importance ", even if, in reality, there are/
many places ‘Where considerable « quantities of berries are gathered,
and ea nd eaten.

All the more attention id_to the fauna, and especially
the aquatic mammals. Of the land mammals the reindeer is most
important, in that~it--has—the_widest_distribution,-andis~huntedby—
the majority of Eskimo tribes, with the exception of those_in.the very.
so outh of Gr reenland | and “Alaska where it is no longer found, as formerly

* As to ‘supply of drift-wood to the Arctic Ocean compare map, Vol. I in
P.C. Sutertanp, Journal of a voyage in Baffin Bay, etc., 1850—51. London,
1852, Vol. Il.

ae

H. P. Steenssy.

it was hunted by the Polar Eskimo with whom the method of hunting
has been forgotten. The reindeer everywhere wander to the coast in
spring and autumn, and back again to the interior; and of special
interest are these migrations across the Rae and Boothia Isthmuses,
across Simpson Strait as also the narrow Straits at Coronation Gulf,
where the herds of reindeer in the spring go northward across the ice,
and return in the Autumn. Corresponding migrations of the musk ox,
though in an inferior degree, may have been observed across the isth-
muses, but for the rest the musk ox is a more distinctly settled ani-
mal, which keeps to a definite district. The former idea that the meat
of musk ox is not appreciated by the Eskimo is entirely wrong. The
meat of the musk ox is actually preferred to that of the reindeer,
which is generally mentioned as the favourite food of the Eskimo, and
all those tribes which live in the vicinity of musk ox districts carry
on the hunting of them with the greatest zeal. Another thing is that
the diffusion of the musk ox is confined to the Barren Grounds, the
Archipelago (with the exception of Baffin Land and Southampton
Island), and the north coast of Greenland from the Humboldt glacier
to Scoresby Sound (cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34, p. 401: map showing the
distribution of musk ox). Of other terrestrial animals the hare, which
in some places is snared, plays a réle in the support of life, while the
Polar fox provides material for clothing, and the wolf, which in the
places where it occurs in large numbers may have a decimating effect
on the reindeer stock, is regarded as an enemy to be exterminated
either by might or sleight.

At the transition between terrestrial and aquatic animals stands
the Polar bear, which also, in some places, has some economic value
for the Polar Eskimo, for whom, for example, it affords material for
the specially warm clothing which these people need during the winter;
but it is of even greater value in that it gives the Eskimo the op-
portunity to display their courage, and gives full play for their sports-
manship, besides playing an important réle in the folk-lore and
psychology. On the other hand the economic basis for the existence
of the Eskimo is seals, or more correctly, four kinds of seals: the~
Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida), the Bearded Seal (P. barbata), the Green-
land Seal (P. Groenlandica), and the Walrus. The Greenland Seal, ©
which, though it is of the greatest importance as regards South Green-
land, is of minor importance, as it dwells only in the North Atlantic
and does not visit the real Arctic waters; and where other districts
are concerned, the same may be said of the walrus. Other kinds of
seals, such as the Crested Seal at Greenland and the Fur Seals at the
Aleutian Islands, likewise play a local réle. Undoubtedly the occurrence
of the Harbour Seal (P. vitulina) is general in Southern Arctic waters,
but it is only in the most Southern part of Alaska that it is of great
importance. Of the four first mentioned seals, the Ringed Seal and

‘\

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 69

the Bearded Seal are Arctic, or, as TorELL terms them “inhabitants
of the Glacial Zone.” Moreover they are circumpolar, and the Ringed
Seal, in particular, is met with far down in the Temperate Zone. One
has come across the Ringed Seal throughout the whole of the Smith
Sound passage, and it seems that Sverprup’s Expedition first proved
its northern limit, which runs north of Parry Islands and in 90° W.
long. to Grinnell Land. It occurs in quantities along the north coast of
the American Continent and around Bering Strait as far as 60° N. lat.
Its favourite abode is in long and deep fjords or inside skerries, where
the water during nine months of the year is covered by smooth winter
ice, and in such places it is found all the year round, sometimes in im-
mense quantities. Fasrictus! says of this seal: ‘The ice is its proper
element, on which and in the presence of which it prefers to be.
This, however, must be understood to mean the firm, flat ice, not
the drift-ice, where it is seldom found, except on the loose pieces
which calve out from the fjords.” W1nGE® says of the Ringed Seal
that “it iikes best to be where ice is lying; it prefers the firm, flat
ice, and for this reason lives preferably in fjords which are frozen
over during the whole year; it then, itself, pushes and scratches holes
in the ice and the overlying snow, in order to be able to blow, or,
in addition, to creep up to rest, or it helps itself by means of holes
or eracks which appear during ebb-tide and flood-tide, or by the
calving of the icebergs.” In the spring it brings forth its young in
a snow burrow, and, when the snow melts owing to the rays of the
sun, creeps up on the ice to sun itself. Besides being caught by
the commonly employed Maupok method, and, also, at the spring-
hunting of the seals lying on the ice (Utok hunting), it is caught in
nets in some places in Alaska, and, in recent times, has in many
places been captured with firearms. While the quantities of Ringed
Seal provide the Eskimo with nutriment and fuel, the Bearded Seal,
which occurs in small numbers, is significant on account of its strong
skin, because this provides material for thongs and coverings for boats.
It is also a very northern form, which by preference keeps to the

great surface of water outside the fjords. It is found at Greenland and ¥

in the Archipelago. Murpocu® mentions it at Point Barrow. Around
Bering Strait it is extremely rare, and, according to ALLEN‘, it has
never been seen at the Pribilov Islands. Like the Greenland Seal in

South Greenland and Labrador it must be hunted for thoice with a *¥

harpoon from a kayak. The walrus is the one seal which is most
particular in the choice of its abode. It requires a not too deep
bottom, with an abundant occurrence of testaceous animals, together

1 Fapricius, IV, p. 82.
2 WINGE, p. 432,

® Murvoca, I, p. 56.

4 ALLEN, p. 669.

70 ° H. P. Steenspy.

with a special combination of current and ice. It is distributed over
two localities, which have no reciprocal connection. According to
Norpeuist! and Error? the walrus north of Bering Strait goes only
to Point Beechey (ca. 150° W. long.) on the north coast of Alaska. In
the Archipelago it is not known to have been observed to the west
of a line from south to north through Boothia and North Somerset.
As will be mentioned later it is only in certain places that it plays a
principal réle in the life of the inhabitants. Among the numerous
kinds of whales which live and have lived in the Arctic Sea regions
there are only 3 which have been of great importance for the Eskimo,
and they are the Greenland whale (Balena mysticetus), the White

Whale (Delphinopterus leucas), and the Narwhal (Monodon monoceros).

Their occurrence is common in the northern parts of both oceans, as
is their regular migration from North to South according to the season
of the year and the extension of the ice. In the summer they go
along the north coast of Alaska to the open waters off the mouth of
the Mackenzie River; but in Coronation Gulf and the waters round
King William Land no whales are found. In Bellot Strait White
Whales were, however, observed by the Mc. Crintock Expedition, so
it is not unreasonable to assume that the indicated packing of the ice
through Banks Strait and Me. Clintock Channel sets a boundary to
the migrations of the whales towards the west.

After this short geographical description the distribution of the
Eskimo ean briefly be expressed by stating that they inhabit the coasts
of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay, the coasts of the southern North-west
Passage and those of the Alaska Peninsula, or, in other words, all the
places where seals occur in abundant quantity; and, as the occurrence
of these in the Archipelago and in all the pronouncedly Arctic regions
is contingent upon the winter ice, it may be added that, as regards
these districts, the condition is that the sea regions shall be protected
against the intrusion of the pack-ice.

Franz Boas was the first to make clear the significance of the
winter ice for the Eskimo settlement. Former investigators had regarded

‘)the sea ice in all its forms almost as an unavoidable obstruction and

enemy rather than as a necessary basis and condition for existence.

Boas pointed out that, as regards the settlement, the pack-ice and the ~
‘smooth winter ice were in their effect two opposing elements, in that

/the first is an impediment to hunting and intercourse while the second

/ forms the exact condition for these. His conclusions regarding the
\. winter ice, and the significance of the coast contours for the formation

) of this, Boas* set forth in the following lines:
“Besides the configuration of the land, the extent of the land ice
* Norvguist, II, p. 94.

* Exxior, IL.
* Boas, II, p. 417.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 71.

formed during the winter is of vital importance to the inhabitants of

the Arctic region, because during the greater part of the year it affords
the only means of communication between the tribes,’ and beeause~in
winter the seal, which constitutes the principal food of the Eskimo,
takes to” those parts of the coast where extensive floes are formed.
Therefore the state of the ice regulates the distribution of the natives
during the greater part of the year and must be considered in study-
ing the habits of the Eskimo. The extent of the land ice principally
depends on the configuration of the land and the strength of the
currents. On a shore exposed to a strong current an extensive floe
can only be formed where projecting points of land form deep bays.
We find the distribution of ice regulated in accordance with this fact
all around the shores of the Arctic Ocean.”

It is then not everywhere along the mentioned coasts that Eskimo
can live. The region is broken up into a series of separate territories
or centres for population, consisting of protected fjords, sounds and
inner waters. This holds good of all the Arctic coasts, whereas along
the Subarctic coasts where hunting on the ice is dropped the settle-
ments generally are more continuously distributed along the coast.

In the following, the economic culture of each of these natural
groups will be investigated with a special view to its adaptation to
the local conditions of nature. When the whole series is described,
which here is only to be done briefly and with emphasis upon the
type, it will be decided which of these nuances of adaptation is the
original one, and in which district it has its home.

The first group to be mentioned consists of the Baffinlanders,
especially studied by Boas, after which come the Labrador Eskimo,
and then comes the Polar Eskimo group, the most northern but not
the most pronouncedly Arctic people amongst the Eskimo, and then
follows the group of West Greenland, from Melville Bay to Cape Fare-
well, with which there will be some mention of that most interesting
tribe at Angmagsalik on the east coast of Greenland. The following
groups will be the Eskimo of the Melville Peninsula, the Kinipetu
tribe which inhabits the southern part_of the Barren Grounds west_of
Chesterfield Inlet, the Netchillik Eskimo or the tribes at the waters

“between King William Land and the mainland, the tribes around
Coronation Gulf, the Mackenzie Eskimo, the inhabitants of the coasts
of the Arctic Ocean west of Point Barrow, the Eskimo tribe on the
west side of Bering Strait, the inhabitants of Norton Sound with the
Yukon Delta, of Kadjak with neighbouring isles and coasts as also the
Aleutian Islands.

With the description of these sections essential regard is paid to
geographical conditions and none at all to the immediate numeric
distribution. A consideration of this may, however, also be of interest.
When one reckons that there are 40,000 Eskimo altogether, about

17

¥ }

72 H. P. Steenssy.

12,500 belonging to Danish Greenland and Labrador and 14,500 to
South of Bering Strait. In other words the central Arctic regions
which are several times greater in extent and coast lengths than the
Subarctic regions have only '/; of the total number of Eskimo, here
grouped in a few districts, while on the Subartic coasts the form of
settlement is more regular.

For the rest , List be remembered that the Eskimo are not

_pssentially resident,\ but that they change their residence in accordance
ith the change of the seasons and the altered conditions of hyating)
It would therefore be more correct to talk about constantly a
regularly visited regions than about fixed inhabited ones. The deserted
settlements which are found on numerous coasts, and may sometimes.
be judged to be of considerable age, are evidently also connected with
this roaming. Boas, who has subjected this question to investigation,
rejects the conclusion which has at times been drawn that the Eskimo
in past days inhabited several Arctic coasts which they left later in_
consequence of deterioration in the climate and the freezing of the
sea. He finds sufficient explanation in the periodical shiftings which
take place even today on the boundaries of the areas which are in-
habited permanently. He even draws a parallel between the boundary
line for the distribution of the Eskimo and the northern limit of woodland,
which latter is not, however, a definite line, either, but a belt within —
which the woodland region advances towards the north in favourable
periods only to recede during subsequent and unfavourable ones,
leaving dead and dried up stumps. As reasons why the Eskimo feel
inclined to look for new hunting grounds Boas mentions the periodical ~
changes in the conditions of the ice, the evacuation of old hunting
grounds by animals worth hunting, and the pressure from neighbouring, —
Ch) tribes, and he thinks that the question of the periodical migrations
and the origin of the deserted settlements may be solved by a study
of the wanderings which the Eskimo undertake at the present time.
That Boas is right in his view that the deserted dwellings are not
due to an earlier fixed settlement is indubitable. In my paper on
the Polar Eskimo! I have tried to give a more precise explanation
for the occurrence of the deserted abodes in the northern and western
parts of the Archipelago, in that I have associated the migrations
with the occurrence of the musk ox and the comparatively rapid decima-
tion of this animal by reckless hunting, and also with the poorness
of these somewhat northern regions in seals and fish, which might
serve as a support in times of stress. The views then expressed by
me have later been confirmed by the observations of V. SrEFANSSON,
published in 1913. This author, who speaks Eskimo, and has lived
in near contact with the Eskimo from Point Barrow to Coronation

1M. o. G., Vol. 34, pp. 395 sqq.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 73

Gulf, has specially added to our knowledge about the Eskimo tribes
which group themselves around Coronation Gulf. His observations
and experiences as regards the occurrence of the musk ox he com-
prises in these indubitably correct words: “It is the nature of the
musk ox that it cannot long survive in any country inhabited by a
hunting people. We find nowadays that the range of the musk ox
and the range of the Eskimo are mutually exclusive, for the Eskimo
always exterminate those within their range. Their hunting method
allows of nothing else, for when a dog or two have been set on a
band of musk oxen they will hold the animals in one place indefinitely
and give the Eskimo time to kill them at leisure.”

By examining the kitchen-middens in North Alaska, Sreransson!
found evidence that the Eskimo had there hunted the musk ox,
and from the traditions of the Eskimo he thought that he was able
to calculate that the last musk oxen must have been killed about
1860. Immediately east of Mackenzie Delta, musk oxen have been
slain within the memory of man. Around Coronation Gulf the animal
has now disappeared within the region which the Eskimo can easily
reach when on their hunting expeditions; on Victoria Island it is only
found on the rarely visited north coast; on Banks Island musk oxen
are numerous, and something similar holds good of the other side
the interior ion rounds robably it is also the
Eskimo who have exterminated the musk ox in the Melville Peninsula
and in Baffin Land, inasmuch as these lands are not so large that
the relatively numerous groups of Eskimo living at the coasts cannot
chase the much sought after game. Only the interior and more
inhospitable islands in the Archipelago to the north of Boothia and

“Victoria Island, which are cut off by means of pack-ice, have, like
the Barren Grounds, been able to afford the musk ox hiding places

and by-places where the small wandering groups of Eskimo have not_

Sy There small hunting groups

— as I have previously pointed out — either had to become extinct
or advance further “along the musk ox track,” and must then, in
most cases, have landed in Greenland. On comparing a map of
districts with deserted Eskimo ruins (for example, THALBITZER in
M. o. G., Vol. 31) with a map of the distribution of the musk oxen
(M. 0. G., Vol. 34, p. 401) the conformity is immediately apparent;
the region is essentially the same. Or, to phrase it differently,
it may be said that most of the districts where the Eskimo are
now extinct, or from which they have vanished, lie inside the present
range of distribution of the musk ox, and there is hardly any doubt
that these two points, the Eskimo becoming extinct and the self-
assertion of the musk ox, are to a certain extent reciprocally and
correlatively connected.

‘ rer Anison, II, p. 450 and p. 455.

74 H. P. Srerenspy.

It is impressed on one in several places in the border districts
how colonization which is in a permanent state of progression and
retrogression, together with this settlement of hunting groups consisting
of a few families, plays an inferior réle, and may even be overlookedy
in this extensive region with its violent nature. As an example, shall
be mentioned Banks Island, on the east side of which, at Prince of
Wales Strait, Mc. CLure and Coxtrnson found such a quantity of
ruined dwellings that they felt tempted to believe that the district
was still visited, had not the ruins been covered with moss, the
drift-wood been lying untouched on the beach, and Me. Cuure’s cairns
and depéts of provisions been found by Coxrinson to be undisturbed.
The Englishmen had some reason in believing in_a more permanent
settlement here, as they came across a small ¢ribe/of Eskimo at Prince
Albert Sound which was not far distant. The tribe, of which the
most important centres of refuge are Prince Albert Sound and Minto
Inlet, has again been heard of quite lately, in that it was rediscovered
in the spring of 1910 by Sreransson, who thinks that here he has
found a tribe with numerous fair individuals, the so called ‘blond
Eskimos.’”” The divers problems which the observation of this local
phenomenon calls into existence are not to be dealt with here, as they
lie outside our immediate task. Here will only be stated, however, \
that SrEFANsson will have it that Banks Island, at Mc. Ciure’s time,
really was inhabited by an Eskimo tribe which had its abode at
Prince of Wales Strait, and that this tribe found Me. Crure’s ship
“Investigator” a couple of years after it had been deserted in Mercy
Bay on the north coast of the island; thereby, together with the
Eskimo at Prince Albert Sound, this tribe attained certain significance
within the Coronation Gulf domain, because its members became
distributors of iron, timber and other goods from the ship. Later
on, or presumably towards 1890, this tribe in Banks Island is said
to have become extinct on account of the occurrence of various’ kinds
of famine.

The view, that the dying out of the Eskimo in certain districts
should be connected with a deterioration in the climatic conditions
or the like, has often been expressed.

There can be no doubt that this is generally wrong. The reason ™
for Eskimo groups, which are not in contact with Europeans, be-
coming decimated at some periods, while at others they are perhaps
increasing, must be sought for exclusively within the real setting for
Eskimo life, and amongst the effects which this exercises on the
surrounding conditions of nature. Among these ‘effects must be
emphasized, as mentioned, the depredatory hunting of musk ox.
Within the range of the musk ox and in ‘the course of the 19th
century, Eskimo, now extinct, lived on the north east coast of

* Greenland, where CLavertne and Sastne in August 1823 came across

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 75

a small group of 12 Eskimo who lived in a tent on Clavering Island
(74° N. lat.). It is not inconceivable, however, that changes in the
animal life of the sea, for instance of the Great Whales from the
north east coast of Greenland in the first half of the 19th century,
may also have been concurrent causes for the extinction of the
Eskimo. . ;

The conditions become quite changed in those places where the

Europeans appear; there European influence may bring about great

alternations in the Eskimo settlement. In Greenland one has seen ~

how the trading and mission stations have attracted the Eskimo.
The same state of affairs, only with more conscientious intention,
has been caused by the Moravian Brethren in Labrador. How contact
with the E an culture can destroy almost entire Eskimo tribes was
Seep_in_early times in South Alaska, and_in recent times in North

Alaska since the American whale hunters have advanced as far_as
Point Barrow and the mouth of Mackenzie River. In Baffin Land, at
Cumberland Sound, and on the south coast, the whaling stations have
from remote districts attracted the Baffinlanders.

Finally, in this place may be intimated a solution of the problem,
which to SHERARD OSBORN was so strange, viz., that in Lancaster
Sound almost all the deserted Eskimo settlements lay on the north
side. This is no doubt connected with the conditions of the ice. If,
thus, the forming of a settlement is so dependent on the ice that the
pack-ice renders it impossible while the smooth winter ice is a
necessary condition, it can be understood that the prevalent north-
west winds must fill up the southern coasts of the passage with
pack-ice: while there will be more prospect of smooth ice forming on
the north side. It is this condition, probably, which has caused the
Eskimo, who are accurate connaisseurs of the conditions of nature,
. not often to have felt tempted to try a more permanent settlement
on the southern coasts of these waters.

A

/

Cf

76 H. P. Steenspy.

The Representative Types of the Economic Culture
of the Eskimo.

In the following description of types, the object is first to
show which geographical features — both physical-geographical and
biogeographical — determine the Economic Culture of the Eskimo,
and then to point out the methods (hunting methods, methods of
conveyance, etc.) by means of which the Eskimo adapt themselves
to the prevailing conditions. Next, an endeavour will be made, by
a comparison of the different types of economic culture, to find out
the original one, and therefore it is evident, that in all the descrip-
tions it will be necessary, as far as possible, to go back to the ori-
ginal conditions before European and American influence interfered
with the indigenous culture.

Baifin Land.

Baffin Land has the form of a broad arch which connects the two north-
eastern peninsulas of North America, Melville and Labrador. It is separated
from the former by the narrow Fury and Hecla Strait, and from the latter
by the broader Hudson Strait, across the western end of which a chain of
islands forms a bridge. Lastly, Baffin Land, with North Devon and Elles-
mere Land as a northern link, form a natural connecting link between the
American continent and Greenland. While the outer or north-eastern coast-
line has been explored and surveyed almost everywhere, this is not the case with
the inner south-western coast-line, which is known only from a few visits,

and from Eskimo records. This much, however, is known, that this inner

coast-line is low and fairly unbroken in comparison with the north-western,
lofty, rocky coast which has numerous deep fjords, rocky isles and ranges
of skerries. By the two larger indentations, Cumberland Sound and Frobisher
Bay, the south-eastern part of Baffin Land is divided into three peninsulas,
the northernmost of which, Cumberland, is occupied by a lofty mountain- chain,
about 600 metres in height, which, along the coast, is continued towards
north-west as far as Lancaster Sound. Towards south-west, this chain passes
through a hilly headland into a level stretch of land which is continued to
Fox basin. The two other peninsulas, Penny Land and Meta Incognita, and
also Luke Fox Land, the south-eastern corner of Baffin Land, are equally

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 77

mountainous, and the mountains fall abruptly towards the sea, forming a
highly rugged coast, while inland they sink towards the large lakes Amadjuak
and Nettilling. The geological material of which Baffin Land is built up
consists, as regards the mountain-tracts, of granite and gneiss, which are
also predominant in the hilly headland. The level country, on the other
hand, consists of silurian limestone. A continuous covering of land-ice does
not occur; but ice-sheets usually cover the interior regions of the high land.

Although this great high-land is by no means difficult of access from
the sea, owing to the fact that the amount of ice carried by the current
which flows southwards along the coast from the southern sounds in Baffin
Bay is not so considerable as that carried along the east coast of Greenland,
yet it has been very little visited by scientific expeditions. The discovery of
the country dates right back to Martin Fropisuer, 1576, and his successors,
Davis and Barrin, and afterwards the Dutch and the British carried on
whale hunting in the neighbourhood of its coasts, but our knowledge, as
regards its nature and inhabitants, dates exclusively from the 19th century.
Since 1818, when Jonn Ross made his first voyage, Baffin Land has been
visited by a series of ship-expeditions, whose object, however, was more to
survey the coasts than to make geographical and ethnographical observations
proper. From 1840 the whalers adopted a new mode of procedure; they
established winter stations on land in Cumberland Sound, whence they could
begin whaling immediately the ice broke up in the summer. Simultaneously, .
they came into close contact with the Eskimo, whom they employed, and
paid with European goods. An attempt made by the Moravian Brethren
in 1857 to carry on missionary work in Baffin Land was abandoned, on the
grounds, that it was impossible to get hold of the population so long as
they were dependent on the whaling stations, which exercised a highly
demoralising influence upon them. Of recent years a missionary station
has, however, been maintained on Blacklead Island in Cumberland Gulf,
where, more particularly, the well-known missionary and Eskimo-friend,
E. Y. Peck, who is also known in Hudson Bay, has been working. As regards
science, we owe almost nothing to the whalers, for the latter, as a rule, had
no interests of this nature. But in this respect, also, some change has taken
place recently. Both Franz Boas and A. P. Low have made much use of
the information they obtained from American and Scottish whaling captains,
and among these, Captain Groree Comer from East Haddon in Connecticut
should especially be mentioned; his area of observation was, however, more
particularly Hudson Strait and the western side of Hudson Bay.

A better knowledge of Baffin Land and the Baffinlanders dates from
C. F. Hatw’s stay near Frobisher Bay during 1860—62, and from the Howgate
Expedition to Cumberland Sound in 1877—78. But none of these expeditions
— the latter of which has been described by L. KumMtien — has yielded results
which can be compared with those derived from the studies made by F. Boas
at Cumberland Sound from August 1885 to August 1884. Boas, in a series
of papers, has given a full account of his important voyage.

78 H. P. Sreenspy.

Along the shores of Baffin Land the Arctic Current prevents the formation
of smooth winter-ice off the precipitous, projecting cliffs, and permits of it
only in the bays. Far to the north, where the shore is protected by the
Bylot Island cutting off a large part of the sea, a small Eskimo tribe resides.
Between Bylot Island and the narrowest part of Davis Strait an almost
continuous fringe of rather smooth ice is formed, the formation of which is
rendered possible by the presence of the many smaller peninsulas which are
usually continued as shoals, and upon which the larger masses of ice run
aground and collect as a bulwark against the destructive pack-ice. South of
Cape Dyer the current is so strong that winter-ice can be formed in the
bays only. On the evidence, partly of journals kept by whalers through a long
series of years, and partly of his own and HALL’s observations, Boas! has
made a close study of the ice conditions in Cumberland Sound. By a con-
striction, the centre of which is situated 65° N. lat. and 65° W. long.,
Cumberland Sound is divided into an outer and an inner part, of which
the outer, owing to the strong tidal currents, never freezes. In the inner,
an ice-covering is formed every autumn, the concave edge of which usually
‘vests on two projections situated opposite to each other, and does not
increase further in extent during winter. When the ice, during autumn, has
attained considerable thickness, and has been strengthened by the freezing-in
of icebergs and floes, it enlarges no further, as the pack-ice set in motion
by violent currents is able to prevent an enlargement of the sheet from the
addition of fresh masses of ice. Consequently, the extent of the ice is
wholly dependent on weather conditions during autumn. The smaller fjord-
branches freeze even in October, and the open parts of Cumberland Sound
in November; but in the case of storms the ice may break up once or
several times before it ultimately becomes vermanent. And in the narrow
entrances to the interior fjords there is open water throughout the whole
winter, owing to the violent currents. Throughuut June the ice may still
be traversed by means of sledges, and not until in July or even in August
does the ice break up. The fact should be noted that the ice does not
disappear by thawing, but as the result of the destructive power of the
waves, Therefore, so long as the winter-ice has a broad edging of pack-ice,
it remains.

In Baffin Land reindeer are found, and here as elsewhere they migrate
to and fro between the coast and the interior, but they hardly occur in~
such great numbers as on the northern peninsulas of the continent®. Of
aquatic mammals the Ringed Seal is the most important, both on account
of its abundance and because it is constantly present, whether the sea is open
or is ice-bound*. On the other hand, the larger species of seal leave
the coast when the*sea freezes over, and the same applies to the walrus,

* Boas, VI.
* Boas, II, p. 438.
* Boas, I, p. 471.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 79

which also betakes itself outside the ice-edge. The Arctic Right Whale (Ba-
laena mysticetus) which was hunted formerly by the Eskimo has long been of
no importance along these coasts.

As regards the economic life of the Baffinlanders the year is divided
into two principal parts, a short period with open salt and fresh waters,
which is spent in the interior for the purpose of hunting reindeer and
catching salmon, and a long period which embraces about three quarters o
the year, during which the sea is covered with ice. In the latter period
hunting the Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida) is the chief means of subsistence, and |
the movements of the settlement depend on the movements of the game.\
With the exception of a few places where they travel to the ice-edge to \
carry on walrus hunting, the Baffinlanders live throughout the winter on
the ice and are not dependent on the open sea for their livelihood. af

It should be remembered that the inhabitants of Fury and Hecla
Strait are most closely connected with the Melville Peninsula, and that
the west coast of Baffin Land towards Boothia Gulf and Prince Regent
Strait and also towards Fox Basin is uninhabited or rarely visited, while

the eastern coasts have a more constant Eskimo-population. Boas has

established a long series of groups or tribes, each of which has its principal
residence in one of the larger indentations, and among which the inhabitants
of Cumberland Sound, the so-called Oqomiut, are the most characteristic.
According to his statements there must be altogether about a thousand
Baffinlanders on the north, east, and south coasts. As regards their culture

/ he gives as a type the Oqgomiut group around Cumberland Sound, or more

properly that portion of them whose home is. on the north side of the
sound, because the western inhabitants, the Talirpingmiut, spend so great a
part of the year around Nettilling Lake that they approach an inland tribe
in their mode of living.

In his maps of Baffin Land Boas gives the different settlements for /

four seasons of the year, which he calls spring, summer, autumn and winter,

On comparing, on Boas’s map of Cumberland Sound, the position of the ~

autumn and winter settlements it is seen that there is hardly any difference
beyond the fact that the latter have been moved further out on the ice
or skerries. As the result of the summer reindeer-hunting is not so con-
siderable that a large supply can be stored for winter use, it is necessary
for the Eskimo to begin seal hunting as soon as the sea is ice-covered. The
first weeks are spent near the coast, because it is dangerous to venture too
far at this time of year, when the ice easily breaks up; at this period
the Ringed Seal is caught in openings in the ice caused by currents, and at
holes kept open by the movements of an enclosed iceberg; later on, when
the iceberg freezes fast, the Ringed Seal must be sought further out, where
it is taken especially by the Maupok method. In the month of March the
snow burrows in which the seals have brought forth their young are sought;

? Boas, II, p. 461.

vows

80 H. P. Sreenspy.

and ultimately, during spring, the seals which sun themselves on the ice
are hunted (Utok hunting). Throughout the period spent on the ice snow
houses are used as dwellings, and the people live more or less scattered, in
accordance with the necessities of the chase.

During summer a further scattering takes place. The main part of the
Baffinlanders go inland for the purpose of fishing and hunting reindeer; but
in certain localities small groups of them remain on the coast to hunt the
larger species of seal and the walrus, and, formerly, the whale. In the interior
of the country the tents are pitched in those valleys which lead from the
interior to the coast, and along which the reindeer herds must pass on their
wanderings. The method of reindeer hunting mostly followed is to kill them
from the kayak while they are swimming across a river or lake. The hunters
either lie in wait at a river where reindeer herds are accustomed to arrive,
or the herds are driven into the water from narrow peninsulas or by means
of two converging rows of stones. Such rows of stones, usually leading into
a lake or into the sea, occur everywhere in Baffin Land, and some of them
appear to be very old'. Salmon are caught with the three-pronged spear.
To lure fish, an artificial bait is used; artificial dams are also thrown up
to shut out the fish from the sea. Fishing hooks are used, and very old
forms have been found.

During summer the larger seals and the White Whale are captured
from kayaks, and in former times the large White Whales were pursued in
the umiak, The umiaks play the most important réle along the outer coasts
of Davis Strait itself, where the sea is open for a longer time than within
Cumberland Sound. According to Boas’s® observations just the reverse is the
case as regards the kayak. Even in 1884 many years had passed since any
kayak had been built at the fjords of the east side of the Cumberland
peninsula.

The dog sledge is, however, the Baffinlanders’ chief means of conveyance;
it is nowhere wanting, and it is of especial importance as regards seal
hunting on ice during winter. Frequently, only two forms of dwellings
are used, the tent during the summer and the snow house during the winter;
but occasionally more solidly built houses of stone and earth are also built.
From the numerous ruins Boas concludes that in former times such houses
were more frequently used than at the present day. The houses are rounded
and are frequently dug in the slope of a hill-side. The roof has usually been

supported by whale-ribs and was of seal skins stretched over the whale-ribs —

and covered with a thick layer of Andromeda and over that a layer of earth.
Each house has as a rule been occupied by two families. In kind, and partly
in form, the implements of the Baffinlanders resemble in most points those
of the Greenlanders. Intercourse with Europeans has now produced changes
in the material, but not to any great degree in the forms.

' Boas, Il, p. 501.
2 1, p. 486.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 81

According to Boas’s investigations there can hardly be any doubt as
regards the route by which the Baffinlanders have migrated into their present
coastal districts. From the Melville peninsula they have followed the trans-
verse hollows of the country, which as a rule are continued as deeper indenta-
tions to the east coast. From here one stream has gone northwards across
North Devon to Smith Sound, while another has gone from the south
coast of Baffin Land across the bridge formed by the islands in the west
end of Hudson Strait to Labrador. The features given by Boas of the
economic culture of the Baffinlanders, and especially of their annual economic
cycle, show distinctly that their original economic culture has been of an
Arctic character’.

Labrador.

The peninsula of Labrador is a mountainous country which consists of
old eruptive rocks, and towards its north-eastern coast rises to considerable
heights. From an anthropogeographical point of view it is divided into
two different parts, (1) the interior occupied by numerous lakes, bare rocks,
and woods, and (2) the lofty, indented, rocky coasts of the north-east and
north-west sides, which, like the east coast of Baffin Land have a fringe of
skerries.

Corresponding to this separation is the division of the population into
Indians and Eskimo, the former inhabiting the whole of the interior of the
peninsula, and the latter the coasts inclosed by the skerries. What is especially
peculiar to the sea here is the enormous tidal movement; the difference
between low-tide and high-tide having been registered to be on an average
12 metres, capable at times of rising to 20 metres. In consequence the current
through Hudson Strait is very strong and only the skerry-protected inclosure
is covered with a level layer of ice during winter, while the unconfined sea
is open and filled with drifting floes. TurNER*, who mentions the dangerous
navigation along the north coast of Labrador says: “In August and Sep-
tember the strait is comparatively free from large floes, but after this period
_ the seas, fjords and other protected waters may freeze over in a single night.”
But, as a rule, the protected waters, to which not even the floes have direct
admittance, are free from ice from May till sometime before December. In
spite of the comparatively low latitude, the flora of the cliffs and the marine
fauna very nearly approximate purely Arctic forms. The seals, which were
formerly extremely abundant, have now diminished greatly in numbers, in
consequence of the persecution inflicted on them by the seal-clubbers; but
the Ringed Seal and the Greenland Seal still occur in great numbers, The
walrus is said previously to have lived far within the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
where the last of them is said to have been exterminated on Magdalene
Island by English fishermen ®.

1 Boas, I and II.

* Turner, I, p. 172.

* A.S. Pacxarp, I, p. 70.

LUT. 6

82 ' H. P. STEENSBY.

; As regards the supply of wood for boats and implements, the Labrador
| Eskimo procure this not only from drift-wood, and from the willows and

alders of the coast, but also by travelling 40—100 kilometres up the course
of the rivers, which brings them within the forest-limit. Such sledge journeys
are made during winter by the inhabitants of the north-eastern coasts’.

In contradistinction to the inhabitants of Baffin Land and Greenland,
whose distribution is limited only by natural conditions, the Labrador Eskimo
are excluded from the interior of.the country by the presence of the Indians.

As might be expected, the relations between the two people are of a
hostile character because both aspire to the lordship of the reindeer hunting
in the coastal districts. Since the Eskimo must be regarded as having
immigrated from the north across Hudson Strait, we may be justified in
concluding that they were the last to arrive. This, however, does not appear.
to be the case. According to Lucien M. Turner, who has made Labrador
the object of a thorough ethnographical investigation, the Indians were the
last to immigrate. On the basis of the folklore of the two people and on
their own traditional ideas, the author in question thinks that he can prove
that the Indian population of the interior and northern districts of Labrador
have immigrated at a comparatively late period; perhaps they have been
expelled from the south. The fact of their being Algonkin Indians favours

the belief that they have come from the regions between the St. Lawrence
and the Hudson, but the question whether they found the Eskimo on the
coasts and whether these were at that time the only inhabitants of Labrador
does not require any answer in this connection. The same is applicable to
the other interesting question regarding the previous distribution of the
Eskimo along the coasts of the Atlantic, which is connected with the problem
of the Scandinavian Greenlander’s collision with the Eskimo or the Indians.
As the example from the west coast of Greenland shows, the Eskimo Arctic
culture may very well be changed into a more Subarctic form if only a
sufficient abundance of marine mammals is present, but it must be maintained
that on a coast in the temperate zone the Eskimo culture must lose all its
peculiar character, or it would, in other words, meet an anthropogeogra-
phical limit. It is probable that the Gulf of St. Lawrence has formerly been
inhabited by an Eskimo population, which, however, even in the days of
“discovery” were greatly hustled by the Algonkin Abenakies; till somewhat
within the 17th century the eastern part of the north coast of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence is said to have been inhabited by the Eskimo. At the present —
day Hamilton Fjord, at 54° N. lat., is the southern limit of the Eskimo;
but they formerly lived at the Strait of Belle Isle, and even in historic times
occasionally visited Newfoundland, whence they fetched wood®. But their
standing in these southern regions was probably one of contest. So long a8
the region in question has been visited by Europeans the Abenakies have
made war on the Eskimo; but even if the former have been the last to

* A.S. Packarp, II, p. 69.
* A.S. Packarn, I, pp. 245, 252, 257, etc.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 83

immigrate, the Eskimo have probably met other inhabitants about the Gulf
of St. Lawrence. Thus, there are several indications of the Beothuk tribe
being the residue of a people which has been supplanted by the Eskimo and
the Abenakies and has possibly had a wider distribution.

* Although the southern part of Labrador had already been visited by
Cartier, and although Cazor in 1498 had seen the northern part from Hudson
Strait, Davis, as a result of his voyage in 1586, was the first to give a detailed
account of the country. In the 17th and 18th centuries there had been a
kind of commercial intercourse between the Eskimo and the European
fishermen and sea] hunters, but it often led to hostility and reciprocal deeds
of violence. Cartwricut', who himself traded with the Eskimo, says that
the Eskimo Indians have always been regarded as the most savage tribe in
the whole of the American continent, and he gives instances of their murders
and robberies. Not until the Moravian Brethren had begun their missionary
work did more peaceful and honest trading relations gradually develop. It
was in 1752 that the Moravian Brethren first visited Labrador, but not
until 1771 was the first missionary station established, which did not come
off without blood-shed as the Eskimo regarded it as an attempt of the
dreaded fishermen to gain a footing in their country. At the present day
the mission has six stations, which all lie on the north-east coast between
55° and 59° N. lat.?

Besides the Eskimo on the north coast there are, according to L. M.
TURNER, two other groups in Labrador which are less known, of which the
one lives along the south side of Hudson Strait, west of Ungava Bay, or
mainly on that coast of Labrador which is situated north of 60° N. lat.,
while the other lives on the east side of Hudson Bay between 53° and
58° N. lat.

The Labradors possess the usual implements. The kayak is more
commonly used on the sea than was the case in Cumberland Sound. During
the summer, seals and White Whales are pursued from kayaks, and on these
are found the usual appurtenances known from Greenland, viz., harpoon and
floats, lances and bird darts*. On journeys the umiak is used; it has not
become a woman’s boat to so great an extent as it has in Greenland. During
winter, travelling is facilitated by the use of snow shoes and dog sledges,
and, judging from TuRNeER’s and Packarp’s descriptions, the dog sledges are
more especially used for travelling on the frozen waters of the interior than
on the sea ice. As regards dwellings, according to Turner, the heathen
Eskimo who live at Ungava Bay use only tents and snow houses. Winter
houses with stone walls and roofs of timber, the ruins of which are found
in several places, are no longer used. In 1777, at the Nain of today, Cranz*
is said to have seen a meeting house, a large snow house, which had a

1 CartTwRriGut, p. 1 sqq.

? A.S. Pacxarp, I, p. 275.

5 L. M. Turner, I, pp. 235 sqq.

* According to A.S. Packarp, I, p. 254.

6*

84 H. P. Sreenssy.

height of above 4 metres and an under surface of 6°5 metres square. The
real time for hunting is the summer half of the year, or, to put it more
exactly, the period from May to December’. During these months the
Eskimo families live scattered on different hunting grounds. When, in the
spring, the time for the breaking up of the ice approaches, the tent, umiak
and kayak are packed on the dog sledge, and brought to the outermost
skerries. If the ice outside these is not broken up, the men hunt reindeer,
hares and other game on land, and afterwards carry on seal hunting from
the kayak; while the women and children collect eggs. Towards the end of
June, according to Koon, and after June 25th, according to Turner, the
seals, which have been wandering northwards, are less numerous. Now the
whole family sails again to the mainland and settles down at the various
rivers to carry on salmon fishing during July and August. Then comes the
time for going inland to hunt from the kayak the reindeer swimming in
herds across the rivers. This hunting is continued until the rutting season
has begun and the males have become lean. The season is now so far
advanced that ice has already begun to form along the sea coast, and it is
necessary to resort to the coast before the running water freezes. At the
sea coast, where they settle down for the winter, they live for a time on
the deposited meat of the reindeer, and of the small game which is caught in
traps, until the ice-covering on the fresh waters is strong enough to enable
them to fetch on dog-sledges all the spoil of the reindeer hunt. Consequently,
from November to May, they live at the winter settlements, as regards the
Moravian-Brethren-Eskimo this means the missionary station. At this period,
while the sea is still open, seal hunting is first carried on from a kayak,
while afterwards, when the ice begins to form, the seals and White Whales
enclosed in openings in the ice are hunted, or nets are set, and still later,
net-hunting ceases and hunting on ice is carried on. But ice-hunting is
evidently of comparatively slight importance in Labrador. Here the most
profitable methods of hunting are seal and White-Whale hunting from a
kayak, and the autumn-hunting of reindeer.

The Polar Eskimo.

We are here using the name Polar Eskimo, a name prevalent in Danish
literature, to indicate a small group of Eskimo, numbering about 200 souls, ~
who live on the north-west coast of Greenland between 76° and 79° N. lat.
This the northernmost group of all the inhabitants of the earth, was dis-
covered by Joun Ross in 1818, and in the following century they had for
a long time only very irregular intercourse with the white race. But froth
1891 to 1909 during which time Peary undertook his famous expeditions

‘ H.R. Kocu, pp. 160 sqq.; Turner, I, pp. 202 sqq.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 85

and made lengthy sojourns among the Polar Eskimo, they came into more
regular connection with civilization and its products, of which they had
special use for wood, and, besides, quickly learned to appreciate firearms.
It was just in the latter year — 1909 — that the Danish Eskimo-explorer,
Kyup Rasmussen, who, even during the years 1903—1904, had together
with L. Mytius-Ertcusen lived among the Polar Eskimo, began a series of
new expeditions to these regions, and along with this some undertakings for
the benefit of this small tribe. Thus, in 1909 Knup RasmussEN conducted
the establishment of a missionary station near North Star Bay, and later
on a trading station was founded, likewise under his auspices, at Umanark
near Wolstenholm Sound. These events and undertakings have been instrumental
in greatly improving the conditions pertaining to the means of subsistence
of the Polar Eskimo, as in their Polar Bear and fox skins they have products
which insure them no small purchasing power.

Notwithstanding this, the economic culture of the Eskimo has altered
but slightly, and at any rate it is yet easy to form an opinion of the tribe’s
original conditions of life and economic culture in the course of the year.
I have lately treated this question in M. o. G., Vol. 34, (Contributions to the
Ethnology and Anthropogeography of the Polar Eskimo, pp. 268 sqq.), to which
the reader is referred for fuller notes on the subject; here it will suffice to
give a brief survey.

What strikes us as most peculiar as regards the geography of these
northern regions is their long summer-day and their unbroken winter-night,
each of about equal duration. In the regions near Cape York the winter-
night lasts about 102 days; or to the 11th of February. This circumstance
does not, however, play such a direct réle in the Eskimo culture as might
be expected. In these high latitudes it is the smooth ice-sheet of winter
which is also one of the most important and stipulating factors. Therefore
it is, also, that an Arctic Eskimo tribe has been able to settle on the east
side of the Smith-Sound passage, and not on the west side, filled with
masses of Arctic ice coming from the north. On the east side there are the
two large indentations, Inglefield Gulf and Wolstenholm Sound, and it is
inside the groups of islands situated at their mouths that the smooth winter-
ice has free opportunity to form. The summer, or the season of the year
when there is open water, lasts only 3 months, while the winter with its
ice-sheet on the fjords, and especially on the stretches of sea situated inside
the islands at the mouths of Inglefield Gulf and Wolstenholm Sound, lasts|
9 months of the year. There is an immense difference between the economic
life of the Eskimo in the summer and in the winter; but the locating of
their settlements is somewhat similar. The Polar Eskimo pitches his summer |
tent more or less in the same favourable locality where he or his kinsmen,
have their winter-houses.

Nowadays their chief summer occupations are whale hunting and the
hunting of seals from a kayak. But previous to about 1862—63 when they

86 H.'P. Sreenssy.

did not use the kayak, they were obliged to spend the summer near the
sea-fowl cliffs, where food was easily obtainable in the form of the birds
and eggs. Before the period mentioned the Polar Eskimo did not even go
reindeer hunting towards autumn as part of the tribe, at any rate, does
now. Even salmon-catching in rivers appear to have been forgotten. That
is to say, the summer economic-culture had been reduced to the tribe’s last
and easiest obtainable reserve means of subsistence, viz., bird-catching along
the Auk clifis of the coast. All the other sides of the Eskimo summer-
culture had gone out of use. In addition, the scarcity of wood for boats
and implements has undoubtedly also played a determining role here.

When the sea becomes ice-covered, the walrus, white whale, and narwhal
go out to the ice-free waters. Within the fjord the Ringed Seal is hunted
at the breathing holes. As long as the ice is smooth and without a snow-.
covering, the smooth-ice method is used, the hunter being then able to run
up noiselessly and harpoon the animal through the breathing hole.. Afterwards
the Maupok method is used throughout the winter, in the event of their
not having sufficient supplies from the autumn. When the Arctic night has
ended in February, and the period of light returns, the Polar Eskimo leave -
their winter houses and set out on their dog sledges to the best walrus-
hunting grounds at the edge of the firm ice. From this time onwards they
live in snow houses. The methods used for walrus hunting correspond with
those used for seal hunting, only they have been adapted to suit the pursuit
of the larger animal. Here attention will be drawn only to the peculiar
tackle which is used to haul the animal up onto the firm ice — a surprising
feature in the technical winter-culture of a tribe of which the summer-culture
was so impoverished.

In addition to walrus hunting, seal hunting is also carried on during
the spring months. At first spring hunting, which has also often been described
from the Central Eskimo, is pursued, the object being to find the snow-
burrows in which the female seals have brought forth their young. Another
and more profitable method of hunting is the Utok hunting, which is now
carried out with firearms. During May the ice becomes cracked, and hunting
at the cracks begin. The sun is now above the horizon all day; the snow
houses are no longer fit to be dwelt in and the Eskimo move into tents.
The cliffs have again been taken possession of by the sea-fowl, and now,
late in May and during June, bird-hunting is largely carried on; the point,
especially in olden days, being to reach on dog sledges the good sea-fowl
cliffs before the sea-ice breaks up.

A brief, but typical account of the annual economic cycle of the Polar
Eskimo has now been given. No mention has been made of the huntin
of Polar bear, fox, and hare, or of the rare excursions made for hunting
musk-ox in Ellesmereland; all these things being more occasional undertak-
ings; though the hunting of Polar bears and foxes in particular, on account
of their skin, is absolutely necessary in order to provide the tribe with an
adequate supply of warm clothes.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 87

Greenland South of Melville Bay.

The Polar Eskimo represent the most Arctic grade of Eskimo culture,
in so far as they live farthest towards the “north, and have been in the
highest degree dependent on hunting on ice. In former_days there lived
here~a~“coastal_ tribe” “which was_ S dependent. on aquatic mammals for’ its
means of subsistence, but nevertheless used no kinds of water-craft, which
should not, however, be understood to mean that it had never known
water-craft, but that it had been possible for them to forget ‘the use of
them.

When passing along the west coast of Greenland southwards, from
the long and uninhabited Melville Bay, filled with glaciers, one comes to
a stretch of coast about 2,800 kilometres in length, fairy evenly populated,
which proceeds in a direction approximately from north to south, from the
northernmost settlement situated about 73° N. lat. to Cape Farewell situated
about 60° N.lat. Along this stretch of coast the transition from the Arctic
to the Subarctic climate is accomplished by degrees, and in the economic
culture, li likewise, a gradual change takes place from the Arctic to the Sub-
arctic — from the predominating hunting on~sea-ice to the predominating
hunting from boats. In the district of Upernivik,-that-is-in-the northern-
most regions, the conditions are yet more distinctly Arctic in character,
while they are far from being so farthest towards the south. Even Rix,
in his description of Greenland, pointed out and explained that it was
possible to distinguish between a northern and a southern form of Eskimo
culture in Danish West Greenland. Just as there, a boundary line must be
drawn between the northern and southern form, or between the Arctic and
the Subarctic economic culture, near Holsteinsborg, immediately north of
the Arctic Circle, or at the southern limit for the use of the dog sledge.

In geological and geographical respects West Greenland reminds us by
its predominant gneiss and granite formations, its deep branching fjords
and its numerous rocky isles and ranges of skerries, of the west coast of
Norway. Peculiar to Greenland, however, is the land-ice of immense
dimensions which only leaves a narrow line of coast, the so called “Yder-
land” (maritime country), free from ice, and the great glaciers which descend
from the _land-ice and empty themselves into the ice-fjords, encumbering the |
sea with “floating icebergs. On the southern part of the coast the glaciers
are generally small and few in comparison with the great glaciers which _ .
descend to Disco and Umanak Bays, and to the coast near Upernivik. As
a set-off, the south coast, and especiallythe stretch of coast along the
district of Julianehaab, has the peculiarity that every spring it is blocked by
“Storisen”, that is, by <P Polar _sea-ice which the Kast-Greenland current carries
south of Cape Farewell. Thus this “Storis”, of which a crowd of floes
remain, as a rule, until August, when it | disperses and gives place to open
water, is, during a—great part of the summer, ~~ decided Eimmivance $0

~~ navigation along the southernmost part of Greenland’s west coast.

‘the dog” Sledge is used, and where hunting on ice is oné of the most

\. means of shifting their habitation. a

88 H. P. SteEnsBy.

As regards climate the western side of Greenland differs considerably
from those regions in Baffin Land and North America which lie on the same
parallel of latitude. While the east coast of Baffin Land still has a severe
Arctic and somewhat continental climate, that of West Greenland must
more properly be described as a raw and inclement coast climate, which,
towards the south becomes rather unsettled. A glance at the isothermal
chart shows that the isotherm curves northwards along the west coast of
Greenland, and that especially the January [isothermal line forms a very
sharp curve at the meridian of the west coast. Thus, the January isotherm
of — 20° runs in North America across Lake Winnipeg and the coast of ©
Labrador at about 50° N. lat., while in Greenland it goes over Disco.

As is regards th the life of the Eskimo, the important result of these ¢ =
does not remain so long as in the corresponding regions 0 of | “Land.
Only the-three—northerti coast areas s near Disco, “Umanak, and Upernivik,
are as a rule ice-bound the greater part of the year, for which -reason-the—
dog” og sledge i is here the chief means of conveyance. In the course of October
an ice-covering forms itself over the whole of Umanak Bay, which in
November can be traversed by means of dog sledges; this ice-covering
usually remains until June in the following year. Along the southern
stretch of coast it is only in the interior, remote, parts of the fjords that
one can hope for a somewhat reliable ice-covering during some months of
the year, while the layer of ice out between the islands is so variable, and
has so many spaces of open water, that no use can be made of it.
Holsteinsborg, therefore, is the southernmost colony where the dog sledge
is used, and it plays a very inferior réle also at the south-western outlying
stations of the district of Egedesminde, at Godhavn on Disco, and near the
settlements in the extreme part of the Vaigat'.

Even the consideration of the conditions pertaining to. climate | and of
the ice-formation gives ground forthe occurrence of the two nuances in the
Eskimo culture at the west coast of Greenland: (1) The Aretie form, where

essential and necessary means of subsistance, _and, (2) the Subaretic form ‘\
where the hunters are exclusively dependent on _the open Sea for their |
livelihood. In the southern districts, therefore, the use of the small hunting-
kayak has reached its ts highest degrees of perfection — but for travelling the
large skin-boat (umiak) is always used, — and the settlements are connected
with the belt of rocky isles and skerries-which are to be found along the
outer coast, while-the-Arctie West Greenlanders live by preference at the head

of the indentations, and chiefly use the sledge, -both~ for travelling and as a

The conditions of communication are, however, only a single factor as
regards the settlement. ‘What iso of main importance is the oceurrence, and

* Rink I, Vol. 2, p. 146.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 89

mode of living, of the aquatic mammals, so necessary for the Eskimo. Of

orm ‘he Kekum
al nado ee ma oe seal also occur in small
|" ammbers, and sppear to be hunted ly at the south-west coast; it is of

some importance, however, as_ifs skin is in great demand on account
of its durability?. The seal is connected with the “Storis” and
arrives only at certain ms of the year. The hunting of the Crested
seal is of im in the district of Julianehaab, where. according to
Ruvx, it i “about one-third of the profits of the year*. Then there
are the Ringed ‘seal and the Greenland seal, which form the basis of the
Eskimo existence: the Ringed seal in the north, and the Greenland seal
in_the south Even Fasricius‘ reports that the Rimged seal is most
numerous in Disco Bay, Umanak Bay and in those northern fjords which
are frozen over during the greater part of the year. RyBErc® writes,
respecting the Ringed seal, that it is the one which is chiefly hunted in
North Greenland. It is present in great numbers during the winter-time
proper, and may be caught anywhere along the coast, and in the fjords.
In South Greenland, also, it is present practically all the year round, but
here it is not of the same importance to the community.

As regards the hunting of seals the difference between north and south
Greenland must not be sought in the circumstance that south of the district
of Holsteinsborg new methods appear, but in the fact that some of the
hunting methods from North Greenland cease to be used. The common
method of hunting from a kayak with harpoon and throwing board is
followed everywhere on the west coast: but while in North Greenland it
Muth ceaclasd salgelating a sect tins of tha year, it ism to peek,
the only method which in South Greenland yields a considerable return. It
is probable, that thi the only one originally used by

Eskimo for hunting Greenland Seals, and, partly, that the want of
winter-ice in” thié™~southern regions has resulted in it here bemg impossible~—
= laa lemermen of hunting on ice. Consequently, the conditions /

at southern, “than ia nari Greenland, the Lanting |
Seer E-apaE ia Eis ope cterny xe beng cabjet to bar pealer oT
than isthe hunting on ice. Failure to « capture is far more frequent, 2 and
as the animal chiefly hunted, the Greenland Seal, is a migratory
which in course 0 year twice leaves the mm

be more provident than their country-men in the north, in whose waters
—, —-~

1 WinGeE, pp. 427 sqq.

* Wince, p. 423; Fapricivs, IV, pp. 143 and 151.

* Rygerc, p. 88; Rivx I, Vol. 3, p. 187; Winez, p. 449; Fasricrus, IV,
p. 130.

* Faprictus, IV, p. 82.

* Ryserc, p. 88.

90 H. P. Steenspy-

the Ringed Seal lives all the-year round. A kind of transition from hunting
from kayaks in the open sea to hunting on ice is brought about by the
hunting from ice-edges in places kept open by currents, from openings
in the ice caused by the movements of an enclosed iceberg, or from the
cracks made in the winter-ice by the calving glaciers. The latter mode of
hunting is practised especially in early winter. The hunter always takes
his kayak with him in order, if need be, to fetch back the animal harpooned
or shot. This method is also used in the case of enclosed shoals of White
Whales which have resorted to the nearest opening in the ice. If the ice
forms during autumn with a glassy surface, which, however, is not the case
every year, and then as a rule only in Umanak Bay, hunting on smooth-ice
can be practised. In the winter-time proper, when the sea is quite frozen
over and the ice is snow-covered, Maupok hunting is carried on, and in spring.
the seals which come up on the ice are hunted (Utok hunting).

Yet another method of hunting was formerly followed in the northern
part of West Greenland, but even in Rwvx’s time it was of very slight
importance. Since then it has not become quite extinct, but it is used only
rarely. In East Greenland near Angmagsalik Gustav Hom found it still
in use in 1884. According to the description given by Hox, first two holes
are made through the ice, the one two feet in diameter, and the other just
large enough to allow the harpoon shaft to pass through it. Two men take
part in this mode of hunting; one of them lies down on the ice and peeps
through the large hole, after he has so covered his head that his sight can
better penetrate the water. This man guides the long harpoon shaft, which
is held down in the water by the man who is standing upright with the
harpoon shaft in his right hand and the hunting line in his left. “In order
to entice the seals there are fixed close to the head two pieces of bone,
carved in the form of seals, which vibrate on cut feather-bags. As soon as
the seal comes under the harpoon, and the right moment has come, the
man on the lookout shouts ‘kae’, and the other man makes a rapid thrust”.
This mode of hunting is called iéwarpok'. ;

This last method is undoubtedly a very old Arctic-Eskimo method_ of
hunting, which in practice, however, has not been able to compete with
the Maupok method, because it required two men, whereas the Maupok
method can be practised by a single hunter, who either operates quite alone
or makes use of a dog to scent out the breathing holes. But the method
is of interest on account of its original character.

How the methods of hunting seals — so few in number — have been
altered in our own days, and especially after the rifle came into general use
is not of much concern in this connection®. Likewise it will suffice to point

1M. o. G., Vol. 39, p. 57. Cf. Porsitp, pp. 133—134.
* As regards some new contrivances which the introduction of firearms has
necessitated, for instance the kayak rudder, the rifle bag, and the shooting
screen, the reader is referred to M. 0. G., Vol. 50, pp. 185 sqq., where I have
shown that the shooting screen for the kayak was probably first used in

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 91

out that the catching of seals in nets is now frequently preferred to the
laborious old methods:—It-must be taken for granted that the present
greater ‘employment of nets is due to Danish influence and the use of
Danish nets; but_it is nevertheless probable that_ the Greenlanders, even
before the-Danish time, caught seals in nets made of whalebone. _

The two smaller whales which always have been of great importance
to the Greenlanders are the White Whale and the Narwhal. Both occur
rarely in South Greenland, while in the northern bays they are of consider-
able importance '. During summer they are hunted from kayaks in the same
way as the larger species of seal. The same applies to the small dolphins
and porpoises, provided the hunter seizes his opportunity, because they are
usually too wary. The hunting of the great Balaenoidea, such as the Green-
land whale and the Rorqual whale has now ceased, and the method has
been forgotten. In former times it was carried on with great profit in the
intermediate part of the coast around Holsteinborg, or in the same districts
where, afterwards, the Danes carried on whale hunting®. From Angmagsalik
G. Hotm, and afterwards Tua.pirzer, have collected many evidences of
the fact that whale hunting has there been practised after the same
method as on the west coast’.

H. Ecepr, O. Fasrictus and H.C. Guann* have described the whale
hunting of the West Greenlanders and the customs pertaining to it. Usually
it was carried on jointly by 2—3 umiaks manned by 10—12 men. Fasricius
writes that, in the first place, the bottom of the boat had a layer of
inflated seal-bladders “to prevent it from sinking”. The method consisted,
for the rest, in the hunter creeping in upon the whale, harpooning it, and
afterwards approaching the emerging animal and thrusting into it a new
harpoon with line and bladder-float. If the whale is killed and floats upon
the water the hunters flense it, dressed in their so called ‘Springpels”
(“cutting out” clothing) which comprises skin jacket, trousers and boots in
one, and is so constructed that it can be drawn tight under the chin and
at the wrists. Through a hole in the front the hunter creeps into it
and then the “Springpels” is inflated with air and all the openings are
laced up’. ;

The customs observed with this method of hunting, and the rules
according to which the spoil is divided among the hunters and the chance-
partakers in the hunt, remind one strongly of the conditions among the

Disco Bay during the “seventies” of the 19th century, that the rifle bag
for the kayak was undoubtedly used for the first time in 1870 in Umanak
Bay, and that the kayak rudder was invented in 1868 by a seal-hunter,
Jens Reimer, who lived in Jakobshavn in Disco Bay.

1 Rink, I, Vol. I, pp. 85 and 100; Vol. 2, p. 210. Rysere, p. 89.

2 Rink, I, Vol. 3, p. 207.

3M. 0. G., Vol. 39, pp. 56 and 403.

4 GLAHN, pp. 273 sqq.

5 A “Springpels” is found in the National Museum in Copenhagen.

92 H. P. STeENsBY.

West Greenlanders, and especially, among the Eskimo around Point Barrow.
In Greenland the whale hunting was the only occasion when men would
condescend to row the umiak. H.C. Guann writes “Even then they do
not row with the umiak oars, or with their backs to the bow, but with
small hand-paddles, and with their faces turned to the fore end of the
boat” !. This record provides, in addition, the important ethnographical
information that the umiaks, as commonly used, were not propelled with
paddles, but were rowed with heavy oars, as was the case, for instance,
at Point Barrow. Sails were also used on the umiaks.

The region north of Holsteinsborg, where it so happens that the west-
ice, or the westerly ice-laden current of Davis Strait, strikes against the
land, is, moreover, the only place on the west coast of Greenland where the
walruses occur in great abundance. With the Eskimo, however, walrus.
hunting has only played an occasional réle, similar to that of the Polar-
bear hunting, which is only carried on at the northernmost and southern-
most parts of the west coast.

When mentioning seal hunting one mentions the Greenlander’s chief
means of subsistence, and the means which provides the community with
food; clothes, covering for tents and boats, and fuel. With the Greenlanders
seal hunting ranks as the work of a man, and that from which he
acquires honour by carrying it out to perfection. The only hunting which,
in the heart of the Eskimo, has been able to compete with seal hunting,
and even to out-do it, is reindeer hunting. Even Cranz? observed that
reindeer meat was their favourite food, which they obtained, however, in
such comparatively small quantities that almost all of it was consumed
during the chase. This is verified by Lars DauacEeR® from the district near
Godthaab, where the reindeer is the animal chiefly hunted, “to get which a
Greenlander sets all else aside”. Nowadays reindeer hunting is only a mere
ghost of what it used to be in former days. Reindeer are still to be found
in several places.in North and South Greenland, but only in small numbers,
the herds having diminished greatly, after the introduction of firearms. _ It
has become quite extinct in the district of Junianehaab, although the Eskimo,
as late as the beginning of the 18th century, there carried on the hunting
of reindeer to a considerable extent. It was found there, also, in the time
of the Norse men, and in the Sagas there is mention of an island where it
could be hunted only by permission of the bishop. Even in the first half
of the 18th century the hunting of reindeer played an important and regular
role with the Eskimo; as every summer they dispersed inland for the purpose
of hunting. And the inhabitants of the southern part of the coast travelled
in their umiaks up to the region around Godthaab to take part in the
hunt. The first missionaries objected very much, however, to this hunting;

’ GLAHN, p. 279.
* Cranz, Vol. I, p. 189.
® DALAGER, p. 19.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 93

because, for a time, it took the Eskimo beyond their influence, and they
frequently forgot the morals impressed on them in the course of the winter.
Consequently, the missionaries tried with all their power to prevent it, and
in the course of time the diminution of the reindeer showed itself to be their
best ally, so that at any rate the long journeys outside particular districts
have now ceased. As regards the methods of hunting reindeer, very little
has been recorded. Bows and arrows were used, but were comparatively
soon replaced by firearms. The oldest description of reindeer hunting is due
to H. Eerpr'; he writes that they “chase them [i.e. the reindeer] by Clap-
hunting, setting upon them on all sides and surrounding them with all their
Women and Children to force them into Defiles and Narrow Passages, where
the Men armed lay in wait for them and kill them. And when they have
not People enough to surround them, then they put up white Poles (to make
up the number that is wanted) with Pieces of Turf to head them, which
frightens the Deer and hinders it from escaping.”

In the accompanying illustration the women are seen driving some rein-
deer between two converging rows of stakes towards a pass, where the men
are lying in wait with their bows. The method of driving the reinder herds
into a lake or fjord, or that of lying in wait for them at fords or swimming
places, whereat to kill them from a kayak has also been employed, and is
mentioned in the literature?. The word ‘Neltoarsuk’”, which signifies a place
where to swim, and is known from some localities, probably dates from the
times when this method of hunting was employed.

Neither with the hunting of aquatic mammals or with the hunting of
reindeer did fishing play its co-ordinate réle. The food which fishing sup-
plies to the Eskimo has always served them only as a reserve food in

times of need, or also a supplementary means of livelihood. The introduc-_\/

tion of ion of better. European.methods of fishing and fishing implements has not
been een able to effect_anychanges-in-this~respect.
"The catching of salmon in fresh water is carried on with three-pronged
salmon spears in the open streams during summer. But the art of building
dams, which the salmon pass over during flood-tide, but behind they are
retained during ebb-tide, thus becoming an easy prey, was also understood.
While fresh-water fishing was homogeneous everywhere in Greenland, sea-
fishing differed in North and South Greenland, as “Angmagsetten”, or the
capelin, which is of real importance in South Greenland owing to its great
abundance, is not caught further north than Disco Bay. The method of
fishing is simple, the capelin, which goes in shoals, close in-shore being
scooped up with a catcher. This fishing takes place during spring. In the
north other kinds of salt-water fish were as a rule caught through | holes in
the_ice, either with a line of whalebone, or with-a—line from the skin of
the Bearded Seal.

1H. Heepe, III, p. 62; ef. I, pp. 33 sqq. and 43.
2 Cf. H. Ecepr, p. 33; Fasricius, I, p. 239.

94 H. P. STeenssy.

The hunting of birds did not have, and could not have had the same
importance for the West Greenland Eskimo as for the Polar Eskimo. .Sea-
fowl cliffs so tich~in birds and so easily accessible~as those up there

. are not found along the southern part of the west coast. Just as in _
Subarctic Alaska, so in Subarctic West Greenland, is the Auk hunted _
for preference from a kayak, with the aid of a throwing missile, the so-called,
bird-dart.

The principal features of the economic culture in West Greenland have
now been mentioned, especially as evidenced in the writings of the oldest
authors from the first days of the Danish colonisation in the 18th century.
Even if we have no real knowledge of the West Greenlanders previous to
the time when they came into contact with the Europeans, vet we may
safely conclude as regards their original culture that it has differed from
that of the Polar Eskimo by becoming more and more Subarctic the
further we proceed southwards. The summer side of the economic culture
has steadily increased _in importance, while at the same time the winter

: S side has decreased.
’ Owing to this adaptation, great claims have been made on the develop-

ment of water-craft in particular, and in this respect the country has,
x supplied a sufficient amount of the material which, next-to~the skins, was
| an indispensable necessity, viz., wood. The conditions pertaining—to~ocean
~, currents permit the fairly even distribution of drift-wood along the whole
‘coast, decreasing, however, northwards, as far as the regions near Upernivik,—
where it occurs_only sparingly. In Subarctic West Greenland the abundance
of drift-wood has even rendered possible the coming into existence of the
large, oblong winter-houses for several families — a form of house which,
“however, in its structure is distinctly reminiscent of the small winter-house
4) built of stone and whales’ bones; which is still used, for instance, among
~ the Polar Eskimo (Cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34, pp. 311 sqq., where Ihave sho
and illustrated how the Subarctic Greenlanders’ large houses with their family
compartments probably must be imagined to have originated).
With the landing of Hans Ecepr at Godthaab in 1721 begins the
Danish colonial rule in Greenland. After some trials the Danes succeeded,
even as early as in the 18th century, in creating a system of government
which considered the material as well as the spiritual and the moral welfare
of a primitive people like the Greenland Eskimo. The system has, on the
whole, proved to be excellently adapted to the prevailing conditions and has —
stood its test to this day. One fact which provides evidence of the excel-
lence of the Danish guardianship is that the population has during the last
century increased greatly in numbers. :
Naturally, the original indigenous Eskimo culture has hereby been
greatly modified, and the conditions pertaining to economic culture met
with at the present time in Danish West Greenland can only in a slight
«\ degree be designated useful scientific material for us, whose object in our

| ——

| Investigations justis_to find the original conditions.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 95

As regards certain essential points there is, however, constant agree-
ment between past —and—present.—Thus;—in the fact that the northern

West Greenlanders with an Arctic degree of culture live for preference Ci</
within the fjords and bays where the winter-ice is permitted to remain
unbroken by wind and current the longest.possible part of the year,
while the southern West Greenlanders” with~a~—Subaretic. nuance of _cul-
ture have as strong a bent in the direction of the open sea and the
outer coasts. It accords with the constant validity of this pomt of adapta-
_tion that the annual economic cyéle is in reality also the same in the different
places as in olden days, even if some of the old methods have been replaced
with newer ones, showing~Huropean~influence. Here will be given a few
examples of annual economic cycles at Arctic and Subarctic settlements.
At the settlement of Umanak at the head of Umanak fjord, Arctic conditions
prevail. An ice-covering is formed late in autumn, and from about the
middle of December it remains fixed and unbroken. Then was the ‘period
for Maupok hunting, but this method plays-a—very subordinate part here,
having been replaced by “ice-net-hunting”. During January, February and
March ‘‘Ice-net-hunting” of seals is continued. In April Utok hunting becomes
predominant, and remains so during May and the greater part of June,
till the ice breaks up, which generally happens about the 18th—20th of
June. When the ice is gone the hunting from kayaks begins and is
continued until the sea again is ice-covered.

It is true that the small Hunde Islands south of Disco Island are situated
somewhat north of the Arctic circle, but on account of their oceanic situa-
4 tion in the mouth of Disco Bay they have an ice-covering of shorter dura-
¥ tion than have localities situated within Disco Bay and in the same parallel

of latitude, and the economic life attains a character which is in a transi-

tional stage to the Subarctic life. About nine months of the year, or from
~ April to December, the sea is open, at any rate so much so that hunting
is carried on from kayaks. In January, February and March there is ice
on the sea, but the ice-covering is partly unreliable as it can break up at
any time and drift away seawards, partly intersected with cracks and with
openings caused by currents. Therefore Maupok hunting cannot be pursued;
but seals may be hunted from ice edges along cracks and openings; the
hunters must always take the kayak along with them, to cross the open
places or to row to land, should the ice drift seawards. Utok hunting is,
however, of importance in early spring. In June and July some members»
of the settlement travel into the district of Holsteinsborg or into Disco /
Bay for the purpose of hunting and fishing — it is in West Greenland one g
of the few remains of the old Eskimo summer-moves. 1

South of Holsteinsborg the Subarctic economic culture appears in a
still more decided form. As a rule, the hunting is carried on all the year
round from kayaks, and the methods of hunting on ice are not employed
owing to the absence of an ice-covering. The settlements have been moved
out to the mouths of the fjords on account of the open water; within a

we ys.

’ =>,
4
Sez

se pee |
'

96 H. P. STeenssy.

few of the fjords a few small settlements only are found, for instance in
Godthaabsfjord, and in such places the ice may be of some importance as
regards livelihood. The annual economic cycle in South Greenland is,
therefore, more simple than is the case in North Greenland, and it is
especially the case nowadays when the original yearly summer journeys to
hunting and fishing grounds further inland in the coast country have been
discontinued, barring a few slight powers instances.

changes i in the a medium as with changes in the occurrence of
animals to be hunted, occasioned by the migrations of the various aquatic
mammals, the migratory flight of the birds, and the seasonal changes in
regard to abundance of fish. From Holsteinsborg to somewhat south of.
the district of Godthaab,—a-seriesof settlements is found, situated furthest
out in the Bay, the inhabitants of which, owing to their. being-able to hunt
on the sea all the year round, have developed the use of the kayak to the
highest perfection in Greenland. It would be natural to expect to find the
most decidedly Subarctic nuances of culture on the “southern part of the
west coast of Greenland, near Julianehaab; but here the occurrence of the

Polar sea-ice (“Storis”) can to a certain degree impart an Arctic colouring to_

the character of the—economic—.culture, But, nevertheless, the economic

culture at Julianehaab is decidedly Subarctic.

This is, however, not the case at the only inhabited area of the
east coast, round Angmagsalik and Sermilik fjords, which is situated in
65°—66° N. lat. At these fjords and their numerous arms lives a small
group of Eskimo, the Angmagsaliks, who were discovered in 1884 by the
Danish Konebaads Expedition under G. Hotm; they numbered at that time

upwards of 500 souls. Here the geographical conditions are more Arcticin _

character than is the case on the west coast on the same parallel of latitude.
Not only are the outer coasts blocked during part of the year by the

“Storis”, but in the fjords, also, the winter ice forms barriers; during

Ho.tm’s wintering, 1884—1885, the barriers were formed in ‘the middle of
January and broke up again in the middle of March. \ The supply ift-
‘wood is considerable. The Marine fauna in its main feattres is the same as
on the west-coast. Reindeer, hares and musk-ox had lived at Angmagealik,
but had disappeared even before 1884. Therefore, the Angmagsaliks are wholly ~

dependent on the sea for their means of subsistence. During summer and —

autumn they hunt from kayaks. During winter Maupok hunting is carried _
on, and the Ituarpok hunting described above; during spring Utok hunting
is practised. In former times, or probably until the beginning of the 19th
century, whale hunting from umiaks was carried on.

Consequently, it is seen both from the geographical conditions and from
the cultural features corresponding to them, that the Eskimo culture at Ang-—

magsalik agrees most.closely with the conditions on the west side of Disco _

Bay, .or with those of the regions which are situated where the transition

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 97

from Arctic to Subarctic takes place. Si Seen from _a purely cultural stand-
point, this is evident from the fact that both umiaks and dog sledges are
used. The fact of the dog sledge suddenly making its appearance at Ang-
magsalik-after having been absent from the whole of South Greenland could,
perhaps, in m “addition to other ethnographical features, be urged in favour of
the opinion which was first pronounced by G. Hot, and has since been
supported by the observations of later authors (C. H. Rypgr, G. Amprup and
W. THarsirzeR), that the Angmagsalik Eskimo consist of a mixture of ele-
ments, some of which came from the south and some from the north, and
“consequently have passed along the north and north-east coasts of Greenland.
It should, however, be mentioned that the groups had not been entirely
outside the sphere of European influence before Houm’s visit in 1884, and
before the establishment of the Danish missionary and trading stations in
1894; thus, even before 1884, the Angmagsalik Eskimo had obtained iron
through their journeys to the eastern part of the west coast.

~~ Consequently, even Angmagsalik did not in Houm’s time (1884) represent
the most original Eskimo conditions in Greenland. These conditions, especi-
ally with regard to the annual economic cycle along the various stretches of
coasts from Melville Bay in the north and around Cape Farewell to Ang-
magsalik and further to the extinct groups at Scoresby Sound and Franz
Joseph fjord, it has hitherto béen impossible to describe except in their
more common features.

During later years, however, considerable work has been done, especially
by Danish investigators, as regards the ethnographical exploration of Green-
land. The majority of the works on the subject have been published in
M. 0. G. One of the works published elsewhere should, however, be noticed
here; it is the Norwegian ethnographer O. SoLBerRe’s important work “Bei-
triage zur Vorgeschichte der Osteskimo.” In M. 0. G. W. THatsrrzeR has
published a new edition of Hoim’s excellent and valuable memoir of 1888,
and his own extensive descriptions and studies based on ethnographical col-
lections from East Greenland made by G. Houm, G. Amprup and J. PeTersen.
From the northern part of the east coast C. Benprx Taostrur has given an
account of the ethnographical results of the Danmark Expedition. From the
west coast there has quite recently been published M. Porsixp’s studies of
the material culture of the Eskimo. The author, who is in command of
the scientific Danish Arctic station of Disco, is a botanist, and it was the
fact of his having had an opportunity of living closely associated with the
Eskimo that led him on to make ethnographical observations.

Among the points of interest, particularly as regards economic culture,
which appear from these studies, two points will especially be considered
here. The first is, that whale hunting hasplayed_a_prominent. part not
only at “the west coast of Greenland and at Angmagsalik’, but also along
the northern “part of the east coast, or the districts between Scoresby Sound

1G. Hotm and Rit wrrenn: M. o. G., Vol. 39, pp. 56 and 403.
LI. ¢

Ce

IR

1

RE

”
ay

y

Toy
7

98 H. P. SteensBy.

evident from the whales’ bones nes and bal baleen found by the Danmark ‘Expedition,
and from the use the , Eskimo had made of these arcticles “There also

appears to be be evidence of the Eski Eskimo in n these ‘regions having use¢ ‘used the the
umiak *,

_ The second point of special interest for us is the capture of seals with
nets. As regards the employment of this method in Greenland I wrote in 1905
as follows: “In 1857 Rinx® as a matter of course took it for granted
that net-catching had been introduced into Greenland by Europeans, but
afterwards he arrived at another opinion, which he communicated to JoHn
Murpocs* in a letter. In this he writes: “Small ice nets are extensively
used in North Greenland, and, what is strange, they are set exactly in the
same manner as at Point Barrow”. Rix mentions, further, that nets are
mentioned in tales, and that in the Ethnographic Museum in Copenhagen
there is an “‘ice-net” of whalebone which “according to report is said to
be one of those which in olden days were used by the Greenlanders”. This
net was, however, delivered to the museum as late as in 1843, and came from
Julianehaab, consequently from a locality where neither whale hunting nor
seal hunting on ice was carried on, but where at the present time net-
catching is carried on with Danish nets. Consequently, there is some
probability of its being an “ice net”, as RiK® calls it. Perhaps it has been
used to catch seals in fjords. A remark made by Lars Datager in 1752
may be indicative of this: “Southwards in the country the Greenlanders
use the majority of the whalebone, of which however they have not one
among them, but must fetch them from Disco Bay.’ Another probability
is, however, that the net of whalebone strings from Julianehaab has its
origin in quite another place. In a report from 1856 Hoot states that
about 20 years ago a net of whalebone is said to have been found hanging
on an iceberg near Julianehaab which “indicates that there are Greenlanders
still living who have no knowledge of hemp yarn, and to whom, in conse-
quence, Europeans, probably, are also quite unknown.” In the same place
Hoxseit records, that Greenlanders have tales of whalebone nets having
been used before the arrival of the Europeans. I think it can be stated
with fairly great certainty that in 1843 whalebone nets were not made
and used near Julianehaab; but in this case it bécomes somewhat probable
that the net preserved in the museum and the one HoLBoLt mentions are
identical, and if this is the case, the net presents the further interest that ~
it must originally have come from East Greenland where, according to
Horm", whalebone nets were formerly used, and from there it must have

and Danmarks fjord, whence the Eskimo have now disappeared, This is

' Tuostrup, p. 336. :
* THostrup, p. 239.

* Rink, I, Vol. 3, p. 200.

* Murpoca, IV, p. 333.

® Rink, XIII, p. 212.

° M. 0, G., Vol. 39, pp. 51 sqq. Cf. THauprtzer, p. 402.

Ti

-

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 99

been carried by the Polar sea-ice (Storis) south of Cape Farewell.’ There
can scarcely be any doubt as to the correctness of the hypothesis here
expounded by me that the net originated from the east coast (Angmagsalik).

As regards the use of the net in question in West Greenland I shall further
draw attention to the peculiar remark made by Joun Davis! “They make
nets to take their fish of the finne of a whale”. Recently a net of whale-
bone was found in Disco Bay north of Jacobshavn, regarding which the
reader is referred to Porsttp*, who has made the net-question a subject
for further inquiry.

That other eastern Eskimo, besides the Greenlanders, also have carried
on net-catching appears to be proved by the fact that Parry® found a net
of whalebone in 1821 at a deserted settlement in Lyon Inlet. Lastly, it
may be mentioned that Dopps speaks* of a net of whalebone among the
Eskimo on the west coast of Hudson Bay between 62° and 65° N. lat.

The Eskimo of the Melville Peninsula 5.

In the preceding chapter on the Baffin Land Eskimo it was essentially
the groups in the south-eastern parts of the large island studied by Boas
which were taken into consideration. Round about this island, however,
there appears to be several other, though less important, centres for Eskimo
settlements. Thus, towards the north, by the sea within Bylot Island,
where lives a group which is undoubtedly closely connected with the Eskimo
who live at Fury and Hecla Strait, which separates Baffin Land from the
Melville peninsula. This group (Boas’s Iglulirmiut) is, however, again very
closely connected with the southernmost inhabitants of the Melville peninsula,
for which reason they have here been treated collectively.

Tglulik, which signifies a place where Jglus or houses are found, is the
name given by the Eskimo to an island which is situated in the eastern
part of Fury and Hecla Strait, and is their chief gathering place in these
regions (69° 18° N. lat. and 81° 30’—82° W. long.). Hivillik, according to
Lyon, is the same as Repulse Bay, immediately south of the Arctic Circle,
on the coasts and ice of which the large southern Eskimo-group of the
Melville peninsula has its centre. Boas establishes two different tribes in
these places, and treats the Iglulirmiut and the Ewwillirmiut separately. The
geographical conditions in the two places in question agree rather closely,
and so, consequently, do in some measure the economic conditions, where-
fore they can here be treated collectively. The two main groups mentioned

1 A. H. Marxuay, p. 20.

* M. o. G., Vol. 51, pp. 176 sqq.

* Parry, II, p. 100.

* Doss, p. 49.

® The principal works on which the description of this group is based are
Boas, II, X and XI; Haut, II]; Lyon, I and II; Parry, IJ; Raz, I. Fora
fuller quotation the reader is referred to Stzenssy, I, pp. 79—86.

q[*

100 H. P. STeEenssy.

above have the greatest intercourse with each other reciprocally, while they
but rarely come into contact with their kinsmen from the north and east
coasts of Baffin Land and from Boothia. Lyon found, that there were a
few Eskimo only, who had not stayed at both the settlements mentioned
above and at the third chief settlement of the tribe, Nuvuk or Wager
River. At its winter stations at Winter Island — north of the mouth of
Lyon Inlet — and at Iglulik the Expedition came into contact with almost
every Eskimo between Nuvuk and Iglulik, and they were all found to be
connected either by ties of blood or by marriage, wherefore Lyon has no
hesitation in treating them collectively. Now and then they come into
contact with more distant groups of Eskimo. Thus, we may mention the
Eskimo Boas heard tell of as living in the north-eastern part of Fox
basin, the Baffinlanders from Eclipse Sound and Ponds Inlet, whither the
Iglulik Eskimo travelled across the country in 10 days, and whence they
now fetch some of their European goods, the inhabitants of the Boothia
peninsula, and the inland tribe Kinipetu, west of Chesterfield Inlet, whom,
at any rate in more recent times, they used to meet at the whaling station
on the Marble Island. Regarding the Eskimo on Southampton Island who
did not trade with the whalers the Eivillik Eskimo knew very little, and
they appeared never to have come into contact with them. To judge from
the Eskimo maps published and mentioned by Parry and Lyon, the tribe
in question knew of scarcely anything but Fury and Hecla Strait and the
whole of the east coast of the Melville peninsula, with its southern indenta-
tions. Of the west coast only a part was known, as it was rarely visited,
because, according to Eskimo report, though there certainly were Polar bears
and seals yet there were no whales or walruses. Southwards, it is difficult
to decide the extent of the tribe’s pristine knowledge of the country,
because its members had long been in the habit of making trading journeys
on the ice as far as Fort Churchill. Provided the map published by Haut,
which was drawn by an Eskimo at Repulse Bay in 1865, can be taken as
a standard by which to judge the tribe’s geographical knowledge, then this
extends from Fort Churchill to Lancaster Sound. All which lies east and
west of this coast line, with the exception of Rae Isthmus, is unknown or
wrongly comprehended. The fact that the coast of Greenland is found on
the map indicates however the intermixture of something recollected from
European maps. The area within which the tribe travels about and hunts
may be defined then as including solely the east coast of the Melville —
peninsula from Fury and Hecla Strait to Wager River, and Rae Isthmus
as far as the south-east end of Committee Bay.

The Melville peninsula, which mainly consists of a range of granite
hills merging towards the east into a silurian plain, has generally a low coast,
with the exception of the indentations under the Arctic Circle, where the
primitive rock appears and forms higher shores. On the other hand,
at Fury and Hecla Strait the limestone is predominant, and the island of
Iglulik consists of a slate-like limestone, and should be regarded as “an

os Se peti “Soe

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 101

immense swamp full of lakes and covered with stunted herbs.” The pre-
valent north-west wind keeps the coast fairly free from the drifting ice-
masses, and the tidal difference, which according to Hatt is 2 metres at
Southampton Island and still greater further towards the west, causes a
strong current in the narrow waters, with the result that, with the exception
of an ice-belt along the land and over the indentations, there is open water
in the middle of the strait during the whole, or at least the greater part,
of the winter. In December 1864 Hai went 12 kilometres from land to
arrive at the ice edge in Rowe’s Welcome. Floating masses of ice drifted
from north to south, grinding along the jagged edge of the fixed ice.
Numerous walruses were seen on both sides along the ice edge; and they
were eagerly hunted by the Eskimo. On the whole, the entire stretch of
coast from Nuvuk to Iglulik abounds in walruses. As regards the latter
region this fact has been pointed out by Parry and Lyon, and it is
moreover fully borne out by the experiences of the various expeditions and
by the numerous accounts of the hunting of these animals. It is only east
of the Melville peninsula that they occur so abundantly; west of the pen-
insula they do not occur at all, according to Eskimo report; and in accounts
of travels no reference is made to them from the Gulf of Boothia and Com-
mittee Bay. Of species of seal are found, in addition, the Bearded Seal
and Ringed Seal in great abundance. Of whales, White Whales and Narwhals
are mentioned. The two large representatives of the terrestrial fauna, the
reindeer and the musk ox, play an unequal réle as regards the Iglulirmiut
and Kivillirmiut, the limit of the range of the musk ox being at about Rae
Isthmus.

Regarding the Iglulirmiut Parry says that only a few of them have
taken part in the slaying of a musk ox, while all of them have killed large
numbers of reindeer. In the autumn, when the ground is frozen and passable,
the latter wander southwards in great quantities, and in May and June
return again to the Melville peninsula in a famished and lean condition.
The narrow Rae Isthmus, the bulk of which is further reduced by a trans-
verse series of freshwater lakes, is the place resorted to by the Eivillik
Eskimo for the purpose of carrying on reindeer hunting.

The fact peculiar to the mode of living of the Kivillik Eskimo is that
they have access to musk-ox hunting, which is purely land-hunting, and
lastly their “economic” journeys are determined by the fact of there being
an uncommonly great abundance of walruses along the east side of the
Melville peninsula, and in the straits between the continent and Southampton
Island.

A determination of the mode of living and of the dwelling places of
the tribes in the different seasons of the year must, however, have reference
to the Eivillik group in particular, as this has been visited several times,
and at all seasons of the year, while our knowledge of the Iglulik group is
restricted to the observations of Parry and Lyon, whose ships Fury and
Hecla were lying in the neighbourhood of Iglulik from the summer of: 1822

102 H. P. Srerenssy.

to the spring of 1823, and of Q. F. Hatt, who in 1867 and 1868 made
sledge journeys from Kivillik to the Fury and Hecla Strait.

Parry and Lyon were also the first to reach Repulse Bay, and to
pass the winter (1821—1822) on Winter Island north of the entrance to
Lyon Inlet. This expedition had gone north of Southampton Island; an
attempt made by Lyon in 1824 to go south of the island failed, as the ice
obliged him to return from within Rowe’s Welcome in 65° 30’ N. lat. Dog
sledges were greatly used by the succeeding expeditions. For instance by
Joan Rar, who went from Fort York northwards along the coast, and
passed the winter of 1846—47 at the head of Repulse Bay in the so-called
Fort Hope. ‘This was also the head quarters of C. F. Harz during the
years 1864—69, and this was the starting point for his excursions. Since
then this region has scarcely been visited. ScawarKa’s route of 1879 went
from Depot Island across the country to the mouth of Back River, and
touched only the south-west boundary of the region. In these waters the
American whalers do not go so far northwards, and this applies also to the
Canadian expeditions, for instance the “Neptune”, under A. P. Low, which
passed the winter of 1903—1904 in Fullerton Harbour, on the mainland
side, at the south end of Rowe’s Welcome.

According to Raz’s and Hatz’s concurrent experiences the Hivillirmiuts
pass August and September on Rae Isthmus, at the lakes there, where they
pass the time partly in salmon-fishing, and partly in reindeer hunting from
a kayak when the reindeer herds swim across the lakes and rivers. Tat
several places on the isthmus the travellers came across fences or long rows
of stones, which were set up to lead the reindeer herds into the water
where the Eskimo were lying in wait with their kayaks. |These fences were
also observed in Fury and Hecla Strait, and this method of hunting is
further mentioned by Parry. At this season they live in tents of reindeer
skin. The large quantities of reindeer meat which is thus procured is set
aside as supplies, and it appears that these supplies are brought to the
coast of Repulse Bay, where the first part of the winter is spent. Both in
the winter of 1865—1866, and in that following, Hatt found that the Eskimo,
when the reindeer hunting had ceased, resorted to Repulse Bay, where,
during the following months, they lived on venison from their stores, and
on the few salmon they caught through the openings in the ice. For the
rest, the group Hatt knew spent the winter of 1865—1866 in snow houses;

and, in one which was particularly large, they gathered almost daily to hold

festival. The reason why the Eskimo in the autumn went down to the
sea with their stores was for the purpose of hunting the walrus on the
frozen waters. Such autumn hunting of walruses is mentioned by Hats,
who, however, adds that no hunting is carried on so long as the stores last.
In 1866 these supplies probably were consumed about February 8, and in
1869 even in January, because the Eskimo then broke up to live scattered
over the ice. According to Ran’s observations this happened in 1847 on
February 20, and this also agrees well with the fact that Parry and Lyon

ee

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 103

in 1822, near Winter Island, were for the first time visited by the Eskimo
on February 4. It appears to be certain that what determines this dispersal
of the Eskimo is the amount of the supplies collected during the summer;
thus, the more successful the reindeer hunting has been the longer does the
winter sojourn last. When the supplies have been consumed it is necessary

_ to resort to seal hunting on the smooth ice, or to walrus hunting, which is

carried on at the ice-edge in the straits.

During February and the following months the Maupok method is the
one that is mentioned. When Lyon, on February 4, 1822, paid a visit to
the snow houses of the recently arrived Eskimo, he found numerous
evidences of seal hunting having newly been carried on, and during the
time which ensued the men were either busy hunting at the seal holes or
hunting walruses, if there was open water in the neighbourhood. Later on,
in the spring and in the beginning of summer, they apply themselves to
the hunting of seals which comes up upon the ice, and this hunting is
continued until the ice breaks up in the beginning of July.

As regards walrus hunting, there is occasional mention of hunting not
only during all the winter months, but also in the summer in open water.
As the walrus herds found between the drifting ice-cakes are hunted both
summer and winter the methods of hunting are also, on the whole, the same.
During winter they must make journey on sledges to the ice-edge in the
middle of the strait, taking the kayak on the sledge. During summer some
of the Eskimo set out direct in their kayaks and lift these up onto a cake
of ice, which they row towards the herd, after having fastened the harpoon
line to the ice. When the wounded walrus is sufficiently exhausted, the
Eskimo goes out in his kayak and kills it with his lance. From the ice-
edge, during winter, the same method is used, or it is harpooned, killed,
and drawn up on the ice by modes of procedure similar to those used by
the Polar Eskimo. Hatt mentions walrus-hunting during the summer season
in open water at the head of Lyon Inlet, -but he does not give a detailed
description of the mode of hunting. Seal hunting from kayak is of little
importance, and it appears, according to Boas, that only the bladder dart
is used on these occasions. With this tribe umiaks are not mentioned,
and Parry and Lyon emphasize the fact that it does not occur, although
the tribe knew the word “umiak”, whereby it designated the English ships.
The kayaks are described as small and light and are paddled with double-
bladed paddles. Lyon saw a kayak of which the ribs consisted of lashed
together fragments of the wood of Polar willow. The almost entire want of
drift-wood, and the fact that the greater part of the summer is spent near
lakes and rivers, is evidently the reason why no umiaks are built. Besides,
while travelling in the interior, the kayak is easier to carry, and is necessary
as regards the reindeer hunting. In the case of passengers or goods having
to be conveyed across a piece of water, two kayaks are lashed together,
which provides a serviceable ferry-boat. The dog sledge is, however, the
chief means of conveyance for travelling, and can be used during nine

104 H. P. STeEenspy.

months of the year. Lyon mentions a sledge journey which, in 1823, was
made on July 26 on the ice-foot along the island of Iglulik. As wood
can but rarely be obtained, the sledge runners are for preference made from
the jawbone of a whale. But specimens of runners made from frozen
walrus skin are also mentioned.

The rest of the implements and the cultural objects of the tribe are

only incidentally mentioned, because they have impressed the observers as _

being more particularly those common to the Eskimo. Parry and Lyon
mention fire struck with pyrites and by drilling in wood, paddles made of
fragments of wood lashed together, bows and arrows, and a peculiar form
of spear for reindeer hunting in water. According to Lyon and Raz these
Eskimo wear deerskin clothes. At Lyon Inlet Parry found a net of whale-

bone, regarding which he says that it had large open meshes, two inches .

in diameter, and was made of strips of whalebone lashed together with
thongs of the same material. As he did not see it in use, and besides,
found it at a deserted settlement, it was impossible to state whether it had
been used for fishing or for the capture of the Ringed Seal. It is more
probable that it was used for the latter purpose.

It appears that fishery can be carried on at all seasons and with slight
trouble. Lyon mentions hook-fishing in ice-holes and says that less skill
is used in procuring fish than any other kind of food. On September 27,
1822, he saw two boys fish through the ice on a lake, using an ivory fish
as an artificial bait. Hatt observed the same method of fishing on lakes,
in January 1866 and April 1863. Salmon fishing with a salmon spear in
open water is recorded from Rae Isthmus in July 1847 and 1868. Raz
mentions stone dams about ‘/: metre in height which are set up at the
mouth of streams, slightly below high-water mark, to cut off the retreat of
the salmon during the ebb of the tide. The salmon are caught with a long
spear, about 2 metres in length, resembling a three-pronged fork, of which
the side prongs are longer than the middle one, and are, in addition, each
provided with a barb.

Four kinds of dwellings are recorded: the tent, which is sometimes said
to be of reindeer skin, and sometimes of seal or walrus skin; the snow
house; the house of freshwater ice, or of a combination of freshwater ice
and skin, dwelt in during autumn before there is snow enough to build a
snow house; and lastly the more solid winter house of stone and bone.
Such a house is recorded both from Iglulik and from Repulse Bay. Ona
group of islets at the head of the latter bay Parry found no less than 60
houses built of stone; the stones were laid one above the other in regular circles
2'/2—3 metres in diameter. At Iglulik the lower part of similar houses were.
built of stone, and the upper part of whale and walrus bones, which slanted
inwards and met at the top. The interstices between the bones and the
whole of the outer side were covered with turf, and, during winter, with
snow in addition. The entrance faced south, and consisted of a passage
3 metres long and 0.6 metre high, made of flat stones, which were likewise

——

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 105

covered with turf. The platforms, which were raised 60 cm. from the floor,
took up about one-third of the interior of the house at the back. Besides
the dwelling houses, Parry describes some small houses or chests, 1.8 metre
long and 0.9 metre broad, which were used as food depots. But what is
most remarkable, as regards house-building at Hivillik and Iglulik, is not
the variety in construction, but the use of the permanent festival and
meeting houses (kashims). Such houses are often considered to be peculiar
to the West Eskimo, but Lyon records the use of them from Iglulik, and
Hatt from Repulse Bay. The especially large ground-plan of a deserted
house in Repulse Bay, mentioned by Parry, is probably similar to that of
a meeting house. In the meeting house observed by Hatt in 1866, all the
Eskimo of the village assembled daily during January and the beginning of
February to hold festival until the stored up supplies were consumed. Lyon
believes that the house in Iglulik, where the inhabitants assembled to hold
festival when a whale had been killed, or on any other joyful occasion,
is a social relic from former times, and gives a short description of it
(Lyon I, p. 448).

In connection with what has been said above regarding the houses on
the Melville peninsula it is worthy of note that similar winter houses have
been found among the isolated little group of Eskimo on Southampton
Island. These houses are built of stones and whales’ bones, and are semi-
subterranean. The ground-plan is almost circular in form and almost in
the centre of this is a stone platform (about 60 cm. high), from the middle
of which “a pillar built up of stone slabs rises to the roof, which is formed
-of jaw-bones and crown-bones of whales, which extend from the outer wall
to the central support’. Some of the houses have near the passage a small
out-house which is used as a store house.

With the exception of an American whaler, who in 1865 is said to
have met a group .of Eskimo in five tents on the coast, G. F, Lyon, on
his voyage south of the island in August 1824, was the first to meet these
people. On the south-western side (62° 30’ N. lat., 82° 49’ W. long.), about
2 kilometres from land, he met an Eskimo who, in place of a kayak, was
navigating three inflated seal-skins; he sat on the middle one, and had his
legs, which were provided with sealskin boots, up to his knees in the water;
and was paddling with a double-bladed paddle of a whale’s bone. Lyon
found the following implements among them: — Flint knives with bone
handles, bows made of several pieces lashed together, harpoons with shafts
of whale rib, cooking vessels made of thin slices of limestone very roughly
cemented, and sledge runners of a whale’s bone. The fact that the group
which Lyon met, and which consisted of about 20 individuals living in two
tents, had no kayak is evidently solely due to absence of wood, and by
no means to want of knowledge of kayaks as Lyon thinks. All the more
so as he himself found not only a piece of wood carved to represent a kayak,
but in one place, also came across stone posts which are used by other
Eskimos (at Hivillik and Iglulik also) to place their kayaks upon. Nor were

106 H. P. Sreenssy.

umiaks found, but they used the word to indicate Lyon’s ship. Judging
from the number of bones Lyon found, the reindeer appears to be their
chief article of food, but he also found stores of walrus and seal blubber.
Moreover, the tents were pitched along a small stream which was confined
by a dam, behind which they caught salmon with a fish spear. In the
same place were found, along the coast, ranges of stones which evidently
served as a fence when hunting reindeer herds.

see In 1898 the above-mentioned Captain Comer visited the south-west
c

IC

oast of Southampton Island, near the Bay of God’s Mercy, and met natives .
who told him that about the year 1830 a group from the island had visited

the mainland across Rowe’s Welcome, which was at that time entirely ice-

covered. In 1898 the entire population of the island numbered 58 persons.

A few years later a Scottish whaling company established a station on the.
south coast of Southampton Island, and landed a group of Eskimo from

the north side of Hudson Strait. These Eskimo, who were armed with

modern rifles, destroyed the reindeer hunting to such an extent for the

islanders who were armed with bows and arrows only, that these could not

procure for themselves sufficient autumn hunting and winter supplies, but

all died from hunger, during the winter of 1902.

Kinipetu'.

One of the most interesting Eskimo tribes is the Kinipetu Eskimo, but
unfortunately it is the one which is least known. The tribe lives in the
region between Chesterfield Inlet and Back River, which means that it is
an inland tribe, and it is possible that originally the whole tribe did not
go down to the sea-coast every winter for the purpose of hunting seals.
In later years the wish to trade and to enter the service of the whalers
has undoubtedly been instrumental in promoting journeys to the coast.

Their hunting and fishing grounds proper are the districts around the
series of lakes which, westwards, form a continuation of Chesterfield Inlet and
the group of lakes in the intermediate part of Back River. Kinipetu Eskimo
have been met with both at the sea-coast and at the Lake-Garry-group.
Back, to be sure, met no members of the tribe, but he frequently came
across traces of them between 101° and 102° W. long.; as for instance,
several fences for reindeer hunting, fragments of a kayak and tent-rings.
JAMES ANDERSON, on his journey down in July 1855, met Eskimo at the
western end of Lake Pelly, and between Lake Pelly and Lake Garry. On
his return journey in August he again met this group of Eskimo, which
consisted of about 15 individuals. From the amount and quality of European
goods found among them J. ANDERSON concluded that they must belong to
the tribe which came to Hudson Bay for the purpose of trade. He found

* Principal authors consulted are: James AnpERSON; Back; Boas, XI; GitpER}
Kiurscnak; Kine; W.Pixe. Cf. Sreenspy, I, pp. 87—88.

ae ian

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 107

no sealskin among them however. They were dressed in clothes made from
the skin of the reindeer and the musk ox; and, according to his statement,
even their kayaks were made of reindeer skin. Both J. ANDERSON and
Kine are of opinion that the Eskimo whom they, with 20 years intervening,
met in the district near Lake Garry belonged to a tribe that wandered
about round Chesterfield Inlet. That they have not come from the north
and do not belong to the Eskimo the Expedition met at the mouth of
Back River is evident from what J. ANDERSON observed, viz., that the
Lake-Garry-Eskimo did not possess articles from the FRANKLIN Expedition,
while he found many such articles amongst the Eskimo from the North
whom he met at the mouth of Back River.

It is an interesting question whether the Eskimo of whom WARBURTON
Prk, in 1889, found traces at the upper group of lakes which are part of
Back River, 65°20’ N. lat. and 107° W.long., belong to Kinipetu or to a
tribe which visits these districts from Bathurst Inlet. As these Eskimo
have never been met with it is impossible to decide the question; but
Warpurton Pixe’s observation is of importance because it shows that the
“Barren Grounds” outside their interior are not entirely uninhabited, but
that every large group of lakes is occupied by the Eskimo. In the region
which he traversed, Warpurton Pree found the boundary between the
Indians and the Eskimo to be Musk-ox-lake (641/2° N. lat., 108'/4° W. long.),
which is visited from the north by the Eskimo and from the south by the
Red Indians. But during many years the two people had not been in
contact with each other, and the Red Indians were in constant fear of
meeting the Eskimo.

. Besides these few scattered, and in part uncertain, notes on the Kinipetu
Eskimo, we have a more accurate account of them which dates from one
of the members of the Schwarka Expedition, Wim11aAm H. GitpER, who, in
February or March 1879, spent a week among them on a lake situated
north-west of Marble Island, consequently, in. the neighbourhood of Chester-

field Inlet. Here they dwelt in snow houses, and lived on fish and reindeer

meat. GILDER_says just as

walrus and seal meat is that of the Hivillik Eskimo. J. W. Tyrrett who
has travelled around the Kinipetu territory on hunting excursions describes
reindeer hunting as the favourite occupation of these Eskimo, and mentions
several methods of hunting, amongst which the most important consists in
luring the reindeer during their regular wanderings from north to south into
a fenced-in enclosure, or out into a lake where the hunter lies in hiding
with his kayak. Seal hunting, however, is also carried on, and in the spring

of 1880 the ScnwarKka Expedition found them hunting seal on the ice. During 4

GILpER’s visit they were evidently yet living on the supplies from the
previous summer and autumn; and every night they assembled in their
meeting house, an especially large snow house which was 7.6 metres in
diameter and 3.7 metres in height, and where they sang to the accompani-
ment of drums, or amused themselves with various games. A social pecu-

108 H. P. Sreenspy.

Eskimo consisted in the men eating together in a snow house to which
no women were allowed admittance.

During later years, as already mentioned, there has been some more
intercourse with the whalers. It is Captain Comer’s opinion that the
southernmost Eskimo tribe on the west side of Hudson Bay. is called
Sauniktumiut,. and lives to the south and west of Chesterfield Inlet.
This tribe ‘depends almost wholly on the caribou for food and clothing,

ile sea-mammals are hardly used at all. They also hunt musk oxen.”

regards the Kinipetu Eskimo at Chesterfield Inlet, Comer says that they,
so, make little use of sea-mammals, but subsist principally on caribou
nd musk ox. During autumn and winter salmon are caught in the lakes
‘ith fishing-harpoons, which are handled through holes made in the ice.

¢ 6 ti or a custom, which otherwise is only heard of from the western

The Eskimo around Netchillik'.

The region which is here designated Netchillik is in the main identical
with the islands and coasts which are situated in and around the estuary
of the Back River and its continuation in Ross Strait between Boothia
and King William Land, and Simpson Strait between the latter and the
Adelaide Peninsula. The word Netchillik means a land where the Ringed
Seal lives, and is used especially regarding a locality on the Boothia Isthmus,
where, among the Eskimo, the word indicates not only the land, but also
a sea and a river, and where one of the most numerous Eskimo groups
of the region has its favourite place of residence. To Netchillik, in its
widest sense, must in addition be reckoned the east coast of Boothia
Isthmus. that district belonging to the Netchillik-Eskimo’s hunting grounds.
The first European to visit the region in question was Joun Ross, who, in
his ship “Victory” passed the winter on the east coast of Boothia Isthmus,
and during spring and summer in 1830 and 1831 was frequently visited by
the Eskimo, In 1833 Back came from the south along the river which now
bears his name, and turned back at Point Ogle (95° W. long. and 68° N. lat.).
The year after, the same point was reached by sea, from the west, by
Smpeson. In the summer of 1847 the east coast of Boothia Isthmus was
visited by Joun Raz, who had wintered at Fort Hope in Repulse Bay. In
September 1846 the ships belonging to the unfortunate Franklin Expedition
were beset in Victoria Strait in about 70° N.lat., and in April 1848 they
were abandoned a few more minutes to the south. The officers and crew,
105 souls in all, tried along the west coast of King William Land and
across Simpson Strait to reach Back River, in order to make their way
along this to inhabited districts, but on the way and_ before reaching»

* AmunpseN; Back; Boas, Il and VIII; Ginper; Haut, 1; Kine; KiurscHak;

Mc. Cuinrock; C. Perersen; Rag,I; J. Ross, 1; Stmpson. Cf. Sreenssy, I,
pp: 89—99. ,

¥

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 109

68° N. lat., they all perished of hunger, cold and disease. During the
following years these regions were visited by several Search Expeditions. In
the summer of 1855 the Factor of The Hudson Bay Company, James
ANDERSON, was sent northwards along Back River, but in the beginning of
August he turned back at about the middle of the east coast of the Adelaide
Peninsula, after having found several articles belonging to FRaNnKLIN’s ships
in the possession of the Eskimo at the northernmost channel of Back River,
but no traces of living Europeans. Mc. Curntock, who had the Danish-
Greenland interpretor, Cart Petersen, on board, sailed in 1858 into Bellot
Strait, whence, in the spring of 1854, he travelled in dog sledges south-

‘wards along the west coast of Boothia, and round about King William

Land, where on the west coast he found in a cairn a record written by
FRanKLIN’s crew. In the spring of 1866, C. F. Hatn made a sledge journey
from Repulse Bay, along the south coast of Boothia Gulf, to find relics of
Franxuin’s Expedition, but turned back before reaching Boothia. Only on
a later journey, in the spring of 1869, did he succeed in getting as far as
King William Land. In 1879 the Netchillik region was visited by the
American, Lieutenant ScuhwaTKa, who was sent out to make thorough
investigations regarding the fate of the Franxiin Expedition. An account
of the expedition was given by his fellow-travellers, W. H. Gitper and
H. W. Kiutscnax. Lastly, the Norwegian Gjoa Expedition under Roatp
AMUNDSEN spent two years, from 1903—1905, in a bay on the south-east
coast of King William Land.

The area of the Netchillik district is not so high or mountainous that
its surface is anywhere covered by such immense masses of perpetual snow
that calving glaciers can be formed. Nevertheless, the country consists
chiefly of primitive rock, as also do the numerous smaller islands and the
majority of the coasts. Groups of rocky isles occur on both sides of
Boothia Isthmus and in Simpson Strait, and, in addition, granitic islets are
mentioned as ,occurring in the estuary itself, and in Pelly Bay. According
to Kiurcnak the east bank of the estuary is granitic, while the Point Ogle
Peninsula, on the west side, is low and sandy. Mo. Crmvrock found that
the west coast of Boothia, south of 71° 10’ N. lat., consisted of granite, and
Ross on May 31, 1830, travelled in a sledge along a granitic rocky coast
on the east coast of Boothia Isthmus, which “closely resembled the Swedish
coast between Gothenburg and Strémstad’’. Also inland, the granite protrudes
along the banks of the lakes, of which there are specially many in Boothia
Isthmus. According to Mc. Crinrock’s description King William Land is
“extremely desolate, and its surface is studded with numerous lakes and pools.”

The sea which is surrounded by these countries, and in the above has.
been named after Back River, but which should rather be called Netchillik
Sea, is naturally covered with ice during the greater part of the year.
As regards the nature of this ice, it is evident from the geographical con-
ditions and from the experiences made by the expeditions, and also from
communications imparted by Eskimo, that it is a smooth winter-ice, which

110 H. P. Sreenssy.

breaks up every summer and again freezes over every autumn. King
William Land and the islands in the straits hinder the great masses of ice
which come drifting from the north-west from entering Netchillik Sea.
Mc. Curyrock was of opinion that if Franklin, instead of taking his ships
into the pack-ice west of King William Land, had gone east of the latter
“he would probably have taken them safely through to Bering Strait.”
And the Gjoa Expedition has shown that this route can be navigable, at
any rate as regards a smaller ship.

During April—May, 1859, Mc. Cumyrock travelled in a sledge across
this lake throughout its entire length from Matty Island in Ross Strait to
671/2° N. lat., and writes regarding the condition of the ice (I, p. 270): “Since —
our first landing upon King William’s Island we have not met with any
heavy ice; all along its eastern and southern shore, together with the estuary .
of this great river, is one vast unbroken sheet formed in the early part of
last winter where no ice previously ewisted.”

Mc. Crivtock himself did not see the Netchillik Sea free from ice, but
he learnt from the natives that this is, as a rule, the case every summer,
which agrees with Srmpson’s experiences from August 1839, and with Bacx’s
from the end of July 1833, as also with that of the Gjoa Expedition from
1903—1905.

» The vegetation, which is necessarily Arctic in character, is not of much
interest in this connection. With the exception of some berries it does not
provide food, and only an inconsiderable quantity of wood for the use of
the Eskimo. Drift-wood occurs in small quantities. Among the few cases
of the occurrence of drift-wood reported by the various expeditions may be
mentioned the piece, 2.7 metres in length, which Back, according to Kine,
found on the east coast ef the Adelaide Peninsula. The only regular supply
of wood which can possibly be had must be conveyed along Back River,
which undoubtedly tears off the vegetation along its banks and carries it
to its mouth. This assumption agrees with what Boas ascertained from
Netchillik, that there the inhabitants got their wood from the Eskimo who
lived towards the south-west.

That the Netchillik Sea is rich in Ringed Seals may be known even
from the name, and this species of seal is also the only one which occurs
in great abundance. Neither walruses nor walrus hunting is mentioned west
of the Melville Peninsula, wherefore it may safely be concluded that neither
is this animal to be met with west of Boothia. Whales and whale hunting
are as little mentioned, and it is probable that these animals, on their
wanderings, never, or extremely rarely, reach these out-of-the-way waters.
From Bellot Strait there are records of herds of White Whales, but even
if Franklin Strait now and then has open waters, which according to Mo.”
CLINTOcK is not the case every summer, yet in these particular years they
searcely reached so far southwards.

The land fauna is characterized both by the presence of musk ox and
reindeer; of which especially the latter are important to the inhabitants on

er

~~

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 111

account of their abundance and their wanderings, which wanderings, owing
to geographical conditions, become highly regular. During spring the reindeer
wander in herds northwards across Boothia Isthmus, and return again during
autumn. From Simpson Strait there are records of wanderings over the ice
to and fro between King William Land and the mainland. In August 1839
Smreson found the former swarming with reindeer, while Mc. Crinrock in
May 1859 came across extremely few, which gave him occasion to correct
Smreson. The explanation may be had from KiurscHaK and GiLpER, who
in the month of June saw the reindeer wander northwards across the Strait,
and, in the beginning of October, saw them return again to the mainland.

According to this description of the natural conditions of the Netchillik
district there can be no doubt that there must necessarily be two focuses
for Eskimo settlements, viz., Boothia Isthmus and Simpson Strait. The
two tribes in question correspond to these two localities: the Netchillirmiut
to Netchillik and the Ugjulirmiut to Ugjulik near Simpson Strait. The
separation into these two tribes is owing to the names which the Eskimo
have given themselves, but most of the expeditions found people from
Netchillik and from Ugjulik living indiscriminately. Boas is of opinion that
this state of affairs was not brought about until the destruction of the
Frankuin Expedition, when the rich booty enticed the Netchillirmiut to the
west coast of King William Land, which they had not previously been in
the habit of visiting. This is undoubtedly correct, previously even the Ugju-
lik Eskimo were not in habit of visiting the ice-blocked west coast of King
William Land. This is evident from Mc. Curnrock’s observation that, north
of the south-western point of the island, Cape Crozier (about 100° W. long.),
all traces of the Eskimo ceased. Towards the south-west, the settlements
extend along the west coast of the Adelaide Peninsula as far as about 98° W.
long., where Stmpson, coming from the west, found the traces to become frequent.
Near the long Sherman Inlet, the Scuwarka Expedition found, in September
1879, the biggest camp they had met with during the whole of their journey.
On Boothia Isthmus, knowledge of the coasts extends as far as Bellot Strait,
and the Netchillik Eskimo have names for the localities on the west and
Cast coasts, even if they are rarely visited. Hastwards the Netchillik
Eskimo wander only to the Simpson Peninsula, which, however, does not
prevent their now and then coming into connection with the Hivillik tribe.

There is a cultural reason for considering the inhabitants at Hayes
River and at the numerous rapids in the neighbourhood of the mouth of
Back River separately. The occurrence of these Eskimo with their mode of
livelihood is one more proof of the fact that, wherever the locality allows
of it, an inland tribe is developed which lives by salmon fishing and
reindeer hunting, and only makes short visits to the coast. The range of
these Eskimo, Bacx’s Ukusiksillik and Boas’s Ukusiksalirmiut, named after

- the name which they gave to their country in the presence of Scuwarxka,

is limited towards the south in 66'/2° N. lat. by the windings of the Back
River, which so rarely expand into lakes, and it is evidently they who

112 H. P. STEENSBY.

supplied the Netchillik Eskimo with wood and soapstone. By way of
exchange they have probably obtained blubber for fuel and seal ‘skin for
kayaks.

The Netchillik Eskimo, or the inhabitants of Simpson Strait and
Boothia Isthmus, spend the winter in the neighbourhood of the two
localities mentioned above, and carry on seal hunting on the ice. According
to Ross, January and February were spent in this way. In the first days
af March they began to disperse in all directions over the ice, in order to
continue the seal hunting, and the hunting of the newly born woolly young
of the seals, with greater chance of success, The Eskimo who in the be-
ginning of January 1830 had commenced to hunt seal and to live in snow
houses on the ice in the neighbourhood of Ross’s winter quarters, in the
beginning of March again divided into two parties, which removed elsewhere.
on the ice towards north and south, and during the spring the Expedition
now and then came across groups of Eskimo moving here and there. These
spring wanderings may be of considerable extent. In March 1859-Mc. Crintock,
on the ice between King William Land and the coast at the magnetic north
pole, came across Eskimo who lived in eight snow houses, and had just re-
turned home from a seal hunt on the ice. At the end of April he met another
group of Eskimo who had visited Tasmanian Islands (71'/4° N. lat.), and who
were now on their return journey to Boothia Isthmus, supporting themselves
on the way by seal hunting on the ice. It appears, on the whole, from
accounts of travels, that it was the spring months, which on account of the
firm condition of the ice the English expeditions also regarded as most
suitable for sledging expeditions, which formed the wandering period proper
for the Eskimo. In April 1866 Hatt met Netchillik Eskimo on the east
side of the Simpson Peninsula, in Boothia Gulf, and, as mentioned above,
they must now and then extend their journeys as far as Hivillik (on Rae
Isthmus). But the proper field of action of the tribe during spring is the
large expanse of winter ice on the Netchillik Sea, which, both as regards
navigability and the presence of Ringed Seals, satisfies all their needs. On
May 4th, 1859, Mc. Cinvrock found first two, and then several more, recently
abandoned snow houses on Matty Island (95° W. long., 69!/2 N. lat.), where
numerous remains of seals were lying about, and where he could gather
“blubber in abundance” for his own use. From the direction indicated by
the track of the sledges on which the Eskimo had departed he concluded
that they had gone eastwards to Boothia Isthmus. A few days afterwards —
he met, on the coast of King William Land, Eskimo who were on their
return journey after a visit to the wreck of FranKtin’s ships. From the
district around Simpson Strait there are extremely few observations to hand
as regards this season of the year. But there can be no doubt that the
numerous recently abandoned snow houses which ScuwatTKa, about June
Ist, came across on Montreal Island at the east coast of the Adelaide
Peninsula had belonged to the Ugjulik tribe. It is true, KuurscwaK calls
them Netchillik; but this is partly because he had not met the Eskimo

~ —--

An Anthrepogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 113

themselves and heard whence they came, and partly because both he and
GiLpER use the names Ugjulik and Netchillik indiscriminately. As regards
the distribution of the rest of the Ugjulik Eskimo during May and the
beginning of June 1879 Kuiurscuak states that they live dispersed in small
groups of two or seven families along the north and west coasts of Adelaide
Peninsula, where, at this season of the year, they subsist by seal hunting
and fishing. ScuwarKa places them opposite King William Land along the
north coast of the Adelaide Peninsula from Montreal Island to Point Grant,
north of Sherman Inlet. Mc. Cuinrock’s observations from 1859 and Ross’s
from the years 1830 and 1831, as also the information he gained by ques-
tioning the Eskimo, show that late in spring the Netchillik Eskimo proper
again gather together near Boothia Isthmus. In May and June Ross came
across them living in snow houses on the ice out in Spence Bay and
Josephine Bay on the west coast, and in Toms Bay on the east coast. All
these bays are indentations which extend far inland, and are instrumental
in narrowing the isthmus. Here the Eskimo occupied themselves partly
in catching salmon and small torsk, both of which they caught through
openings in the ice, and partly in seal hunting.

The Eskimo evidently have a twofold reason for gathering together
near Boothia Isthmus late in spring. Firstly it is necessary, before the ice
becomes rotten and difficult to traverse by means of sledges, to make for
the coasts of the mainland, and there replace the Maupok hunting with the
hunting of seals which come up onto the ice. There is, moreover, this
particular reason for the places of gathering being on both sides of Boothia
Isthmus and along the south coast of Simpson Strait, that the Eskimo must
be at this particular place in order to be able to begin hunting reindeer
when the latter come from the south, and to be able to begin catching
salmon as soon as the fresh water becomes ice-free.

So long as the Eskimo live upon the sea-ice, or at any rate in the
immediate neighbourhood of it, they always use snow houses as dwellings.
In 1830 Ross saw snow houses in a fjord as late as June Ist. They were
not, however, closed at the top with an arch of snow, like the snow houses
proper, but were covered with skins. A week afterwards he met the group
which had been living in the above-mentioned snow houses near Lake
Netchillik, and there it lived in skin tents, and this was the mode of
dwelling which was found to be constantly used near lakes and rivers where
the Eskimo lived during the whole summer. The fishing of salmon. yields
rich returns. The fish is dried and stored away under stones and blocks of
rock to serve as a supply for winter use. But the chief summer activity
of the men is reindeer hunting, which is carried on from kayaks at such
places on rivers, lakes and long, narrow fjords as the reindeer herds
must swim across. Around Netchillik it is also customary by erecting
rows of stones, to entice the deer into an ambush or into a lake. Such
tows of stones are recorded from the south coast of King William
Land and from the district around Back River. Consequently, the

Lut. 8

114 H. P. Steenssy.

Netchillik Eskimo do not disperse accidentally during summer, but take
up their abode in such places where there are good conditions for reindeer
hunting and salmon fishing. On Boothia the two transverse rows of lakes
on the isthmus are the places mostly visited, and of the lakes, to judge
from what is known, Netchillik is the one where the majority of them
gather together. A narrow, river-like indentation (Skagavok) is also visited.
Ross’s Expedition, on its sledge journeys across the isthmus, frequently found
kayaks hidden on islets, or by the banks of lakes, where they remained
during the winter, covered with stones and snow. In this district, where
they only resort to the sea when it is covered with ice, the umiak is never
mentioned, and the kayak is only mentioned in connection with reindeer
hunting in fresh waters, and as a ferry when travelling during summer. It
is reported from Simpson Strait, that the Eskimo can cross the strait on a
ferry made by lashing together two or more kayaks side by side. Other-
wise the Ugjulik Eskimo spend the summer in reindeer hunting near the
inner waters of the Adelaide Peninsula, or on King William Land. The
musk ox is of less importance than the reindeer, and is hunted only casu-
ally; but it is owing to confusion when some authors have stated that its
meat is not liked by the Eskimo, and that its horns and skin are not
utilised. | Musk-ox hunting appears to be of most importance towards
Kivillik. AmuNnpDsEN heard from a Netchillik Eskimo, who had been staying
at Hivillik, that there the Eskimo irritate the musk oxen by shooting at
them with arrows, until they are roused to such fury that they rush in
upon the hunters and are then killed by lance-thrusts.

The reindeer meat, like the salmon, is set aside as supplies for winter
use, The depositing of these supplies at the lakes indicates that the period _
between the departure in September and the beginning of October of the
reindeer from the country, and the end of the darkest period, is spent just
in these places. These months are not spent on the ice or on the sea coast.
In 1830 the Eskimo did not come to Ross’s winter quarters until well into
January, and in 1831, when his ship had changed station, even later.
Where the preceding time had been spent Ross had no opportunity of learning
personally, but the Eskimo told him that they had been staying partly at
Lake Netchillik and partly at another Lake in the series of lakes situated
somewhat more to the north, and had been living on reindeer meat and
salmon. A few more circumstances may be mentioned in support of the
view that the first months of the winter are spent in places where the
hunting of reindeer is pursued in the summer, and, perhaps, in the autumn.
Ross observed that during spring the natives transported blubber to Lake
Netchillik and other lakes to deposit it there. Lastly, the same auther
mentions winter houses near a lake where his Eskimo guide’s kayak lay
waiting for summer use. Moreover, there can be no doubt that the “summer
houses” Ross himself saw and described near Lake Netchillik were in reality
winter houses. He says, regarding them, that there was a group of 30

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 115

stone circles with walls about one metre in height. The largest consisted
of an oval 4.3 metres long and 3.7 metres broad. These stone walls which
remind one of the winter houses on Iglulik can hardly have had anything
to do with summer tents. Nothing remains but to regard them as unroofed
winter dwellings. The reason why Ross was misled into calling them
summer houses was mostly his wish to distinguish them from the snow
houses. GILDER mentions similar winter houses from King William Land,
where according to him, they are fairly numerous, and he compares them
with those, similar to them on Iglulik.

As regards the chief group of the Netchillik region, which keeps to the
Boothia Isthmus, it is now possible, as regards the main features, to render
an account of its settlements and its wanderings at the different seasons,
with all due regard to its dependence on natural conditions. One more
circumstance, viz., absence of wood, must, however, also be mentioned.
The later expeditions did not find wood conspicuously wanting, the FRANKLIN
Expedition having supplied wood sufficient for a long period. Ross, on the
other hand, among the first Eskimo who visited him in 1830, found har-
poons of which the shafts were made of small pieces of wood and bone
joined together very cleverly, and with great care. For the rest, European
culture had even then reached them in the form of a few English knife-
blades. One would almost think that the absence of wood would prevent
the making of the Eskimo ice-sledge, with its -high runners, but one sees
that the want was supplied. At the magnetic pole Mc. Ciivrock met Eskimo
who had sledges with runners made of rolled-up, frozen, seal-skin, which
were bound together with transverse pieces of bone. On Matty Island the
same author found some sledges which had been left behind, and the
runners of which were about 1 metre long, about 7 cm. broad, and 10 cm.
high. On a lake, Ross saw, in the spring of 1831, sledges which were
made of ice. On November 9th, 1903, AmunDsEN visited an Ugjulit-tribe
which lived on King William Land, south-west of Gjéa Harbour; it was living
in six huts in a district where autumn hunting was plentiful. On March 17th,
1904, on his way to the magnetic pole, he encountered, in the neighbour-
hood of Matty Island, Netchillik Eskimo who were living in snow houses
on the sea-ice, which was level and glassy between the scattered areas of
pack-ice. He met the men belonging to the tribe just as they were pursuing
Maupok hunting, each with his dog led in a string. As pointed out by
AMUNDSEN, it was just in the same district and at the same season of the
year that Mc. Crintock met these Eskimo in 1859. Naturally, “Gjéa” had
attractions for the Eskimo of both tribes, so that they settled down by
preference in the neighbourhood of the ship. But before the ice broke up
they were obliged to set out for the reindeer-hunting, and fishing, grounds.
But as soon as the ice had formed again in the autumn they came back
and lived on meat and fish from their stores. In 1908 these supplies were
consumed by the middle of January, and the Eskimo were obliged to resort

8*

116 H. P. Sreenssy.

to Maupok hunting, but not until well within February could it be pursued
with any great chance of success. During spring the newly born young of
seals are also hunted, and during June Utok hunting is carried on.

The Netchillik Eskimo spend the summer in the interior where they
carry on salmon-fishing and reindeer and musk-ox hunting along the lakes
and streams. When the autumn hunting has come to an end, and the
reindeer herds have gone southwards, the Eskimo remain in the places where
the depots have been laid down, and live on these. The tents are replaced
by winter houses, which have stone walls, and are probably covered with
ice, snow, and earth. When the darkest mid-winter days are past, or,
properly speaking, when the supplies have been consumed, the Eskimo
disperse in small groups over the level layer of the winter ice and move
from place to place, living in snow houses, and pursuing seal hunting on »
the ice after the Maupok method. The fact peculiar to the Netchillik
district in contradistinction to the previously mentioned territories may be
expressed by saying, that the Netchillik district is decidedly Arctic in
character, and shut in from the influence of the ocean. The winter ice-
covering remains unbroken for more than 9 months in the year, so that
during the greater part of the year the district has more the character of
a continent than of coast lands. There are no straits like those at Smith
Sound and Hivillik, with strong currents keeping the water open during the
whole, or greater part of, the year, and permitting the hunting from
the ice-edge of walrus or seal. In the Netchillik Sea only the real seals
occur, and the Ringed Seal alone is of importance as an animal to be hunted.

Immediately south of Netchillik Sea near the lower narrows of the
Back River lives a small tribe which, in 1879, in KiurscHak’s time, con-
sisted of 16 families. By older authors this tribe is called Ukusiksillik, and
it has sometimes been regarded as a group of the Ugjulik Eskimo, some-
times as a group of the Netchillik Eskimo, which for some reason or other
has penetrated southwards. But, as is shown by Boas, the group has un-
doubtedly always lived at its present settlements. It must certainly be
regarded as being adapted to a kind of inland life, even if it visits the
estuary for the sake of hunting seals, and as regards kinship, it must
evidently be reckoned together with the whole of the Netchillik group.
What is also a proof of this connection is that ScnwarKa found it in
possession of wood and articles from the Franxuin Expedition, and its
members with some knowledge of the unfortunate expedition.

We have very slight knowledge of the Ukusiksillik tribe. Back was the
first to encounter it. He met it near some rapids or whirlpools in the
neighbourhood of the mouth of the river named after him. At that period
(July 28, 1833) the tribe lived in tents, and was occupied in fishing salmon
in the rapids. At the settlement thousands of fish were laid out to dry.
The tribe possessed five kayaks, and even at this period it possessed a
few knife-blades and lance and arrow-heads of iron. On July 30th, 1855,
JamMEs ANDERSON met with the Ukusiksilliks near the same rapids. They

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 117

lived in three tents of musk-ox skin, and had an abundance of fish and
reindeer meat hanging out and drying. On the river five men were hunting
reindeer from kayaks. Near Hayes River (671/,° N. lat., 934/,° W. long.), in
May 1879, SchwarkA met with some Ukusiksillik families living in snow
houses. At that season of the year they were almost famishing; they had no
seal blubber at all, and were obliged to dispense with artificial heat. At
that time they were living chiefly on the flesh of musk ox, and their boots
were made of the skin of this animal. During the summer, they pursued
reindeer in their kayaks, and carried on fishing at the whirlpools.

The Eskimo at Coronation Gulf'.

While the Eskimo even in Netchillik have been shortly and ethnographically
dealt with by Boas, scientific interest has only recently been directed towards
the Eskimo who inhabit the islands and coasts at Coronation Gulf. Of all the
Eskimo groups there is none to which so little attention has been paid. It is
true, that the number of the travellers who have visited Coronation Gulf is not
great, but it is nearly as great as the number of those who have visited Net-
chillik. The first was Hearne, who in the summer of 1770 arrived at the mouth
of Coppermine River. The later and so unhappily famous JoHn FRANKLIN,
sailed during July and August. 1820 from the mouth of the same river
along the south side of Coronation Gulf to Point Turnagain on the north
side of Kent Peninsula, and on a later expedition, while his companion
Ricwarpson in 1826 sailed from the Mackenzie along the north coast of
the mainland to Coronation Gulf, Franxuin himself navigated the coast
west of Mackenzie as far as Point Return (149° 37’ W. long.). In 1838, Stmpson
with his companion Drasr, navigated the south coast of Coronation Gulf,
Bathurst Inlet, and Dease Strait to a point on the east coast of Kent
Peninsula, and in 1839 he again sailed across Coronation Gulf, and then
along the north coast of the mainland and through Simpson Strait as far
as the west side of Boothia Isthmus, whereby connection was established
with Back’s discoveries from the east. In the summer of 1848, JoHN
RicHaRpson repeated his above mentioned journey from the Mackenzie to
Coronation Gulf, and in 1849, in accordance with his instructions, JoHN
Rak was sent out, who investigated the coast regions at Coronation Gulf,
and approached Wollaston Land, where, however, the ice prevented his
landing. Finally, Ricnarp CoLtinson, in his ship ‘Enterprise’, spent the
winter of 1852—1853 in Dease Strait on the south side of Victoria Land.
In August 1900, J. MackrvrosH Bett undertook a journey from Great Bear
Lake to Coppermine River, but turned back before he reached its mouth.
He found Eskimo occupied in the hunting of reindeer, but did not come
into touch with them. Finally we have got highly important enlightenment
as regards the population of this region from V. StEFansson, who during

? Coutiinson, I—I11; Franxiin; HEARNE; Mc. CLureE; RicHarpson; Simpson;
Sreransson. Cf. Steenssy, I, pp. 99—105.

118 H. P. Sreenspy.

1910—11 travelled in the district and lived amongst the Eskimo as one of
themselves.

As regards habitation Coronation Gulf constitutes a centre similar
to the estuary of Back River with its adjacent straits and skerries.
Towards the east it is separated from this Netchillik domain by the long
stretch of coast between the Adelaide and Kent Peninsulas, which partly
consists of stratified rock, and partly of granite and gneiss and is usually
provided with skerries. In August 1839, Simpson everywhere found the
pack-ice from Victoria Strait lying close up to the outer coasts of the
skerries, and right in to land where skerries*were wanting. On the other hand,
the water within the skerries was free from ice and “clear as crystal”.
This stretch of coast is, perhaps, not permanently inhabited. The old tent-
sites and remains of store-caches which Simpson came across were only scattered,
and the traces did not begin to become frequent until after he had left
Dease Strait and had come to the western end of Simpson Strait. On the
south coast of Victoria Land, at Dease Strait, Cottinson found no signs of
habitation. On the other hand, in 1905, on the east coast GopFRED
Hansen came across a group of Eskimo who probably have belonged to
the tribe (Ekollugtogmiut) which Sreransson allots to Albert Edward Bay.
From Sreransson, as previously mentioned, we have got further informa-
tion regarding the settlement at the indentations on the south-west coast of
Wollaston Land and Prince Albert Land, whereby it appears that the
settlement is more comprehensive and extends further into Prince of Wales
Strait than Cotxinson’s observations in 1851—1852 led us to suppose.
SreFaNnsson’s observations also show that the narrow stretch along Dolphin
and Union strait and the adjacent mainland coast are not uninhabited, as
one had reason to expect from the fact that RicHarpson twice passed the
strait without meeting Eskimo. The region, which with its groups of islands
in the strait must also be regarded as good Eskimo territory, is inhabited
by several groups of Eskimo, the forefathers of whom must have been
hunting in the interior during RicHarpson’s visit. STEFANSSON gives these
groups or tribes different names, which are, however, immaterial to us in
this connection. The same applies to his names for the groups which, on
a map, he places in the area between Dolphin and Union Strait and Dease
Strait, although it is the first time that we get further information about
these matters.

Coronation Gulf itself constitutes an oblong basin which is connected with
the adjacent waters only by narrow straits. The straits as well as the Gulf
itself are studded with numerous islets, so that the water is to be understood
as a confusion of channels rather than as a large sheet of water. As a linc,
across the mouth of the Coppermine River and the west side of Coronation
Gulf more or less forms the western boundary of the large archaean area
of North-east America, the coasts of Coronation Gulf essentially consist of
steep granite and gneiss cliffs, although the country is rather low, and the
islands are real skerries or steep rocky isles built up of granite, trap or

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 119

basalt. Coxttinson found the same to be the case with the islands in
Dease Strait, whereas the groups of islands which bar Dolphin and Union
Strait are built up of limestone. Coronation Gulf, by reason of its posi-
tion, has extremely weak tidal currents, which come partly from the west
and partly from the east, and, as the narrow inlets, with the islands,
further act as a sieve to the inflowing currents, the pack-ice cannot succeed
in filling up the gulf. The ice, which in the winter forms bridges between
the numerous islands of Coronation Gulf, is the smooth winter ice which
lies unbroken from October to July, but which always breaks up in the
summer. The conditions in the Gulf as seen by FRANKLIN in the summer
of 1820 quite accord with the conditions seen by Ricuarpson in 1826,
Dease and Simpson in 1836—37, Ricuarpson in 1848, Rag in 1849 and
CoLtinson in 1852—53. Its waters were at all times so free of ice, and
so open, that it could be navigated in all directions along the coasts and
between the islands, even if as is from time to time mentioned, the wind
had driven small pieces of pack-ice together in certain places on the coasts.
The fresh-water affluxes received by Coronation Gulf can scarcely play any
great réle as regards the open water during the summer. The Coppermine
River has too inferior a quantity of water for the purpose. On the other
hand, this river is of importance on account of the drift-wood which it
carries and distributes along the coasts of the mainland and the islands.
FRANKLIN, to be sure, says, that it does not carry drift-wood, but this can
only refer to heavy timber,* which is carried to the Arctic Ocean only by
the Mackenzie. It seems, in reality, as if several rivers contribute their
share of drift-wood. Thus, Stmpson found that even the small Ellice River,
which empties itself into Dease Strait, tore away the low willows along its
banks and carried them out to sea. All large pieces in Coronation Gulf
can without doubt be attributed to the Mackenzie River. As the fuel of
the expeditions consisted of drift-wood, its occurrence and size was noted
with particular care, and from these notes its decrease towards the east as
far as Cape Barrow can be followed up. Simpson broke into raptures when,
on his way back from Dease Strait, having passed this promontory, he
again found the beach strewn with drift-wood, with which he had had almost
entirely to dispense in Bathurst Inlet and on the coast of Kent Peninsula.
SreFANssoN was of opinion that the greatest quantity of drift-wood was
found on the coasts which faced west, or which were most exposed to the
prevalent north-westerly winds. Thus there was more drift-wood on the
south side of Prince Albert Sound than on the north side. On the coast of
the mainland drift-wood only began to become abundant at about 120° W.
long., (or more exactly, to the west of Crocker River), after which it
occurred as far as the west of the Mackenzie, when it began to decrease.
STeFANssON says of the drift-wood in the region of Coronation Gulf that
it is sufficient to provide the Eskimo with wood for implements, but that
it would disappear in the course of a short time if they should begin to
use it for fuel. For the rest, according to the same author, there are at

120 H. P. Sreenssy.

any rate some Eskimo in the district who reach so far south on their sum-
mer journeys to the mainland that they can bring wood back with them
from the forest.

From the notes now before us we are able to form a fairly correct
conception of the aquatic mammals in Coronation Gulf. Whales are not
found, or, at any rate, only as rare and stray visitors. The only person who
mentions a whale is Stimpson, who found the skeleton of one on the coast
of the mainland at 103° 37’ W. long. Towards the east the pack-ice of
Me. Clintock Channel probably acts as a barrier, and according to Simpson’s
observations the whales coming from the west did not reach so far east.
FRANKLIN remarks, in addition, that by conversing with the Eskimo he had
ascertained that neither whales nor walruses were found, but, on the other
hand, numerous seals. Sreransson remarks that here the Eskimo only —
know the “Bowhead” whales from a few carcasses driven ashore, partly be-
cause here they are very rare, and partly because the Eskimo are always
in the interior during July and August, when the whales possibly may
stray in. The same is applicable also where the small whales, for example
the White Whales, are concerned.

When, in 1770, the first white man, Hearne, looked across Coronation
Gulf, a number of seals were lying sunning themselves on the ice which
was still unbroken around the islands. All later travellers mention the great
number of the seals, but only seldom did they succeed in catching any of
them as spoil, partly because they were very vigilant, and partly because
they sank to the bottom when shot, a fact with which their leanness during
summer has some connection. It was the “small seals’? which occurred in
such quantities, or, in other words, the Ringed Seal,’ so well known from
Netchillik and the more eastern territories. Moreover, according to the
evidence of several travellers (Raz, SreFANSsON and others) the Bearded
Seal occurs in considerable quantities, but it is hunted to a relatively slight
extent, and almost always by employing a kind of Maupok method, when
two men co-operate.

Reindeer are found in large numbers round Coronation Gulf. In the
spring they migrate from the south and cross the ice to the small islands
where they bring forth their young. On October 9, 1852, CoLLInson saw
the reindeer gathering in herds along the north side of Dease Strait waiting
for the ice to form a bridge over to the mainland, and next spring, after
April 6, he again saw them wandering across the strait northwards. At
the end of April and the beginning of May 1911 Sreransson saw the
beaten paths of herds of reindeer going north, both in Coronation Gulf and
Dolphin and Union Strait. In the autumn, together with the herds came
a flock of wolves as well as a party of Eskimo; and in Victoria Land*
CoLLINSON saw a cleft which, by an arrangement of stones and turf, had
been made to serve as a natural hunting fence. On the islands in the
strait, he also saw an arrangement of stones which was used by the natives
when driving the herds together. FRANKLIN and Simpson mention similar

a eS

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 121

fences from the valleys in the’ districts at the south side of Coronation Gulf,
where they were made of piled-up turf.

The first English travellers did not take any great interest in the
Eskimo population. At the mouth of the Coppermine River and in Dease
Strait, however, they came in closer contact with them. There they got
the impression that linguistically they were, if anything, approximate to the
East Eskimo, and that they differ from the West Eskimo in cultural
respects, also, by not wearing lip ornaments. A more exact definition of
the different tribes in the district was, however, only commenced by
Streransson. But this is less essential in this connection. Here, the main
point is that Coronation Gulf with its smooth covering of winter ice from
October till the end of June makes communication between all islands and
coasts reciprocally easy, whereby this becomes an absolutely habitable
domain, which is bounded on all sides by land or ice-packed seas. How
many Eskimo this domain with its smaller neighbouring territories on the
east and west coast of Victoria Island harbours is not known with any
certainty; but, according to the Eskimo conditions, the number can hardly
be insignificant. Smmpson estimates that those who, during the summer,
visit the coast between the west end of Coronation Gulf and Cape Barrow
number 3—400, and Coxiinson was visited by 2—300 at his winter
quarters in Dease Strait.

As to the hunting implements of these Eskimo, Harner says that
they are like those which Cranz describes from Greenland, and he saw, as
did later Stimpson, Cottinson and Mc. CLurz, implements which were made
of copper. The implements which these travellers brought home are now
to be found in the British Museum in London, and the copper material
plays rather a prominent réle, especially in the arrow points. Furthermore,
some fish-hooks, woman’s knives, axes, ice-chisels, as also numerous spear-
heads are of copper. On the other hand, there seem to be no harpoon
heads of copper and there is not a single article of copper from the
Mackenzie or Netchillik Eskimo from which we may be justified in concluding
that the copper, which must have come from the Bloody Fall pits at
Coppermine River, neither at all nor even sparingly got beyond the Coro-
nation Gulf territory.

Umiaks are entirely absent with these Eskimo. On the other hand,
they have kayaks, which here are said to be smaller than those at Bering
Strait and Hudson Bay.

All the groups which Smpson met on the south side of Coronation
Gulf were found to spend the winter out in the Gulf on the sea ice, or on
the islands where there was easy access to the seal hunting, which, in the
winter and spring, was their principal means of subsistence. Until well into
the winter they live on supplies of reindeer meat and fish, which they have
put by in the course of the summer. If for some reason or other the seal
hunting fails in the spring, great distress supervenes, which Rak found to
be the case in 1849. In the spring they generally kill so many seals that

122 H. P. Sreenspy.

they can store away blubber for use in the autumn. Shortly before the
ice breaks up they set out in sledges for the continent, where, in reindeer-
skin tents, they spend July and the following months in salmon fishing in
Coppermine River and other streams, and also in the hunting of reindeer
as these, by degrees, become well nourished on the summer vegetation.
When the sea is frozen over once more, and the reindeer have started for
the south, the Eskimo return in the course of the winter to the Gulf, where
they live in snow houses. Probably this move does not take place until -
the supplies are almost consumed. That Hearne, on the coast of the
continent, came across a couple of indubitable winter houses is in accordance
with this. They were situated on the southern side of a hill, half under
ground, and “above were closely set with poles, which met in a conical
shape like the summer tents.” Round them lay quantities of bones, and also
caldrons of ‘whitish grey stone.”

At Dease Strait Conzinson found that the Eskimo migrations were
dependent on those of the reindeer backwards and forwards across the
strait. From May till October they lived on the south coast of Victoria
Land, where, to a great extent, they occupied their time in fishing in the
fresh waters. In the autumn when the reindeer gathered on the coast they
hunted them in fences, and then followed them across the islands to the
mainland. In a short report to the Royal Geographical Society in London
CoLLinson expresses himself thus about the Eskimo (II, p. 200): “They be-
long to the Central tribe of Esquimaux, wearing the same costume and
speaking a similar dialect to the Igloolik and Boothia Isthmus people; and
unlike the Greenland and Behring Str. tribes, who perform almost all their
migrations by sea, these people travel over the land and ice with sleighs.
Their journey to Victoria Land is performed previous to the breaking up of
the ice in the summer, and having no oomiaks, and but one or two kayaks,
their communication with the continent is cut off until the straits are bridged
over by the frost; they then assemble between Cape Colborne and the
Finlayson Islands, which is the great crossing-place for the reindeer, and,
after they have obtained as many as possible, pick up their caches of fish
and venison, and return to the continent for the winter.”

It must be said about this wintering on the continent, however, that
Co.tuinson had no opportunity to substantiate this point. In his description
of his journey he acknowledges this himself, but thinks that he is able to
conclude that they spent the winter not far distant from his own winter ~
quarters on the north side of Dease Strait, without it being possible for
him, however, to find their abiding place. The explanation simply is that
they did not enter the mainland in order to remain there, as CoLLINSON
assumed, but that they at once, with the commencement of the winter, settled
at the coasts of the gulf or on its islands, whence they had easy access to
the ice for the purpose of seal hunting and whither they could easily
transport their supplies of dried meat and fish from the continent.

SreFansson’s description shows still more distinctly the aspect of the

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 123

‘annual economic cycle of these Eskimo. In the winter they live almost ex-
clusively on seals, which they hunt by employing the Maupok method. They
use dogs to find the breathing holes. Sreransson explains in a most inter-
esting manner why the Eskimo in these districts live on the ice and con-
stantly have to move their settlements of snow houses while extending the range
for obtaining their wnter means of support. “In a month or so the hunter
will have killed all the seals within the radius of about five miles; they
must then move camp about ten miles, so that a five mile circle around
their next camp shall be tangent to the five mile circle around their last
one.” For a hunter who employs the Maupok method, a five mile radius is a
suitable range. The Utok method plays only a subordinate réle, and hunting
from the edge of the ice and cracks in the ice, if practised at all, does
not seem to be of any importance whatever. Even before the ice breaks
up the Eskimo withdraw to the interior, where they carry on salmon fishing
and reindeer hunting. Here the winter sledge-dogs are used as pack dogs
while the men themselves carry the kayaks, which are used as ferries for
crossing rivers, and are also employed in the reindeer hunting. The sum-
mer proper they spend chiefly at the salmon fishing stations, while the au-
tumn is the time for the great reindeer hunt. During the great salmon fishing
and reindeer hunts, and during autumn and early winter while the supplies
last, is the time when large groups collect or when the tribes meet,
whereas the time of the winter ice-hunting is a time of dispersal.

The Mackenzie Eskimo’.

The domain of the West Eskimo which extends along the north and west
coasts and partly along the south coast of Alaska begins to the west of the un-
broken stretch of coast between Coronation Gulf and Darnley Bay. Such original
conditions as we find with most of the Central Eskimo and with some of the
Greenland groups are not met with here, because the West Eskimo have been
subjected to indiscriminate extortion by Russian and American whale hunters.
The following pages will be specially concerned in re-establishing the conditions
as they originally existed, and as the first European and American travellers
found them. Apart from the Eskimo at the mouth of the Mackenzie River and
the few Asiatic Eskimo, all West Eskimo are now under the rule of the United
States of America, as in 1867 the Russians sold their American possessions.
Even before this period American whale hunters had visited Alaskan waters.
In 1848 the first American whale hunter passed through Bering Strait, and was
soon followed by many others. Further and further did the whale hunters pene-
trate towards the north and north-east. In 1889 they reached Herschel Island,
and there found the good harbour which has since been the central winter quar-
ters of the fleet of whalers which yearly visits the waters outside the mouth
of the Mackenzie as far south as Banks Land. Owing to the influence of the

1 CoLiinson; FRANKLIN; Hooper; Mc. CLure; MACKENZIE; PETITOT; RIcHARD-
son; Simpson; Steransson; Stockton. Cf. Steenssy, I, pp. 106—111.

124 H. P. Sreenspy.

whale hunters, the Eskimo in the Mackenzie district are greatly degenerated, °
and their original form of culture is no longer met with in its pristine form. This,
however, is the only form which is of interest here. Even in its original condition
of culture the Mackenzie district was visited more often than was Coronation
Gulf; but as regards ethnography it has not been thoroughly dealt with. The
first to visit this coast was ALEXANDER MackeENzIE, who, on July 12, 1789,
reached the mouth of the river which now bears his name. Of later travellers
may be mentioned FranKin and J. Ricuarpson 1826, the latter again in 1848,
Smrson 1837, W. H. Hooper 1849, Mc Ciure 1850, Cottryson 1851 and 1853,
Periror 1865 and C. H. Srocxron 1889. Amongst travellers of recent date must
especially be mentioned V. Sreransson, who stayed there during 1906—1907;
and, also, several times during the years 1908—1912. The inhabitants of the
coast have for long — even before 1889 — been in contact with Europeans, in
that they yearly visited Fort Macpherson, as also Fort Anderson, which was.
afterwards demolished. Here, as a name common to them all, I am using the
term ‘‘Mackenzie Eskimo,” as the names “Great Eskimo” and “Tschiglit’”
Eskimo, which Prrrrér uses, are not satisfactory.

The boundaries of the district are not sharply defined. Towards the east.
it is the above-mentioned stretch of coast east of Darnley Bay which forms the
boundary between the two large groups of West Eskimo and East Eskimo, the
distinction between which, however, seems to be more geographical than eth-
nographical in character. According to SreraNnsson’s observations they are
not geographically more approximate to each other than was formerly supposed,
and, at any rate in earlier days have enjoyed a lively intercourse. Today, however,
the whole stretch of coast from Cape Bathurst to Cape Bexley is uninhabited.
Towards the west there is the long uninhabited north coast of Alaska as far as
Point Barrow. A feature which at once attracts one’s attention as regards this
stretch of coast is that the original winter settlements generally were situated on
points or projections. There has been some doubt as to whether the most easterly
winter settlement was situated on Cape Parry or on the somewhat more easterly
Cape Lyon. According to SteFaNsson, it seems as though the habitation of
this group should be set even further east than Crocker River. West of the .
Mackenzie, the most westerly settlement seems to have been situated between
Herschel Island and Manning Point. FranK.in and W. H. Hoorer saw the most
westerly winter houses at about 141°30’ W. long.; but when Murpocs, during
1881—1883, visited Point Barrow, the most westerly settlement was situated —
on Herschel Island, where there was said to be one of considerable size.
Within the domain itself, also, it is impossible to fix the exact situation of the
settlements, as the visits have been made too rarely and at too great intervals.
It seems that one of the largest settlements was situated on Point Atkinson
(131° W. long.), where Arxinson found 17 winter houses besides a meeting
house (kashim).

As regards the character of the coast there is a great contrast between
this territory and Coronation Gulf. Because, while we there had a range of
skerries with a rocky coast, at the mouth of the Mackenzie we find only shoals

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 125

with a flat coast, which, with the exception of limestone promontories such as
Cape Bathurst and Cape Dalhousie, consist of alluvial formations. The factor
which, from a geographical point of view, characterizes this territory is the
disemboguement of that gigantic stream the Mackenzie River. It is not only
the deposit of the river, which has built up the coast and the considerable
delta which in the whole of its extent southwards is visited by the Eskimo
during the summer, but it is also the warm water supplied by the river which
makes possible the habitation of the sea-coast. And the quantity of drift-wood
which the river carries by reason of the huge strength of its current and its
continuous flow through the woodlands, inasmuch as the limit of the woodlands
is not reached until the beginning of its delta, enables the Eskimo here, when
building their winter houses, to have as abundant an allowance of wood as
have the inhabitants of the woodlands. As long as the expeditions were on
this stretch of coast they were not inconvenienced by lack of fuel.

The most important effect of the river water is that the pack-ice is kept
at a greater distance from land than one would otherwise expect to find it, and
that here during the summer a large open basin is formed, which towards the
west through a narrow channel along the coast of Alaska is connected with the
open sea round Bering Strait. FranKiLin on July 9, 1826, found open water
as far as 69° N.lat., and ascertained from the Eskimo that with a land breeze
the ice would go still further out to sea, and remain there “until the stars again
showed themselves.”

According to FRaNKLIN’s and RicHarpson’s observations and information
from the Eskimo, the White Whale is the whale which first appears. The
Black Whales are not seen until the end of July, when the ocean has become
as open as it possibly can. Ricuarpson learnt from the Eskimo, that besides
White Whale as also large and small seals (Bearded Seal and Ringed Seal) Nar-
whals were found, and also a kind of Black Whale. Walruses were not known,
as a rule they do not go east of Point Barrow. By the Black Whale species
must be understood the Bowhead which every summer passes Point Barrow
on its way to the sea off the Mackenzie, whence it is then followed by the whale
hunters. Prtrrér distinguishes between “la baleine” and “le marsouin.” The
first mentioned is hunted from a umiak whereas the last mentioned is hunted
from kayaks. About whale hunting from umiak RicHarpson reports that it
is carried on jointly. There is every reason then to believe that the hunting of
large whales is carried on at the Mackenzie under similar forms as west of Point
Barrow, whence more detailed accounts are to hand.

By Perrrét’s “porpoise” must be understood the White Whale, which animal
plays a prominent réle to the Mackenzie Eskimo. MAcKENzIE saw a great number
of White Whales in the mouth of the river, and from his guide got the information
that this was the animal on which the Eskimo principally lived. By this it is
not by any means asserted that smaller dolphin-species should be entirely absent;
but probably it is as in Greenland, where these animals are difficult to hunt,
and without any practical importance to mankind. On the other hand, the White
Whale gives a splendid bag; it seems as if, which Prrrorr likewise reports from

126 H. P. Sreenssy.

Alaska and Yukon, that it preferably resorts in schools during the summer to
the shallow water at the mouths of the rivers, where it is hunted by a series
of kayakers, who try to imprison the school. Towards the east the whales do
not go much beyond the Mackenzie territory. According to Ricnarpson’s and
Sreransson’s observations they diminish east of Cape Parry, and in great num-
bers hardly go east of Crocker River. The whale hunting which is carried on
during some weeks about the month af August is different from the hunting
of most of the hitherto mentioned Eskimo groups, inasmuch as these essentially
have procured blubber by seal hunting on the ice during winter and summer.
The period partly coincides with the period of reindeer hunting in the interior.

Seal hunting is, however, by no means neglected in the Mackenzie terri-
tory, and is here, as in other Arctic districts hunting on the ice. Likewise here
it is the Ringed Seal, of which Srzransson! reports that nowhere else did he
see them as numerous as in Darnley Bay. In the winter the Maupok method
is used, and in spring are hunted the seals which have crept up on the ice (Utok).
The last mentioned modes of hunting are, however, hampered by the peculiar
geographical conditions of the stretch of coast, in that the shallow water at the
coast necessitates the seals resorting rather far out to sea, and out there the
pack-ice lies, and proves a hindrance, so it is only on the smooth ice between
the stranded icebergs and ice blocks that hunting can be carried on. According
to Ricuarpson the Mackenzie Eskimo in the spring disperse over the ice to
carry on seal hunting, and during this time they live in snow houses.

The summer is not solely devoted to whale hunting. It is also at this season
that the Eskimo have to fish for salmon in the rivers, and in the autumn they
must hunt the large herds of reindeer which visit the coasts and the few near
lying islands such as Herschel Island, which especially seems to be a favourite
summer and autumn place of residence for the Western Mackenzie Eskimo.
Of hunting methods a few were observed. FRaNKLIN on August 4, 1826, some
kilometres to the west of Point Manning, was present at a battue where the
Eskimo tried to surround a herd of reindeer in order to drive them out into a
lake, where the animals were killed with spears from kayaks. Finally, along
the coast, numerous hunting fences were found which generally were made of
piled-up turf. Srmpson and FRANKLIN mention several which generally led out
into a lake, so also in this case the usual thing seems to be the killing of the ani-
mals from the kayak. Fishing plays an important réle, which is evident from
the supplies of salmon which Stmpson and Petrrér mention, as also from the
fact that here are used fishing nets of bast, sinews or whalebone. The East Eskimo
only fish with the salmon spear and the little hand net. This employment of
nets for which even bast is used as a material probably points in the direction of
the wood and lake districts of the interior of America. Sreransson asserts that
the net was imported about 125 years ago. *

The sledge is the usual Eskimo form of ice-sledge, with narrow runners,

\
\ which is extensively used on the smooth ice, which, during a great part of the

\

\

\

‘1, p, 321. — I, p. 461.

sar

ae

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 127

year, lies like a border between the coast and the pack-ice, covering the shal-
low water. It is this smooth coast-ice which forms a passable road along the
north coast of Alaska. Every spring this sledge road is, or rather was, visited
by the West Eskimo who brought European goods to the district round Point
Manning, where they met the Mackenzie Eskimo. The description which Petrr6r
gives of these sledges and this mode of travelling is interesting, because this
author, who lived as a missionary amongst the Hare Indians, was in advance
prejudiced against the enemies of the Indians, the heathen Eskimo, for which
reason he is inclined to see everything from the darkest point of view where
they are concerned. The sledges he describes as heavy and clumsy contrivances
“the smallest fault of which is to penetrate deeply into the snow” — not thinking
of the point that they are not meant for conveyance on the snow but on the
ice. Every second or third hour, he says, the runners have to be brushed over
with water and snow to be kept slippery, and for this purpose the ice has to be
cut through, which is a tedious task. As a rule the sledge is put to with 5—6
dogs in a transverse row, not in a line as with the Indians. The Eskimo walks
behind the sledge, leaning on a stick “geignant,” and constantly stopping; he does
not demand “the speed of Pegasus’ from his dogs. At the end he always throws
himself on the sledge even if it is heavily loaded. After this Petrrér recounts
all the articles of dress, chattels and provisions which the Eskimo carries with
him, and he says that “these Sybarites of the Arctic Sea need a comfort which
the North Indians easily dispense with.”

Ricuarpson, from Point Atkinson has already given a summary of the
various occupations of the Eskimo at the different seasons. About the inhabi-
tants here he says that they hunt reindeer and water-fowl on the coast plain
during the summer, that they carry on whale hunting during one month or
six weeks in the autumn, live with their families in settlements during the dark
winter months, and in the spring go seawards out on the ice to catch seals. Prrrrér
says that they fish in the delta from the middle of June till the middle of July.
The fish (White Salmon and “L’inconnu’’) mixed with blubber is dried or pre-
served in bags of skin. Together with the fishing, reindeer are hunted and the
latter hunting is continued until August, when hunting of whales at sea begins.
The annual economic cycle is somewhat disturbed by the circumstance that
the periods for hunting reindeer and White Whale partly coincide, which causes.
a division of the population, in that some go to the interior and others to the
sea coast. Apart from this, however, the Mackenzie Eskimo are, during the
summer, pronounced inhabitants of the interior, like the last mentioned groups.
The Eskimo use tents until October, when they move into their winter dwellings.
Finally, in the spring, the snow house is used, which Prrirér was the first to
observe and describe from these districts. As regards the winter-house, which
will be mentioned later, I will only point out here that this house — several of
which are built together in permanent, village-like groups — so to say give the
Eskimo a more assured culture when compared with their southern neighbours.
It is used during the autumn and a great part of the winter, which accords
with two facts, viz., that a specially large supply of fish and whale blubber can

128 H. P. Sreenspy.

be stored away, and that the sea ice, in a lesser degree, is adaptable for Maupok
hunting. Prrrrér who, from predilection, describes the Eskimo as fat, seden-
tary, good for nothing fellows in contrast to the lean, hardened Indian, says
that, compared with what he has otherwise seen of the dwellings of “savages,”
the Eskimo winter house is the best which can be procured in 69° N. lat. In
spite of his ill-will, perhaps no other author gives a better idea than does Perirér
of the comparative richness and height of the Eskimo hunting culture.

Through travellers meeting the Mackenzie Eskimo one gets the impression
that they originally were a comparatively numerous tribe, and one gets the
same impression from their numerously attended visits to the trading stations.
Thus Perrrér found that Fort Macpherson was on June 11, 1877, visited by
about 500 Eskimo, who had arrived in 24 umiaks, and only by 150—200 Kutchin
Indians. Prrrrér estimated the total number at 2000. On the basis of RicHarp-
son’s statement, that in 1848 he saw about 200 kayak men coming out from a
settlement where they had been carrying on White Whale hunting, Steransson
assumes that the number must then have been 2000 at the very least. Mean-
while, under the influence of civilization through whale hunting and trade, this
number has been reduced to such an extent that at the census which was taken
by the Canadian Mounted Police in 1911, only 40 thorough-bred descendants
of the old Mackenzie Eskimo were found, to which could be added only 100
who were immigrants from other tribes or half-breeds.

The Point Barrow Eskimo’.

After Exson in 1826 had, on a boating trip along the coast from Icy Cape
northwards, discovered Point Barrow this was for a long time considered un-
circumnavigable on account of the ice, and when in 1850 it was passed by the
“Investigator” the crew drew breath more freely, believing that they were already
on their way home to England through the North-west Passage. Since that
time numerous ships have passed Point Barrow, and the north-western and
northern coasts of Alaska are now well-known. These, as regards their struc-
ture and the conditions of the ice, offer as far south as the southern coast of
Kotzebue Sound quite homogeneous conditions for Eskimo settlements, for
which reason these stretches of coast are described collectively, taking the group
at Point Barrow as a type.

The country, along the whole of its coast, is a rather low tundra with nume-

rous pools and small streams, while large water-courses and delta-formations -

are totally wanting. The coast itself, with the exception of such parts as Cape
Lisburne and its environments, is low and sandy and has lagoons usually ac-
companied by bars of sand, which run parallel with the coast, and at some dis-
tance from if, and are here and there elevated into low islands. The highly sandy
character of the coast is also evidenced by many of its heads being sandy pro-
montories. This is the case, for instance, with Point Barrow, Point Belcher,

* Authors specially consulted are: Murpocn, I and then ALLDRICH; BEECHEY;
Ne.son; Petrorr; Ray; STEFANSSON. Cf. Sreenssy, I, pp. 112—116.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 129

Point Hope and with the peninsulas at the entrance to Hotham Inlet and Esch-
scholtz Bay, and this circumstance is of importance, as the Eskimo settlements
are located on such sandy promontories as afford them easy access to the sea
and ice.

Like the coast of Mackenzie and the north coast of Alaska the stretch of
coast we are here considering is open to the pack-ice, which, during the winter
is pressed in upon the land, while, for a short period during summer, it retires
and gives place to a wide extent of open sea, except when the westerly gale
may occasionally drive the pack-ice onto the land. The bars of sand, however,
play an important part as regards the pack-ice, the larger cakes of ice grounding
on them and forming a barrier within which the smooth winter ice is not
broken, but is permitted to form undisturbed. Murpocu records from Point
Barrow that the sea is frozen over, or filled with pack-ice, from the middle of
October to the end of July. There the bar is situated about one kilometre from
the coast, and the fixed barrier of ice may during the winter attain a breadth
of several kilometres before the loose, moving pack-ice is reached. The barrier
does not consist, however, of a compact conglomerate of ice-blocks, but is fre-
quently interrupted by level fields of winter ice on which the Eskimo carry
on seal hunting as they do on the ice within the bar. In some years, however,
under the pressure of violent autumn gales, it may happen that the ice pushes
across the bar, and the masses of pack-ice are pressed closely together, so that
the smooth winter ice disappears. When this happens, as was the case for in-
stance in the winter of 1882—1883, when a part of the winter ice was crushed,
seal hunting is prevented and a period of want ensues.

The streams hardly yield any drift-wood and according to Ray’s observa-
tions the larger pieces of wood which occur all come from the Mackenzie. The
various species of wood the Yukon distributes along the coast of Norton Sound
were not to be found north of Bering Strait, and only a very few, old, damaged
pieces of drift-wood were of Siberian origin. The theory of its coming from
the Mackenzie is also verified by the fact that drift-wood occurs in greatest
quantities east of Point Barrow, and decreases in abundance west of this point.
The Eskimo collect drift-wood very carefully; but sometimes it takes 3—5 years
to collect enough for a boat or a winter house.

In contradistinction to the Mackenzie territory, here the interior of the
country is not occupied by Indian tribes, such not being met with until one is
south and east of the districts drained by the rivers Colville and Noatak. On
the other hand, an Eskimo inland-population has developed here which, according
to Prrrorr, in 1880 consisted of upwards of one-third of the Eskimo popu-
lation of the district. Sreransson records that during summer they hunt caribou,
and with hooks and nets carry on fishing in the rivers. But, during winter, pro-
bably the majority of them make sledge journeys to the coast to hunt seals, _
because the settlements are always situated along streams,which during the greater
part of the year form good sledge roads to the coast, being frozen over as early
as the first week in September. These sledge roads are not only used by the
inland Eskimo, but also by the coast inhabitants on their journeys to the interior

LI, 9

130 H. P. SteEnsBy.

for the purpose of hunting or fishing. The sledge road along the Noatak and
Colville rivers was used right down to our own days by the Kotzebue people
on their trading journeys to the Mackenzie people.

The animal world and the original hunting conditions are described from
Point Barrow by Murpocn and Ray, who were staying there during the years
1881—1883 as the U.S. A.’s members of the International Polar Exploration.
Four species of seal occur, of which the Ribbon Seal (Phoca fasciata), the Har-
bour Seal (P. vitulina), and especially the Bearded Seal (Phoca barhata), the
skin of which is highly valued for making boat covers, are rather few in number,
while the Ringed Seal (Phoca foetida), on the other hand, occurs in abundance
and at all seasons of the year. During the spring and summer it is found between
floating cakes of ice, and is then shot from the umiak with a rifle, but originally
it was pursued in a kayak, and a small harpoon was used, which was thrown
with the throwing board, the shaft of which, by placing itself perpendicularly
in the water during the flight of the seal, replaced the float. During the winter
Maupok hunting was practised, and during the spring seals were captured by
the Utok method, or hunted at the cracks in the ice; in addition, net-hunting
under the ice was largely carried on. In the darkest period the net is set parallel
to a crack in the ice, along which it hangs down like a curtain. A man must
always be present to watch the net, and to entice the seals by scratching on
the ice, or by whistling gently. Murpocu mentions a hunting party which cap-
tured upwards of 100 seals during one single night, and he knew of a man catch-
ing 30 seals during one night. When daylight begins to come back the net
is set horizontally under the breathing holes to catch the seal when it dips down
perpendicularly into the water, after having blown. These methods of net hunt-
ing, which possibly had corresponding methods among some Hast-Eskimo
groups, such as the northern West-Greenlanders and the Angmagsaliks, and
probably are employed also at the Mackenzie, must, according to NELSON, occur
southernmost in Kotzebue Sound, but are not met with south of Bering Strait,
where, however, the net is used in open water.

These methods of hunting chiefly apply to the Ringed Seal. During the
summer the Bearded Seal is captured from the umiak with a harpoon of the
same size as that used for walrus hunting. The walruses are rather plentiful in the
season of open water, and are pursued in umiaks, especially in September, when
the sea begins to be filled with floating cakes of ice. The walrus hunting is or
was, however, of slight importance in comparison with the hunting of the Bow-
head Whale, which, on account of its size, could yield an enormous quantity —
of meat, blubber, and whalebone. Previously, before the American whale-hunt-
ing had reduced the number of the animals, as many as 20 were killed yearly
at Point Barrow; but in the two years 1882 and 1883, only two were killed in
all, In no other place in the whole of the Eskimo region has whale hunting .
played so important a réle for the Eskimo as along this stretch of coast from
Point Barrow to Kotzebue Sound, and in no other place has hunting from umiaks
been so well organized and so well pursued. When, in the middle of April, the
ice began to form open channels, the whales arrived and continued their journey

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 131

northwards until the end af June; after that time there were no whales in the
sea until the end of August, when they again began to return, and go south-
wards from their summer sojourn at the Mackenzie. At the beginning of the
whaling season, which was divided into two parts, according to the passing
of the whales to and from eastern waters, every boat-owner tried to secure for
himself a crew, which kept together as an organized body as long as the hunt
lasted. Usually it consisted of eight paddlers, besides the harpooner, who oc-
cupied the bow, and the captain, — as a rule the owner of the boat — who sat
in the stern and steered. Men were preferred as paddlers, and only in cases of
necessity were women used for this purpose. When a whale was sighted they
paddled up as close as possible to it and tried to thrust as many harpoons as
possible into it in order to exhaust it, so that they might ultimately kill it with
lances and tow it to the ice-edge or the shore. All those who flensed it were
entitled to the meat and the blubber; but the whalebone was divided among
the crews who partook in the chase.

The White Whale, which is of such importance at the Mackenzie and in
Norton Sound at the mouth of the Yukon, is only casually hunted at Point
Barrow, although, during the summer, large shoals are seen to pass along the
coast on their way to and from the Mackenzie.

Reindeer are found in great numbers on the tundra. In the summer the
herds come down to the coast, and during the winter some of them remain in
the interior, more hilly regions, where the Inland Eskimo hunt them on snow
shoes, and by the use of snow pitfalls. During the summer the reindeer are
hunted in streams and lakes from kayaks, and in fenced-in enclosures. Thus,
Murpocu observed between a lagoon and the beach a range of stakes which
was set to guide the reindeer herds into the water.

The musk ox is no longer found, but according to SreFANSSON it was not
exterminated until towards 1860. The Eskimo at Point Barrow mentioned
their forefathers having hunted the musk ox in the interior, and their bones
were found in abundance in the kitchen middens. That it is the Eskimo who
have exterminated the musk ox must be regarded as a certainty.

Fishing in the sea is carried on especially by women, children and old men;
but salmon fishing in rivers is more important. The chief implements used in
fishing are the salmon spear, hooks, and fishing nets. With the exception of the
darkest period of the winter they are used all the year round in open water and
at openings made in the ice.

The most characteristic features of the economic culture at the Aer wastes
coast of Alaska are (1) the Bowhead Whale hunting, which, in contradistinction
to the Mackenzie-Eskimo’s single season of hunting in August, is divided into
two seasons, corresponding to the wandering of the whales to and from the
Mackenzie, and (2) the large use made of whalebone nets for sealing, which nets
are dependent on the whale hunting. Lastly, the umiak is the principal form
of boat, and it has not degenerated into a contrivance to be used by women,
while the kayak plays only a slight réle on the sea. Murpocs is of opinion that,
with the exception of the Smith Sound Eskimo who originally had no know-

g*

132 H. P. STeENnsBy. r

ledge of it, it was only the Siberian Eskimo who made slighter use of this contri-
vance than did the Point Barrow Eskimo. But here Murpocu is thinking
exclusively of its use on the sea. That kayaks must be of some importance to
these Eskimo is evident from his further remark that, so to speak, every grown-
up man owns and can handle a kayak. According to Murpocu it is but slightly
employed on the sea, and then only in the neighbourhood of the settlement.
But it is of greater importance inland, at the hunting of the reindeer, which
are pursued for preference while swimming in a river or in a lake.

Consequently, long annual journeys are not made by the Coast Eskimo,
as they can procure their livelihood all the year round in the neigh-
bourhood of the settlement. In the summer the tents are frequently pitched
in the same place as the winter settlement occupies. The latter consists, as a
rule, of a number of dome-shaped earth-houses grouped around one or two larger
houses used as Kashims. As, in the winter and spring, they do not move out
on the ice during the seal hunt, they continue to live in the winter houses, and
snow houses are built only exceptionally, when the necessities of travelling
demand them. It appears that they do not know, or have forgotten, how to finish
off the arch at the top, as they lay poles across the opening and cover it with
a roof of skins.

The Asiatic Eskimo’.

As regards the form, height and structure of the coast the north-east end
of the Asiatic continent corresponds fairly exactly with the north-west coast
of Alaska. On the other hand the hydrographic conditions on the western and
eastern side of Bering Strait are very different, because the current at the Ameri-
can coast is northerly, while at the Asiatic coast it is southerly. In connection
herewith the last mentioned is to a greater extent blocked by drift-ice and ice-
masses frozen together than is the Alaskan side, and furthermore the climate to the
west is the most Arctic. South of East Cape, where the coast line withdraws
in a south-westerly direction, it seems as if a surface of winter ice forms along
the land and in the indentations. On an American map? of the edge of the shore
ice in Bering Strait no coast ice is indicated on the American side, whereas
at the above mentioned place on the Asiatic side large ice-surfaces occur, along
the outer edge of which the pack-ice is stated to pass. South of Indian Point,
or along the real Pacific Coast of Asia, smooth ice does not generally form, on
account, amongst other things, of the terrific winter gales and the tidal currents. .

From an ethnographical point of view the district is of much interest.
The fauna offers good conditions for the Eskimo culture, inasmuch as there
are both seals and whales in considerable quantities. Of the kinds of seal are
first and foremost the Ringed Seal, and the Bearded Seal, and there are also

* Bocoraz and further Aipricn; DaLt; Gertann; Hooper; Lirxe;

Jocuetson; Norpensksoup; Norpguist; Wrancett. Cf. Steenssy I,
pp. 117—121.

* Smitusonran Miscetuanegous, Vol. 25. Washington, 1883.

ee

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An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 133

a couple of new forms the Okhotsk Seal (Phoca ochotensis) and the Ribbon
Seal (Histriophoca fasciata), of which the latter is only found in the Bering
Sea. At the coast of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Strait we furthermore find
the walrus, which, during autumn and spring, undertakes migrations through
Bering Strait to and from Holy Cross Bay, in which district the animal winters.

As the place where the two continents approach each other, attention has
frequently been directed to the Chukche Peninsula when theories of the popula-
ting of America from Asia have been in question. Here, however, no regard
will be paid to this.

Yet in the history of the problem of the origin of the Eskimo Culture, the
Chukche Peninsula has played a réle, because the mere occurrence of Eskimo
here at sometime was sufficient reason for many putting their faith in the Asiatic
origin of the whole people. Nowadays there cannot in reality be any doubt that
the Asiatic Eskimo have immigrated from America at a relatively late date; but
for the older theories of migration their presence was one of the points of support.

Finally the linguistic and cultural conditions of the Chukche Peninsula
are of such a peculiar and intricate character that with most travellers, expe-
cially the older ones, they have occasioned errors, and only GERLAND’s acuteness
cleared up the confusion. More thorough information on the basis of observa-
tions from sojourns lasting through years we have finally obtained through
W. Bocoraz, whose large work “The Chukchees”, as a part of the works from
The Jesup North Pacific Expedition, is edited by F. Boas.

Linguistically the inhabitants of the Peninsula are divided into two separate
peoples, Eskimo and Chukches; but as regards culture they fall into three divi-
sions, because the latter are divided into reindeer nomads and coast inhabi-
tants, of which the latter live on seal hunting and fishing, like the Eskimo. When,
thus, the coasts are inhabited partly by Eskimo and partly by Coast Chukches,
and when, in addition, they are visited every summer until the end of September
by reindeer nomads with their herds, one can understand how one traveller
on a visit to the coast might come across Eskimo, while another almost in the
same place might knock up against a Chukche-speaking group, and from that
have occasion to distribute the belief that the Eskimo in Asia had succumbed
to the Chukches.

On the other hand, other travellers, who have not laid great stress on the
great linguistic and the lesser cultural divergencies between Coast Chukches
and Eskimo, have been beguiled into giving these latter a too great distribution.

Even Grrianp, however, proved that the Eskimo only inhabit the east coast,

where their scattered villages, which are always placed on the most projecting
point of the coast, are found between East Cape and Plover Bay. According
to Bogoraz, there are nine pure Eskimo settlements, two of which lie at Hast
Cape, and the rest on both sides of Indian Point. Altogether 1200 Eskimo are
found here. The Eskimo settlements, in this way, change places with the Coast
Chukche settlements; but when one gets north of East Cape the latter hold sway.
Along the north coast of Siberia the Coast Chukche settlements are situated
between East Cape (170° W.long.) and Tschaunbay (170° E.long.). The

134 H. P. Steenssy.

stretch from East Cape to Koluitschinbay (174°50’ W. long.) is most densely
populated, and this is also best known from the wintering of the “Vega” in 67°5'
N. lat. and 173°23’ W. long.

Norpguist counted 50 settlements altogether, the total population of which
he estimated at 2000. Along the coast towards Bering Sea the Coast Chukches
also hold sway from 172° W. long. to about 172° E. long., where they are dis-
placed by a population af Koryaks, which again on the Kamchatka Peninsula
south of 57—58° N. lat. is displaced by the Kamchadales.

Amongst the many names, which in the course of time have been given
to the Asiatic Eskimo, without, however, any of them having been allowed
to cling and become a permanent designation, are mentioned Namollo, which
was used by Liirkn, and Onkilon used by WRANGELL. According to Bocoraz
these words are supposed to originate respectively from Koryak and Chukche, |
and signify “coast inhabitant’ or “sea people” generally, without any regard
to their relation to tribe. Hooper introduced the whale hunter’s expression
Tuski the origin of which is somewhat obscure. Datt in his later works called
the Asiatic Eskimo Chuklukmut after a locality Chukluk. Finally their own
designation for themselves Yuit (plural of yuk, “man’’) has obtained more com-
mon use through American authors (first employed by the Zoologist W. Srimp-
son). In this connection it may be mentioned that the Eskimo at St.Lawrence
Island are in language as well as in mode of living closely connected, so that
one must assume that the island has been populated from Asia.

When the Eskimo, in spite of the favourable geographical conditions, do
not occupy a greater territory in North Eastern Asia than is the case, it is owing
to these districts having been occupied by other people, who must have been
present long ago, possibly even when the Eskimo arrived there. A number of
these already mentioned people have, however, allowed themselves to be strongly
influenced by the Eskimo. The Coast Chukches have even adopted the Eskimo
economic culture, so that in this respect one can hardly distinguish between
the two peoples. The Coast Chukches — especially those at the Arctic Ocean
— have adopted the Eskimo ice hunting methods, and the implements for these.
Yet they have preserved their Asiatic manner of putting-to the dogs, namely,
so that one pair goes in front of the other in a long row, whereas the Asiatic
Eskimo place them in a transverse line, in the manner common t ‘to the Eskimo.

The Coast Chukches employ a tent dwelling similar to that of the nomadic
Chukches, which I formerly! assumed to be a remain from the original nomadic
existence. Now, from Bocoraz’ investigations, it is plain, however, that the
Chukches were coast dwellers before they became nomads, and JocHELson is
probably correct in stating that these old Palwasiatic coast inhabitants, the
forefathers of the Coast Chukches and Coast Koryaks, originally lived in earth.
huts. With Chukches and Koryaks, reindeer nomadism must be comprehended*
as a form of economic culture which parts of these tribes have adopted by imi:
tating other tribes — whether these tribes are Youkhagirs or others will not

‘ Steenssy, I, p. 119,

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 135

be conjectured here. With reindeer nomadism these branches of Chukches and
Koryaks have also obtained a tent dwelling, which, according to JocHELsoN’s
supposition, is “built after the type of the dwelling of the Asiatic nomads, but
adapted to the needs of the Arctic climate.” A form of this winter tent is now
again adopted by Coast Chukches and Asiatic Eskimo~in_place of their former
earth hut. Bocoraz only found one winter earth hut still in use with the
Eskimo. Snow houses are not employed.

With regard to the character of the methods of subsistence the Eskimo form
is predominant, not only with the Asiatic Eskimo themselves, but also with
the Coast Chukches who live amongst them, and still further north at the coasts
of the Arctic Ocean. On the other hand the Eskimo influence is smaller with
those Coast Chukches who live on the Pacific Coast south of Bering Strait, and
this holds good in a still lesser degree as regards the Coast Koryaks. These are,
however, somewhat influenced by the Eskimo; JocuELson is even of opinion
— from a study of legends — that he can assume that Eskimo and Koryaks
have once been in direct contact. For the rest they have borrowed in various
ways from Eskimo culture through the Chukches. A specially characteristic
example is the kayak. It is not employed at the coast of Bering Sea, and even
the Eskimo round Indian Point seldom employ it?. But then one finds it quite
isolated with the Coast Koryaks at Penshina Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk. The
occurrence must be explained by the fact that the kayak has come here not
along the coast but along the Penshina River from the Anadyr River, where,
in the central stream, its employment is regular and important at the autumn
hunting of the herds of reindeer which swim the river.

Maupok hunting is carried on in the winter by the Eskimo and the Coast
Chukches. In the spring, a form of Utok hunting takes place, and during the whole
of the winter and spring, when there is open water or cracks in the ice which
can be reached from the coast with the aid of the dog sledge, hunting of seal
and walrus from the edge of the ice is carried on. On this occasion the kayak
is employed, and it is also used at the coast of the Arctic Ocean during the sum-
mer. Sealing-nets are employed during the winter, both vertically along
cracks or between two breathing holes, and horizontally beneath the breathing
holes, as at Point Barrow. In the summer, nets are set in open water at places
where the seals are fond of moving along the shore. On account of the consider-
able profit which it yields walrus hunting is of special importance here. For-
merly whale hunting was of importance; ALDRICH? gives a description of whale
hunting which calls to mind that of the Point Barrow Eskimo. As users of the

_umiak, the frame of which is of drift-wood and the covering _of walrus hide,
the Asiatic Eskimo rank high; like the under-mentioned islanders in Bering
Strait they use sails, and undertake long hunting and trading journeys in umiaks.
Reindeer. hunting in the interior cannot have the same importance for Coast

1 Bocoraz saw only one specimen. Lirke (pp. 452—53) found that the
Eskimo here to the great contempt of his Aleutian travelling companions
did not understand the handling of a kayak.

* Atpricu, pp. 56—57.

136 H. P. Sreenspy.

Chukches and Eskimo as it has for the American Eskimo, because most of the
hunting is done by the Reindeer Chukches, and other inland tribes. The majority
must therefore stay at the coast all the year round, and they generally can only
satisfy their inclination for reindeer meat by exchanging seal blubber for it.
In earlier days, according to Bocoraz, people from Pacific settlements used

to go up the Anadyr River to take part in the reindeer killing on the water.
Fishing plays no great role with the Eskimo and-Nerth-Coast Chukches. In case _
of emergency a number of sea fish are caught, but the great salmon _fishings in
the streams are not carried on up north, because it is only in Anadyr River that
the salmon begin to occur in great quantities.

These salmon fishings are of great importance for the Pacific Coast inhabi-
tants south of the Eskimo area, but besides this, the means of subsistence is
here also characterized by the hunting of whales and seals. Here, from the South
Coast Chukches to the Coast Koryaks and Kamchadales, and further south
to the Giljaks, Ainos and Japanese coast inhabitants, we have an indigenous
North-east Asiatic, or-better, Pacific Asiatic eco i ure, which, no
doubt, is proportionately old, and the presence of which has hindered a more
southern distribution of the Eskimo culture. From a geographical point of view
it would be quite possible that the Eskimo culture in its Subarctic form might
extend as far south as Kamchatka andthe Sea of Okhotsk, perhaps even to
the mouth of the Amur. :

Only a more exact investigation would be able to make clear the extent
to which elements of Eskimo culture have entered into this original North-east
_Asiatic Coast. culture. Bocoraz assumes that the detachable harpoon head
employed by the Eskimo has reached the Amur along the coast of Asia. This,
however, cannot mean that the North-east Asiatics first learnt the use of the
harpoon from the Eskimo. The harpoon is an implement so widely distributed
and so general, that we have no reason to believe that the North-east Asiatics
have not always used it when hunting aquatic mammals. It only can mean then
a specific kind of harpoon head}.

The distribution of the kayak has been mentioned. The seal hunting of
the North-east Asiatics, which takes place especially in the spring and autumn
but not in the winter-on account of the conditions of weather, is therefore not
carried on from kayaks but from open boats, The boats employed at the seal
hunting are generally rather small, and hold two men, a rower and a harpooner,
just as one knows it, for instance, from Japanese drawings of Ainos hunting
seals ®.

At the whale hunting, on the other hand, which originally no doubt played
a larger réle than the seal hunting, larger boats which hold several men are
employed. The mode of procedure with whale hunting quite calls to mind the
already mentioned mode of procedure with the Eskimo at Point Barrow and*

‘ It is of interest to notice the likeness between this harpoon form from the
Amur and the Eskimo form used for White Whale hunting even by the

Polar Eskimo; cf. M.o.G., Vol. 84, fig. 35 and Scurenck, table 42, figs. 3—4,
* Cf., for example, Mac Ritcute, fig. 114.

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An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 137

at Bering Strait. With the Coast Chukches and the Coast Koryaks, this larger
boat was covered with skin, just as the umiak is. The form differs however,
inasmuch as the first mentioned have an ordinary Eskimo umiak while the
latter have a deviating form. With the Kamchadales and southern coast inhabi-
tants the boats are, however, always of wood.

The employment of nets by the North-east Asiatics has still to be men-
tioned. They are not only used as fishing nets, but also for seal hunting. This
seems especially to be the case in the autumn, when the seals go into the
mouths of rivers!. The methods of setting the nets correspond with those
employed by the Eskimo.

It would be impossible, however, to describe this North-east Asiatic Coast
culture in detail, as it is but little known. Not least does this apply to the eco-
nomic conditions and the annual economic cycle. For the rest it is only with
reserve that we can talk about a Pacific-Asiatic culture; it is only the eco-
nomic conditions connected with the sea which have a character common to
the Palasiatics of the coast and the fishing population of North Japan.

The Islanders in Bering Strait.

As specially typical centres of Eskimo economic culture may be mentioned
the small islands in Bering Strait, the Diomede Islands or Inalik, and King
Island or Ukivok. Moreover, the isolated settlements on the lofty western and
south-western coasts of Seward Peninsula may in several respects be reckoned
as belonging to the above. In contradistinction to the St.Lawrence these small
rocky islands are inhabited by American Eskimo. The Islanders themselves were
regarded by Dauu as a distinct tribe (Okeeogmut), co-ordinate with the tribes
on Seward, with the western groups of which they agree in linguistic and several
other respects. They wear labrets, DesHnev found this to be the case as early
as in 1848, and they use the kayak, but are especially excellent umiak-men,
and as such should here be pointed out as those who have brought the use of
these water-craft, within the Eskimo culture, to the acme of perfection. To
increase the sea-going power of the umiak they have introduced the probably
original improvement of placing inflated seal-skins or flaps of skin on both sides
of this, in order to heighten the gunwales in rough weather. With these
improved water-craft they make trips between the two mainlands, and carry
on a traffic which, even before the Russians had settled down at St. Michael,
had brought Russian goods to America. The Reindeer Chukches obtained the
goods by barter from the west, and sold them to the Asiatic Eskimo, who again
sold them to the Islanders, receiving in exchange wood, reindeer skin, and ivory.
This connection across the strait probably dates very far back, even if it has
grown additionally active since European goods reached North-east Asia. In
1648, when Simon Desunev sailed through Bering Strait, he found that the
Diomede-islanders were making war against the Asiatic Eskimo. A further

1 JocuEtson, p. 542.

138 H. P. Steenssy.

proof of the connection is the borrowing of articles of use (pipes, bird-bolas), and
of words, which Murpocu thinks he can prove to have been made from Asia.

From their umiaks the Islanders carry on walrus hunting, which appears
to have been their principal means of subsistence. The ivory hereby procured
they brought, as already mentioned, to Asia, but they were not contented with
bringing the Asiatic goods to the nearest part of the American coast. Across
Norton Sound they sailed southwards to Pastolik, near the mouth of the Yukon,
where they met the Delta Eskimo. Northwards they sailed into Kotzebue Sound,
the inhabitants of which undertook to convey the goods further to Point Bar-
row and Mackenzie. On these long trips sails were used. Nowadays a mast
is set up amidships, and the sail, which is square, is stretched out at the top
with a cross-bar. Originally, according to Nrtson, they are said to have placed
an upright on each gunwale, and fastened the top of a three-cornered sail to.
each of these. The fact that sails are used by these Eskimo is, moreover, men-
tioned from recent times by Murpocn, and from older times by Korzesur,
who sometimes saw umiaks (baidares) with sails. Once he even mentions a
flotilla of eight skin-boats with sails.

There can be no doubt that the use of sails has been borrowed from the
Pacific-Asiatic coast people. It even seems that it came from rather far to
the south among the latter. The description given corresponds closely to the
mode of sail-carrying used among the Ainos, which they probably again have
borrowed from the south, i.e. from Japan. (See for instance the excellent
illustrations in Mac Ritchie, Pl. XIX, and p. 45).

Also the settlements of the islands have a peculiar character, lying as they
do, so to say, pasted against the sides of the mountain, so that the houses almost
have the character of pile dwellings, in that they appear to remind one most
nearly of the form of the summer houses among the Kamchadales and Gilyaks,
and should undoubtedly be explained as the result of a Pacific-Asiatic influence.

The Yukon Eskimo.

The coast regions situated between the Seward Peninsula towards the
north and the Aliaska Peninsula! towards the south is naturally divided into
three parts. Near Norton Sound the coast is lofty as far as to St. Michael, and
passes into a mountainous interior. From St. Michael to Cape Newenham,
south of the mouth of the Kuskoquim, there is a low and swampy delta-coast.
Lastly, around Bristol Bay, the country is again high and mountainous. The ~
sea exhibits a corresponding peculiarity, being, off the delta, shallow over a
large area, and this is especially the case off the mouth of the Yukon itself, between
St. Michael and Cape Romawzow.

Between Norton Sound and that part of the Lower Yukon which has approx
imately a direction from north to south, there is a mountainous tract, the crest

* For brevity’s sake I am here using the style of writing “Alaska” for the
whole of the large North American peninsula, and “Aliaska’”’ for the small
peninsula which is continued in the Aleutian Islands.

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An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 139

or dividing ridge of which forms a boundary between the Eskimo and the Indians,
the seaward side being Eskimo and the river-side Indian. In the district where
the tributary stream Anvik rises, the Eskimo territory is narrowed even to a
breadth of 20 kilometres; but after that it widens out enormously in the low,
flat delta through which the Yukon and the Kuskoquim flow. Here the Eskimo
do not disappear until at the beginning of the higher ground in 160° W. long.
Here, the moment one sets foot upon the mountainous, wooded ground along
the river, the skin boat is found to be replaced by the boat made of birch-bark,
the dog sledge by the broad-fellied snow-sledge (toboggan), and the Eskimo
by the Ingaliks. South of the Delta the limit of the Eskimo goes east of the
lakes Nushagak or Tickchik and Iliamna. |

It is along the stretch of coast from Norton Sound to Bristol Bay that
the transition from Arctic to Subarctic climate and form of culture is wholly
accomplished. Norton Sound is still covered every winter with a continuous
layer of ice; but in Bristol Bay an ice-covering rarely forms. In connection
with this fact the dog sledge is only used in Norton Sound and as far as the
Delta with its numerous freshwater arteries extends; not, however, further to
the south than the Kuskoquim. This is also the southernmost point at which
the most important animal which is hunted, the Ringed Seal, occurs in large
numbers, “its range reaching the mouth of the Kuskoquim River, and ex-
tending thence in a westerly course across the sea in a line coinciding with
the southern edge of the ice-pack.’”! The Bearded Seal is extremely rare
further south than Bristol Bay. Phoca vitulina, on the other hand, is common
everywhere, and formerly the Hared Seals were, in addition, hunted every sum-
mer; lately the latter have been hunted so largely that their occurrence is
almost entirely restricted to the uninhabited islets St. Paul and St. George,
and the Siberian islands, Copper and Bering Islands. The walrus is of no im-
portance, and occurs more singly; but formerly, an abundance of young males
of walrus used to arrive every summer at the more distant Aleutian north coast
of Aliaska, WRANGELL? believed that they had been ousted by the old males
which lived in northern regions.

The distinction which Datu made between the numerous Eskimo tribes
in Western Alaska, and which was afterwards adopted by Prrrorr, NELson
and others, is of no great interest in this connection. A difference of greater
interest to us is that between the inhabitants of the lofty coasts of Norton Sound,
where the settlements are located on islands and headlands, and the Delta Eskimo
whose settlements are situated along the rivers.

Ocitvie and Newtson have described how life is spent at Norton Sound
all the year round. In the spring months, March, April and May, or from the
moment when the day becomes somewhat long until the ice becomes insecure,
the men go out seal hunting on the ice, without, however, taking up their abode
on it in snow houses. In early spring the Maupok method is used, but Utok
hunting is the more important during spring. Later on, when the ice is inter-

1 Nexson, II, p. 262.
® WRANGELL, p. 51,

140 H. P. STeensBy.

sected by large cracks, the seals are hunted at the cracks, and the kayak, which
the hunter takes with him on a sledge, is used to secure the booty, and to cross
the cracks. During the first months of summer, bird hunting is carried on, as
also salmon-fishing in streams. Late in July, and in August, the inhabitants
from the southern part of Norton Sound and many Delta Eskimo assemble
at the mouth of the Yukon and arrange a battue to kill White Whales, when,
in their kayaks (baidarks), they surround them and drive them in towards
the flat shore. This White-Whale hunting, which is pursued both at the Yukon
and the Kuskoquim, is mentioned by several authors, and appears to play an
important réle, especially with the Delta tribes.

When the White-Whale hunting is over, the people from Norton Sound
go up into the mountains for the purpose of hunting the reindeer, and when
well into October the reindeer hunt is over, and the ice has begun to form along
the coast, a great abundance of a kind of small torsk is caught through holes
in the ice, partly with hooks and partly with a kind of tin-bait. During the
darkest period they live and feast on the stored up supplies of fish, reindeer
meat and blubber, as long as these last. Nowadays, during the long, dark winter-
nights, some seals are caught in nets which are set out in the sea at the head-
lands of the coast.

Ocitvie! states, regarding these coast inhabitants at Norton Sound, that
“they are in every respect superior to any tribe of Indians with which I am
acquainted.” Quite contrary to this favourable opinion are the accounts given
of the standing of the Delta Eskimo. Thus, JacoBsEN writes that the inhabi-
tants of the Delta between the Yukon and the Kuskoquim exhibit the highest
degree of filthiness and, setting aside that as a rule they do not make fire and
cook their food, live in wretched caves the interior of which, especially during
spring-time, resembles a morass. From Mc Grats and J. H. Turner, who
were staying there during 1889—1891, we have the following description®. “The
inhabitants of the banks of the Lower Yukon are perhaps the most destitute
Indians* in Alaska. They have no idea about personal cleanliness. During the
regular flooding of the Yukon Delta in springtime they flee in their boats, in
order, immediately on the fall of the water, to return to their miserable damp
huts which really do not dry up the whole year through. Partly this and partly
the almost exclusive fish diet,’’ the author thinks, causes diseases.

A Swede*, whom Jacopsen found residing in the Delta as manager of
a trading station, gave the following description of the inner Delta: “In the
summer the monotonous plain of the Tundra is broken by numerous lakes and
dams, and by silver shining rivers, brooks and tributaries, so that one relatively
easily finds one’s way there, but in the winter land and water constitute one
single monotonous surface covered by a white carpet which for hundreds of

1 Ocitvig, p. 137,

* LINDENKORL, p. 136.

* Here “Eskimo Indians” are meant, American authors often using the term
“Indians” in a sense also including the Eskimo.

* Wotpt (Norwegian edition), p. 280.

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An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 141

miles spreads over the plain like a shroud, while the sky, which generally is
overcast, is arched over it all like a changeless, grey bell. No tree, no bush shows
the way for the traveller, no house and no totem pole beckon kindly in the
distance. Only the flat roundish Eskimo huts project a few feet above the
plain, if they are not entirely hidden in the snow which often happens.”

The fauna of the Delta is characterized especially by its wealth of fishes
and by its numerous migratory birds during summer. On the other hand, the
reindeer is no longer found between the Yukon and the Kuskoquim, and it is,
on the whole, rather doubtful whether these swampy regions with their pre-
dominantly mossy vegetation were ever liked by the reindeer herds that are
found to this day immediately north and south of the Delta. After the Mackenzie
Eskimo, there are no Eskimo who are provided so easily and abundantly with
wood as the people at the Yukon and Kuskoquim, which rivers come from forest
regions and carry drift-wood. According to WRANGELL the mouths of the rivers
may even at times be blocked with tree trunks.

The chief article of food is, as already mentioned, fish. JAcoBsEN! reports
about this that the dried and slightly smoked salmon (Yukala) is the chief article
of subsistence. — “They are ichthyophagists in the real sense of the word.”
Those families who neglect to put by stores of fish suffer famine during the winter.
On the other hand, the Yukon Eskimo have not, like so many of the hitherto
mentioned groups, the opportunity to carry on reindeer hunting largely in the
autumn. Fish is, therefore, their only stored-up food apart from the blubber
from seals which were hunted on the coast-ice in the spring, and White Whale
which was hunted in the late summer. In this way the Delta inhabitants visit
the sea twice a year. In the spring the journey is made in a dog sledge, for which
reason they have to be back before the river ice breaks up. On the second jour-
ney the kayak is-used.

It is very doubtful, however, whether this description applies to the Eskimo
who live at a greater distance from the sea. Probably these live in their settle-
ments all the year round, where, like the Indians at the Yukon proper, they
carry on fishing from the open waters during the summer, and from openings
in the ice during the winter; but as they are without the Indians’ hunting of
big game, such as elk and reindeer, as also the eventual seal and White-Whale
hunting of the coast inhabitants, their means of subsistence is more scanty,
and their life more monotonous, even if their existence is sufficiently assured
by reason of the great abundance of fish in the many arteries and lakes. Ac-
cording to Perrorr one could as late as in 1880 reckon over 6000 real Delta
inhabitants.

One must by no means confound this more monotonous and indigent
existence with a primitive state of culture, as Rix has allowed himself to be
beguiled into doing. The culture in the unattractive swamp delta with the easy
access to fish-food and unnecesariness of carrying out most of the Eskimo occu-
pations is not characterized by primitiveness, but by decay. The implements

1 Wotpt, p. 190.

142 - H. P. Sreenssy.

and the observations of a social kind which one has from the Delta inhabitants
show that they are in possession of a specialized Eskimo culture, which already,
as regards all South-West Alaskan-Eskimo, is so strongly maintained by Mur-
pocu in his criticism of Rrnx’s theory about the origin of the Eskimo.

It cannot be said, either, that at the Yukon the Eskimo have a transitional
form between Eskimo and Indian culture. On the other hand, the Eskimo cul-
ture from the Yukon and southward has adopted some Indian and also Asiatic
traits, so that, as opposed to the northern forms, it has in many respects had
a new and heterogeneous stamp impressed on it. Amongst such heterogeneous
features may be mentioned the dress, in that the fur jacket is distinguished
by its length, and by frequently being without a hood, as also by being made
from the skins of martens, ground-squirrels or birds. Instead of the hood, the
North-west Indian hat of platted vegetable fibres and roots is now met with
in the southern Yukon region, Kadiak and the Aleutian Islands. A North-east
Asiatic influence manifests itself in the building of the houses, in that here one
finds the Paleasiatic earth-house, which is still employed in Kamchatka. Indian
influence, no doubt, especially appears in social and religious matters, inasmuch
as, partly, and after the plan of the North-west Indians, a real tribe-formation
begins and partly a down-right adoption of Indian customs takes place, such
as their way of burying the dead in common burying places, with the corpse
in a wooden coffin!, and also the great distribution of gifts at the festivals?.
Of late there has also been occasion to observe this influence from the south.
When the Russians came to Yukon only the kayak for one man was known,
but the kayak for two men customary at Kadiak and the Aleutian Islands gra-
dually gained ground. That the single-bladed and double-bladed paddle was
used with the kayak indiscriminately can probably also be referred to the greater
contact with the Indians, but what Rrnx assumed, that the single-bladed paddle
is predominant here, is by no means correct. On the contrary, everything points
to the fact that it plays a subordinate réle. Finally it must be mentioned that
a kind of fish-trap*, which during summer and especially during winter
is of great importance in the Delta, must probably originate from Asia. It is
not found further north than Norton Sound, and at the Yukon not above the
mouth of the Koyukuk*. This distribution, together with the fact that it is
not known in the interior of Alaska or in the Hudson regions, indicates that
the fishing apparatus has come to the Yukon Eskimo along the coast, and from
them to the nearest living Indians on the Lower Yukon from the Delta to Nulato
at the mouth of Koyukuk. The same group of Indians has been influenced in —
the same way as regards house building, in that they use the same form of house
as in the Delta, and, as there, collect the houses in settlements. A further descrip-
tion of these matters is not to be given here, however. It will only be mentioned

1 Cf. Baunson, II.

* Sacoskin, p. 552.

* Ocitvig, pp. 171 sqq.
‘ Ocirvig, 1. c.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 143

that the Indians in the Yukon valley, on the stretch which runs parallel with
and close to the east coast of Norton Sound, have, therefore, in some respects
imitated the Eskimo.

The Kadiak Eskimo.

The Yukon Delta and the sea region east of Bristol Bay is the last large
territory which is occupied entirely by the Eskimo. Certainly they are still
found on a stretch along the coast of the mainland, but they are in scattered
groups, between which other people push in. The Aliaska Peninsula is, properly
speaking, Aleutian. On the north coast, according to Perrorr’s map, the most
eastern Aleutian settlement lies at the mouth of the Ugashik River (about 157°30’
W. long.). On the south coast the Aleuts hardly reach so far, inasmuch as their
eastern boundary is Cape Ivanoff (about 159°30’ long.) and the Shumagin Islands.
The remaining part of the south coast of Alaska as far as the beginning of Cooks
Inlet, the south west point of the Kenai Peninsula, the islands in Prince William
Sound and also Kadiak with the surrounding islands are again Eskimo, and
finally the same applies in part to the little isle Kayak, which is inhabited by
a small tribe which in the summer carries on salmon fishing on the coast of the
continent between Copper-River and Icy Bay (141°25’ W.long.). This tribe
uses the Eskimo skin boats and hunting implements, but its language is so Tlin-
kitically intermingled that its root sometimes has been supposed originally to
have been Tlinkitic.

The coast of Cooks Inlet, the large indentation west of the Kenai*Penin-
sula, is not inhabited by the Eskimo, but by a Kenai tribe closely connected
with the Ingaliks; the members of which like their kinsmen on the Lower Yukon
have been strongly influenced by the Eskimo culture’. They use the kayak
for hunting White Whale, which, in rather large numbers, resort to the lower
parts of the bay. The animal, however, is not hunted direct from the kayak,
but the hunter places himself on a staging of poles erected in the water, from
which he hurls his lance, which has a slate head. When an animal is hit, he gets
into his boat which he has ready and pursues it. Large whales, which also visit
the bay, are not hunted by the Indians. When, in August, the whale hunting
and the salmon fishing, which are carried on at the same time, are ended, they
wander up in the mountains, where they hunt reindeer and mountain-sheep.
In September or October they set out in canoes, which they have covered with
raw reindeer hides, down the Suchitna River back to Cooks Inlet, where the
winter is passed in earth covered winter houses which, judging from JAcoBsEN’s
description, are of quite the same kind as the Eskimo houses on the Yukon
and in Kadiak. This, then, is the third case of a non-Eskimo neighbouring tribe
partly adopting the Eskimo culture.

The coast of the mainland between Mount St. Elias and Aliaska (from
141° to 159° W. long.) is on an average high and rocky, and much indented,
with large and small bays. Close out to the coast run chains of mountains which,

1 WRANGELL, pp. 103, 112 sqq.

144 H. P. Sreenssy.

especially towards the east, attain considerable heights, and do not leave room
for a lower coast land. Such only occurs round the mouths of the Suchitna and
Copper Rivers, and is like the river valleys of these, which form the only pas-
sages to the interior of the mainland, both inhabited by Indians.

Among the islands which are of a similar rocky nature as the mainland,
the most important is Kadiak, the population of which may be regarded as being —
the type of these Pacific Eskimo. The climate is coldly temperate and damp.
The sea, which is controlled by warm sea currents, never freezes, and even in
the bays the strong tides prevent the forming of an ice covering. The southern
mountain slopes to the east of Cooks Inlet are covered with beautiful forests,
and the same is the case everywhere in Kadiak and the islands in the more pro-
tected valleys, whereas the south-east side of Aliaska is devoid of forest. The
mammals of the continent do not play any réle for the Eskimo of this region,
as the Indians are in possession of the mountain districts and the river valleys
where reindeer, mountain-sheep, and elk may be hunted. Thus the Eskimo
are reduced exclusively to river and sea fishing, as also hunting of the aquatic
mammals. As long as they have been known salmon and cod, which were caught
in great quantities and, when dried, stored for winter supplies, have been their
principal article of food. When the Russians arrived, three kinds of aquatic
mammals were hunted: seals, whales (especially a species of Balenoptera), and
the sea-otter. For hunting the two last-mentioned the two-man kayak (the
baidare) was used. At the whale hunting a lance with a broad-bladed point of
slate was used. When the hunter, who sat in the bow of the boat, had flung his
lance, the object was to make a hasty retreat. During the animal’s writhings
the slate point broke off and remained in the wound. The prey was left entirely
alone and to its fate, until one day it was washed ashore. Naturally many may _
be lost in this manner; but for the rest the hunters believe that wounds caused
by slate spears prove fatal more quickly than those caused by iron, and they
have stuck to the slate-blades obstinately. With sea-otter hunting, the hunter
always used a bow and arrow, the latter’ really being a small harpoon, the point
of which was connected with the shaft by a line. The hunting was not carried
on by single baidares, but as a battwe, in which about one hundred boats took
part. Originally sea-otter hunting was of slight importance to the natives com-
pared with later times, when the Russians bought up the skins. Then the hun-
ting of the sea-otter was taken up to such a degree that in the course of some
decades it became almost exterminated.

Originally it was also possible to hunt Eared Seals here, but now, at any —
rate, they have disappeared. Of the real seals, according to NELson and TRUE,
Phoca vitulina is the only kind which occurs in large numbers. Besides in the
Bering Se, ait is also common along the Pacific Coast east and south of the Aleu-
tian Islands as far as the southern point of the Alaska territory. At Kadiak seal
hunting takes place exclusively from a kayak, and from HoLMBER@’s report it seems
to be evident that the bladder-spear plays a predominant role. Sometimes the
hunter places a stuffed seal on the rocks as a decoy, and himself remains hidden
in the neighbourhood until a seal has been enticed to creep out of the water.

eS

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 145

Of hunting implements Hotmpere observed altogether 6 kinds, the bladder-
spear, two kinds of spears and harpoons for whales and seals, two sizes of arrows
for hunting sea-otter and bear, as also the three-four pointed bird-spear. Besides
being shot from a bow, the bird-spear was thrown with a throwing board, and
this latter method was exclusively the case with the bladder-spear and the har-
poons. As material for the implements drift-wood was preferably used, the
home kinds of wood being found practicable only for building houses.

-The winter house is an earth house similar to the one at the Yukon, and
the summer dwelling is the skin-tent of the “Tipi” type. Besides the baidark
and the baidare (one-man and two-man kayak), the Kadiaks and the neigh-
bouring tribes on the continent used the umiak, which was at times so large
that it could hold 30—40 persons. Before the arrival of the Russians it was
used principally as a war-craft, as war between the tribes at that time was the
order of the day. The dress was almost similar to that at the Yukon. The Rus-
sians paid the greatest attention to the long fur coat, the “parka,” which was
made from the skins of birds, sea-otters or ground-squirrels (Spermophilus sp.),
and also to the “kamleika” which was of seal-gut, and was used in the kayak.
As at the Yukon, the “parka”? was without a hood, and as a head covering at
sea the platted hat was used.

When the Russians towards the middle of the 18th century began to occupy
Kadiak, they here found a comparatively numerous Eskimo population. When
ScuE.ikoy, about 1760, gave the number of inhabitants on the island as 30,000,
it was, however, evidently an exaggeration. Even if the Russians at the beginning
behaved rather cruelly and roughly, the population can hardly be assumed to
have been so high. In 1760 the number is given as 6,206 individuals; but in
1880 the island had only 1262 Eskimo inhabitants besides some few so called
creoles. That a great decrease in the population has taken place one must con-
sider as granted, and also, as regards culture, that so much was lost and changed
even in the first decades of the intercourse with the Russians that it is difficult
now to form an exact view of the original conditions. The first Russian authors
mixed up the Kadiaks and the Aleuts without further ado. Later, when the
great linguistic difference was perceived, the name Konjag was introduced,
which is said to be a distortion of the Kadiak’s self-designation “Kanagist1.”

A few general remarks may be made, however, on the Eskimo culture
at Kadiak and the neighbouring regions. Firstly that the North-west Indian
influence is stronger here than at the Yukon. This especially manifests itself

in the structure of the community, inasmuch as here, as with the North-west

Indians, we find class distinction, slavery and also a distinct tribe formation
with chiefs and war expeditions. This influence has manifested itself less in
the material culture, where it must be looked for in the ornamentation and
decoration of the implements. The implements themselves are purely Eskimo.
Of the two characteristic possessions, the “baidare’ and the whale-lance with
slate head, the first seems to be an original alteration of the kayak, whereas

1 Bancrort, Vol. I, p. 69.
LI. 10

146 H. P. STeenssy.

the invention of the latter is more obscure. The next point to be emphasized
is that between the South Alaskan Eskimo on the one side and the North-west
Indian Tlinkites ‘on the other side there is no transition, but a sharp contrast.
All judges of the Kadiaks have agreed in assuming that they came from the
north. WRANGELL! advances their own traditions for it. ERman® draws atten-
tion to the fact that, as they use the skin-boat in the neighbourhood of richly
forest covered districts, this can only happen on account of tradition. Finally
Murpoc#® asserts that the using of the sinew-backed composite bow by the
Eskimo in Kadiak and South Alaska is a proof that their culture germinated
in regions lacking wood, or, in other words, in Arctic regions. As a further
proof of this may be mentioned the stated traditional predilection for drift-
wood for implements.

The Aleuts.

The peninsula of Aliaska together with the chain of islands which form
the southern boundary of Bering Sea is, geologically speaking, a continuous
series of voleanoes. The country is high and mountainous, and the coasts are
irregular and rocky. The climate is comparatively mild, but damp and raw,
with much fog and a considerable rain-fall, and storms prevail at certain seasons
of the year. It is rare for the bays to be ice-covered, and then only until the
first strong wind occurs. Woods are wanting, so that the inhabitants are chiefly
dependent on drift-wood. On the north coast, and on a part of the south coast
of Aliaska, as also on the group of islands as far as the island of Attu (53° N.
lat., 187° W. long.) there lives a tribe, the people of which are also called
Aleuts by the Russians, while they originally called themselves Unung’un
(human beings, or people).

From a linguistic point of view they occupy a peculiar position as compared
with the Eskimo, while culturally they stand on the same plane of develop-
ment as the inhabitants of Kadiak, where the geographical conditions are in
several respects the same. But here too, the conditions are nowadays so
greatly altered through the influence of the Russians, that the Aleuts described
by Exxior do not greatly recall the Aleuts of an earlier date. The present
Aleuts have a strong mixture of Russian and American blood. They gave up
using their old skin clothes a long time ago, as they did the custom of wearing
labrets, and the use of the meeting house (kashim), which was originally found
in every settlement. The introduction of Christianity was synchronous with
the disappearance of their festivals and peculiar dances, in which men and
women danced separately, with their faces covered by painted wooden masks,
which were usually carved in fantastic forms.

But the European culture has not been able to influence their means of
livelihood or their “economical culture” to any great degree. As before the

‘ WRANGELL, pp. 117, 124.
? Erman, p. 169.
* Murpocn, II, p. 130,

—w

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 147

discovery, so now, fishing and the hunting of aquatic mammals form their only
occupation, and the Aleut’s food still consists chiefly of dried or raw fish, and
of sea-urchins and other testaceous animals. Fish is caught with hook or net,
and in this region, where the sea is never frozen over, the aquatic mammals
can only be killed from kayaks, therefore in the Aleutian Islands it has always
been, and is to this day, a necessity for every man to be a clever hunter. The
use of the kayak for one man (the Baidark) requires the usual appurtenances,
viz., a water-tight jacket, double paddles, throwing boards and harpoon. As
regards the skill with which they manage their water craft, the Aleuts are
equal to the Greenlanders, and Vensaminov expresses his admiration in his
remark, that he does not know “whether the Baidark was created for the Aleut
or the Aleut for the Baidark.” The Baidare or two-men’s kayak is used just
as at Kadiak for hunting the sea-otter and the whales, which aquatic mammals
are hunted with bow and arrow and slate-bladed throwing lance respec-
tively. The kayak for three was not an original form, but came into existence,
through Russian influence, as a quick and convenient travelling-boat that could
hold one passenger and two paddlers. The umiak is now rare, and has probably,
as at Kadiak and in Prince William Sound, been used for purposes of war as
well as for travelling.

After the Aleuts were discovered on Brrina’s last voyage, and had again
been visited in 1745, a long time elapsed before the Russians discovered that
the people they met on the Aleutian Islands and on Kadiak belonged to two
different tribes. For a long time they designated them commonly as Aleuts,
and it was as late as about 1785 that ScuELEcHow observed that a decidedly
linguistic difference existed between them. VENJAMINOV, who lived from 1824
to 1838, partly on the Aleutian Islands and partly on Sitka, proved this
definitely. F

VENJAMINOY, on the basis of tales ard myths which, however, he has mis-
interpreted (cf. for instance Perrorr), tries to show that the Aleuts are of
Asiatic origin, and the Aleutian Islands have often been made to serve as that
bridge across which a stream of people immigrated from Asia to America. Even
if one sets aside the language, which is of a type similar in construction to the
American language, the cultural conditions, and the opinion current among the
tribes themselves that they originated from the east, the idea of an immigration
from Asia can be dismissed by simply referring to the close geographical con-
nection with America and the distance from the other continent, as also to the
fact that the western islands in the chain are, and have always been, unin-
habited. The kitchen middens and other evidences of a former population,
which Datu has investigated and demonstrated, cease simultaneously with the
present colonisation of the island of Attu’.

The next interesting and important question which presents itself con-
cerns the reciprocal relation and kinship of the Aleuts and the Eskimo.

‘That the Russians failed to see the difference between them was due to the mate-

1 Dax III, p. 43.
10*

148 H. P. Sreenssy.

rial culture, which, so to speak, was similar in all respects, and to the racial
characters, which also differed in no great degree. On the other hand, the lin-
guistic difference is so great that Aleutian cannot be regarded as a branch of
the Eskimo language, but must rather be regarded as collateral with Eskimo,
perhaps even with such linguistic groups as the Tinne and Algonquin. It is
divided into a western and an eastern dialect, Atkic and Unalaskic, which,
however, do not differ greatly.

J. H. E. BuscuMann expresses the results of his investigations of the
Aleutian and other North American languages as follows: “Ich kann das wich-
tige Endresultat meiner Untersuchung verkiindigen: dass, entgegen diesem
gemeinsamen Stoffe, sich das aleutische Idiom (man kann so iiber beide Dia-
lecte absprechen) in seiner Masse, durch den Besitz ganz anderer, eigenthiim-
licher Worter, als ein eigner, von dem grossen eskimoischen ganzverschie- |
dener Sprachtypus erweist.” Brrvvon! contests this view, he says regarding
the Aleuts that it may be regarded as a positive fact that their ancestors “popu-
lated the islands from the American and not the Asiatic side. Not only do their
own traditions assert this, but it is confirmed by the oldest relics of their culture,
which is Eskimo in character, and by their language, which is generally acknow-
ledged to be a derivative of the Alaskan Eskimos.” In support of the phrase
“a derivative of the Alaskan Eskimos” Briyron cites Ht Wrvkter (p. 119)
and W. H. Datz (III, p. 49), and writes regarding the latter, that Datu “states
that their tongue is distinctly connected with the Innuits of Alaska.” But on
looking up the passage in question in Dat, one finds that he expresses nothing
definite regarding the relationship, nor does he state that Aleutian can be derived
from Eskimo. Dat, after having shown that the Aleut-culture is a particularly
specialized Eskimo-culture which owes to the natural conditions its — according
to his opinion — higher and finer development, goes on to say that “this im-
provement is evident, among other things, in the greater development of the
possibilities of the language, in its more perfect grammatical construction and
in a more perfect numerical system.” It must be these words to which Brinton
alludes. But it is evident that the development Datu is thinking of here
relates to the culture, and that nothing is said about the genetic relationship
of the two languages. Then, on looking up Wr1NKLER, it is impossible to under-
stand the passage in question as Brinton would have us to understand it. In
his enumeration and treatment of the North Asiatic languages WINKLER men-
tions also the Eskimo language, regarding which he writes, inter alia, that it
is more closely related to the American languages than to the Ural-Altaic lan-
guages. After that the Yukagiric language is inserted, and lastly comes the
Aleutian, regarding the relationship of which he only writes: “Trotz des
vielfach hervortretenden uralaltaischen Anstrichs ganz selbstiindiger Sprach-
typus ....doch auch der Auffassung nach wesentlich vom uralaltaisch ab—
weichend”. Nothing is said about relationship to the Eskimo language, which,
for the rest, is not referred to when he mentions Aleutian. We may then safely

* Brinton I, p. 66,

| a ee Oo! tel

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 149

state that the named linguists have not brought forward evidences of a closer
relationship between Aleutian and Eskimo, and philology seems still to be in
the same position in this matter.

When Baunson, who usually relies on Dati and Rink, states that “the
Aleuts have, in a far-off past, separated from the Eskimo and developed them-
selves independently on their islands,” it can in no circumstances be possible
that such a separation has taken place after the Eskimo culture had come into
existence. It would be absurd to believe that so decided a linguistic separation
should have occurred between the inhabitants of the western and eastern parts
of Aliaska, where, moreover, the closest contact existed between the two, and
then that the Angmagsaliks and the Yuits, the Labradors and the Kadiaks
should still speak almost the same language. In reality only two possibilities are
left. Hither the Aleuts themselves have invented the kayak, harpoon, etc.,
independently of the Eskimo or their culture has been borrowed from their
neighbours at a later period. When the latter migrated from the north along
the coast of Alaska they encountered the Aleuts at some definite period, and
communicated to them their peculiar culture. Consequently, one must surmise
that the Aleuts stand in a similar relation to the South Alaskan Eskimo as the
Coast Chukches do to the Asiatic Eskimo, and there can hardly be any doubt
that the last-mentioned opinion will prove to be the only right one.

This opinion is contradicted by the assertion that the oldest remains
of the culture of the Aleuts have been proved to originate from an Eskimo
culture. It is not difficult, however, to show that this assertion is incorrect.

From the finds made in the numerous refuse-heaps from Alaska to Attu,
investigated by Dati, it appears that the cultural remains are found in three
layers, which are fairly distinctly separated, and correspond to three cultural
periods : — p

I. The sea-coast period which is chiefly represented by Echinus-shells.
Il. The fishing period, in which fish bones form the principal feature.
Ill. The hunting period, in which bones of mammals occur.

At the transition to layer II sinkers for fishing-nets begin to appear,
and probably the introduction of the fishing net is the principal difference in
culture which corresponds with these two layers, after which testaceous ani-
mals cease to be the chief article of food, and are of comparativaly minor im-
portance in the daily fare, of which fish now becomes a highly important item.
Therefore there is a sharp boundary between the Echinus-layer and the layer
with fish bones, even if the use of testaceous animals as an article of food never
wholly ceases at any point of time. Fish continues, however, to be the main con-
stituent of food down to the present time, and so fish bones are not only pre-
dominant in the layers of the fish period, but are also found in quantities in
those of the hunting period. The latter layer was found wherever excavations
were made. The layer varied in thickness in the different places, and many of
the heaps contained this layer only, which Dawu regarded as testimony of the
population having increased in numbers.

150 H. P. Sreenssy.

That the transition from the sea-coast period to the fishing period is not
due to a gradual development, but is occasioned by the fact that, somehow
or other, a new culture-element, the fishing net, was introduced, really can hardly
be doubted. On the other hand, some authors, and among them Baxnson,
are of opinion, that from the beginning of the fishing period to the arrival of
the Russians a constant and gradual development from fishers to hunters has
taken place, and he mentions, in support of his opinion, that during the hunting
period there has been a transition from the implements of former times to the
later Eskimo form of implements. This is quite right; but the main point to
be remembered is, that these previous forms of hunting weapons are not mere
lance-heads, but real harpoon-heads of an older Eskimo type. These bone har-
poon-heads occur suddenly at the transition to the layer of the hunting period,
and it should be remembered that on the Aleutian Islands these forms are used
to this day, along with the more perfect and skilfully made harpoon-heads of
more recent date. Consequently, this development in the form of the imple-
ments does not differ from that which has also taken place among the Eskimo
themselves, and which may be traced up, for instance, in Greenland.

These observations alone, appear to favour the belief that the transition
from the fishing to the hunting period must likewise be due to the introduction
of new elements of culture, which in this case must be harpoons and kayaks,
as here the use of the harpoon would be impossible without the kayak. It is
probable, of course, that even the Aleutian fishers possessed a water-craft, but
it was not the kayak with its appurtenances. The only probable surmise as
to how. they have come into possession of this highly complicated contrivance .
is that they have borrowed it from the Eskimo. As they gradually taught them-
selves its full use and utility the mammals would play a more and more impor-
tant part where food was concerned, and their skin would become an impor-
tant factor in the making of boats, clothes and houses. This view is supported
by the fact that such implements as: are used for skin dressing are not found
until the lower layers, which belong to the hunting period, are reached.

Dat himself was of opinion that the boat of the fishing period gradually
developed into the kayak, but that the former, owing to its having been very
simple and without any ornamentations, had not left any such traces as the
kayak had, of which some of the small ivory pieces for the. paddles, and other
ornaments, are found in the layers of mammal remains. But, in reality, such
a development quite lineally is inconceivable in the case of the sea-kayak, the
use of which necessitates the co-operation of so many heterogeneous elements,
such as harpoon, throwing-board, lance, etc., each of which necessarily must have
had its own history of evolution before it was taken in use on the kayak.. Be-
sides, Da1’s own investigations of the layers of mammal remains show distinctly
that the Aleuts immediately began to hunt aquatic mammals, the pursuit of
which required the co-operation of the kayak and harpoon, i.e. the fully
developed sea-kayak; the bones first found in the kitchen middens being those
of the Eared Seals (Sea-bear and Sea-lion), two Phoca-species, Phocaena vome-
rina, Delphinus orca and in some places of the walrus. Only in the upper layers

a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 151

of mammal-remains do there occur, in addition, the bones of the larger whale-
species, such as Balena mysticetus, Balenoptera velifera and sibbaldii, the Cali-
fornian Grey Whale (Rhachianectes glaucus), and the Cachalot or Sperm Whale.

It is evident from this succession of layers, that the kayak must have existed
during the whole of the hunting period, and that it must have appeared rather
suddenly on the scene: And only one possible explanation is in accordance
with this view, viz., that the kayak has been borrowed from the Eskimo.

Another point of interest is apparent from the succession of the layers
viz., that the hunting of the large species of whales with baidare and lances
with slate blades, — which is also known from Kadiak, but which has not ex-
tended further north than Aliaska, — is a method of hunting of rather late occur-
rence. This conclusion is justifiable, as both the bones of the animals hunted
and the hunting weapons, the whaling lances with slate blades, occur late in
the succession of layers. Other interesting observations may be made on Datt’s
investigations, but I shall refrain from further comment, as the sole task we
have set ourselves here has been to elucidate the fact that the Aleuts are
members of an originally independent tribe which adopted the implements
and hunting methods of the Subarctic Eskimo.

\

A Comparison of the different Types of
Eskimo Culture.

The Eskimo Territory a Unity as regards Communication.

N surveying the description of the types given above, in which 1.
have tried, geographically and ethnologically, to separate the com-
ponent parts of the economic life of the Eskimo, there is an observation

which once more calls for attention, viz., that nowhere between two

groups has there been a boundary so strong that it has not now and
then — if not regularly every year — been crossed by means of
sledges in the Arctic regions or by boats in the Subarctic.

It has already been mentioned that, right down to our own day,
there ran through Northern Alaska and along the coast of the Arctic
Ocean an indigenous trade-route which connected the Mackenzie
Eskimo with the regions towards Bering Strait. From the Mackenzie
region to Coronation Gulf, from the latter to the Netchillik territory,
and further eastwards to Baffin Land and Labrador, various travellers
have found evidence of contact having taken place.

In certain cases, where the connection has been broken off in recent
times, the cause appears always to lie in the fact that one of the groups

| has come under a strong and solely European influence. As an example

may be mentioned the connection across Melville Bay in Greenland.
The connection between the American Archipelago and Greenland forms
an exception. This appears to have been now and then really broken
off for anthropogeographical reasons, the Eskimo having decimated the
musk-ox herds along the so-called “musk-ox route”! straight through
the Archipelago from south to north and north-east. But as the musk-ox
herds have not been entirely exterminated, they will be regenerated
when the Eskimo are there no longer, and then there will be possibilities
for an immigration of new groups of Eskimo. It appears, however, that
these wanderings must have taken place especially from the Archipelago
to Greenland; a movement in the opposite direction has undoubtedly
been of rare occurrence, if it ever has taken place. :

The first result, then of the present analysis of types is that
the Eskimo region, in, spite of its extent, hangs together

* Regarding this cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34, pp. 393 sqq. and map on p. 401.

a te * |

7 444 ber

:

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 153

as a unity, so far as communication is concerned. Or, to put
it more exactly, did so until the white man disturbed the existing con-
ditions. Consequently, it was possible for a new cultural feature which
had originated in, or been introduced into, one place to be transmitted
to all the Eskimo.

Geographical Adaptation and Pacific-Asiatic influence.

Analysis of the types of culture described above makes it evident
that the cultural dualism, shown in the summer and winter pursuits
respectively, is based upon geographical conditions; and, further, ex-
plains why the annual economic cycle varies so greatly from group
to group.

A closer consideration will, however, show that also the other main
reason for cultural development, viz., culture-contact or influence
from without, must have co-operated in the development of at any rate
certain sides of the economic culture of the Eskimo.

This is seen by comparing the Point Barrow Eskimo and the more
westerly and still Arctic culture-groups in Alaska and on the Chukche
Peninsulafwith/the central Arctic groups in the Archipelago (Coronation
Gulf and Netchillik), /

Among the latter the summer is spent in hunting and fishing
in the interior (kayak, lance, bow, arrow and fishing spear), and the |
winter .in hunting on the ice (dog sledge and harpoon). /Among
the Point Barrow Eskimo and their neighbouring groups the same is
found to be the case; but, in addition, the summer has provided a quite
new occupation, which, as regards the season, collides with the inland-
hunting, viz., whale hunting from umiak, and the winter has likewise
provided a quite different method of acquiring a livelihood, viz., the
catching of seals with nets.

The question now is, whether the Eskimo themselves have developed
these pursuits, or whether they have borrowed them from without.
Even the consideration that, in comparison with other Arctic groups,
they represent a duplication of the methods of obtaining food may
favour the belief that they have been borrowed. That they are younger
than the other methods there can be no doubt, among other reasons,
“on account of their higher technical nature, and because they demand
greater social co-operation.Since we know that the capture of seals
with nets is carried on by the Pacific Asiatics along the Asiatic coast of
the Northern Pacific Ocean, the only reasonable solution of the problem
is furnished by the assumption that it is the Eskimo in the regions about
Bering Strait who have learnt to catch seals with nets from the Pacific
Asiaties, and not vice versa (in all probability it is from the Pacific Asia-
tics that the Eskimo have on the whole learnt the use of the net and
not from their North American neighbours), Moreover, everything

154 H. P. Sreenspy.

shows that the whale hunting from umiaks carried on by the Eskimo
along the west and north coasts of Alaska is borrowed from the Pacific-
Asiatics. We have here the same alternative before us as in the case
of the catching of seals with nets, in that we must presume that the one
group of people have learnt from the other. We now know that whale
hunting is old and of great importance among the Pacific Asiatics. This
applies not only to the Coast Chukches and Coast Koryaks, but also
to the Kamchadales — even StELLER! records whale hunting among
these — and lastly to the Ainos and the coast inhabitants of Japan.?

Among all these coast peoples whale hunting is carried on from
large boats, which hold a number of paddlers. Among the Koryaks
these boats are made of skin, like the Eskimo umiaks, although they
differ somewhat in type. Among the more southerly coast people, on
the other hand, wooden boats are used. The small boats used for seal
hunting are also made of wood — originally they were made by hol-
lowing out the trunk of a tree; they have at the stern a paddler and
in the bow a man who hurls the harpoon.

That the Eskimo’s net-catching of seals and whale hunting from
umiaks are originally borrowed from the Pacific Asiatics cannot very
well be doubted. Even Murpocu emphasized the fact that net-catch-
ing had come from Asia, and as a proof he stated that the Point-Bar-
row Eskimo’s designation for nets was according to his opinion of Chukche
origin, and that they have traditions of a time when they captured
seals with the harpoon alone.

I must however also presume that the umiak has been borrowed .
from the same source, and has probably been introduced at the same
time as the whale hunting, because the Eskimo required a large boat
for this purpose. Whale hunting is, on the whole, the only occasion on
which the umiak plays a direct réle as regards gaining a livelihood.
Otherwise the umiak is used only for travelling, and for this reason
has degenerated into a contrivance to be used by women, “a wo-
man’s boat’? (except on Kadiak where it was also used as a war-cralft).
Now it is quite unlikely, or, to put it more exactly, inconceivable that .
the Eskimo, at the outset and during their struggles to adapt them-
selves to the new natural conditions, should have created two such
widely different water-craft as the kayak and the umiak, and both so
highly developed. This would simply militate against the biological ,¢
“principle of least action (in this case: least labour),” as, to begin witht, §
they would be able to suffice with the kayak. = van ee

It must, of course, be left for later consideration whether the Eskimo
themselves have produced the umiak by imitating the large boats
and using the material at their disposal, or whether perhaps the Coast

* STELLER, p. 102; pp. 103 sqq.

* Kimprer, pp. 150 sqq.; P. de Cuarevorx, II, pp. 578 sqq. ; W. Hern, p. 57;
cf. Murray’s Handbook for Japan [London, 1903], p. 252.

Sees

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 155

Koryaks have produced the large skin-boats which have then been
adopted by the Eskimo. The nett result will be the same, that the
Eskimo umiak first appeared in the 1 regions about Bering Strait, and

that it is due to the cultural influence of people living on the Asiatic”

coast’ of the Pacific Ocean,

That the Eskimo culture has also been influenced by other neigh-
bouring groups must be taken for granted; but there can hardly be
found any other group which has influenced the Eskimo economic cul-
ture so radically as have the Pacific Asiatics, who for practical reasons,
are here reckoned as a single geographical group.

If, now, the umiak and the capture of seals with nets had been
found among all the Eskimo, from the west to the east, there would
have been no difficulty whatever in assuming that these things were
borrowed from the Pacific-Asiatics. But then in the Archipelago there
is a break in their occurrence. The umiak occurs among the Mackenzie
Eskimo, disappears among the Eskimo in the Arctic Archipelago, and
then reappears in Baffin Land and Greenland south of Melville Bay.

Nevertheless we must assume a distribution from the West Eskimo
to the East Eskimo regions. Firstly, it is sufficient explanation for the
absence of the umiak from the central regions, that there was no us
for it; and for the absence of the net, and net catching, that it was not
possible to obtain the necessary material for its manufacture, viz.,
whalebone. Secondly, within the unity in communication formed by th
Eskimo region, there can have been no real barrier for the distribution
in question.

The fact should be remembered that here we are not dealing with
a population consisting of groups which differ widely as regards language
and tradition, and where a distribution meets many hindrances, but
with a people which has a close affinity of language, and is not separated
into well defined tribes. The different groups, which, more particularly
only in Alaska — presumably on account of Indian influence — present
the characteristics of true tribes,! are not separated by linguistic
barriers and are generally not even hostile to one another. Properly
speaking, the groups occur as unities only by reason of their being
geographically separated from one another. The sociological group-orga-
nisation does not extend beyond the settlement, a fact first demon-
strated by Rrnx, and afterwards finely and more fully treated by Mauss
and Brucuar. But the organisation of the groups was not so fixed, or
so hostile to others, that it prevented visits being made during the
favourable seasons of the year, or the admission of new members, or
other shiftings taking place in the population of the settlements. Con-
sequently, both the sociological and the geographical conditions for the
distribution of the culture-objects even over great distances outside
the Eskimo domain’ were present.

1 Cf. Mauss & Beucnat, p. 50.

156 H. P. STeeNnspy.

There is nothing which militates against the view that individuals
who have known and used the objects in question from the coast of
Alaska have themselves come to Greenland and there introduced their
use. It is also possible that the distribution has taken place somewhat
differently, that, for instance, attempts have been made from time to
time throughout the whole region to build umiaks. Even the Polar
Eskimo, according to Knup Rasmussen, have traditions which state that
umiaks were once used within their territory. Lastly, it is possible and
—as I shall try to show below — most probable that from the regions
about Bering Strait a regular stream of people has passed through the
Eskimo districts from west to east. In the regions about Bering Strait
a mixed Eskimo-Pacific-Asiatic population has arisen — mixed both as
regards culture and race — and this mixed population has spread out
towards north-west and east, following the Eskimo roads of communica-
tion, and carrying along with it the knowledge of the umiak, the net
made of whalebone, ete.

Eskimo Summer and Winter Culture.

It has already been pointed out in a previous chapter that,
_ although the Eskimo are a primitive people, they are in possession of
an unusually large number of implements, of which many are complex
~ and, to speak technically, highly developed.

Their economic culture displays a similar variety. Not in the sense
that there is a division of labour within the community as regards th the
various means of obtaining a livelihood, but because all the bread-winners
~ of the tribe are obliged to carry on different occupations at the diffe-
’ rent seasons of the year. ;

We may safely say that among no other people is the annual eco-
nomic cycle so distinct as among the Eskimo. The difference between
summer and winter is especially marked, so that we can distinguish
between an Eskimo Summer Culture and Winter Culture, which
differ so highly that they are characterised not only by diferent
methods of occupation, but in a great measure even by different sets sof
implements. ? cae

This statement applies especially to the Arctic Eskimo, whose) winter
occupation consists in the various methods of hunting on ice, while their
summer areypatene is inland fishing and hunting. The Subarctic

=a area =a

‘ I pointed out the existence of this seasonal dimorphism, or difference be-
tween a summer and a winter culture, even in my preliminary paper on
the subject (1905). Mauss & Beucnar, in their interesting paper, have car-
ried out my observations still further and tried to demonstrate a summer
and a winter side also in the social morphology of the Eskimo. How far

they have succeeded in this is a matter into which I shall not enter at
present.

La a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 157
Eskimo, in the majority of cases, also practise inland fishing and hunting
during the summer, or to put it more exactly, during a part of the
summer, while during the rest of the year, the winter included, they
hunt in kayaks on the open sea. Some Subarctic groups even pursue
kayak hunting all the year round on the open sea, and special summer
hunting in the interior has fallen into disuse; but it is evident that this
is only of exceptional occurrence and due to the fact that access to
the inland is barred in one way or another, either, for instance, by
hostile tribes (South Alaska), or by peculiar natural conditions (Green-

land). Consequently, the apparently simplest instance of the Eskimo
annual rotation of occupations — viz., kayak hunting all the year round
— is in reality a matter of simplification and not of primitiveness.

The difference between the summer and the winter culture is best
shown in tabular form, but it should be borne in mind that only the
most typical and important conditions have been considered. The fol-
lowing is the typical table for the Arctic Eskimo culture.

/
Place of abode| Occupation | jp rina. Dwelling ee
In the begin- | Hunting on Dog sledge; |In the beginning
ning of the win-| the sea ice. harpoon. of the winter:
Winter ........ ter: The coast Earth house.
land. Later in Later in the
the winter: winter: Snow
The sea ice. house.
Inland. Hunting on | Kayak; lance; Tent.
Summer...... land and fish- | bow and arrow;
‘ing in rivers. | salmon spear.

Originally, } all the Arctic Eskimo doubtless lived during the first part

of the the Winter in an earth house. The situation of this was not strictly
connected with the coast, as such; but its situation was dependent on
two main considerations. Firstly, whether the stores from the sum-
mer fishing and the autumn hunting of reindeer could be turned to
account at the place in question, and secondly, whether there was com-
paratively easy access to the sea ice. Now, however, a great many of
the Arctic Eskimo in the Archipelago appear to have discarded the
earth house and to have moved direct from the tent to the snow house
which is now also used during the first part of the winter, while they
live on what they have stored away during the summer and autumn.
It is a period of the year which often has the character of being a festive
season, if the supplies are ample, and a comparatively large number
of people are gathered together. Later, when hunting on the sea ice
begins, the people disperse, and live scattered over the ice.

As regards the above table for the Arctic Eskimo, those especially

a

—>

H. P. Sreenssy.

> tatorred to are the inhabitants of the Archipelago (the Eskimo near
Coronation Gulf, the Netchillik district, etc.), where the Arctic cult ‘culture
is most distinct..Here the winter lasts nine months of the year, and the
summer only about three. From an anthropogeographical point of view
the winter ends when the winter ice breaks up on the sea and there is
open water, and the summer ends when the fresh water is frozen over
and the reindeer herds leave the tundra.
When one gets away from the Archipelago, along the coasts

of Alaska, Greenland or Baffinland and Labrador, the difference in the —

seasons alters, the winter gradually becoming shorter and the summer

a greater and still greater part of the year.

longer; that is to say, the sea is covered with ice during a shorter period,

a sea prevails duri
At the same time the ice is_less.extensive...Open se » prevalls Coane ng—-

The winter place of abode varies in a corresponding manner.

The sojourn on the sea ice is shortened. The change takes place expe-
cially from the fact that it gradually happens that it is not the entire
/ population which moves out on the ice, but the hunters only, while
. the families live in the settlements, which, on account of the access to

) the ice, are situated on the coast, and especially on the headlands.
dwellings consist of permanent winter houses.

fall into disuse.

The

Snow houses gradually

coasts mentioned above, one comes to regions where the sea ice no longer

| When one gets still further away from the Archipelago, along the

plays any part as regards hunting. One then-comeés to the Subarctic
Eskimo, whose place of abode throughout the winter is the coast.” There

the conditions as regards access to the open sea and the possibility of

landing in skin boats determine the site of the settlement. Kayak

hunting becomes by far the most important occupation throughout the~

winter.

place, or there may be periods of whale hunting. —

During a part of the summer kayak hunting may also take

But the rule is, that

these Subarctic Eskimo, like the Arctic, during the summer make journeys
into the interior for the purpose of fishing in the rivers (especially for
salmon) and of hunting reindeer.
( Consequently, the Subarctic-_Eskimo-have-the-same summer culture

as have the Arctic Eskimo, even if it plays a somewhat. different. role
among the different groups. As mentioned above, in some groups inland

hunting is entirely abandoned.
The following is the table for the Subarctie Eskimo:

: P: 1 “
Place of abode| Occupation opie Dwelling
| |
phe tS ( The coast. Hunting in Kayak; har- | Earth house.
kayaks, poon; (umiak).
s | Inland (other-| Inland hunt-:| Kayak; lance; Tent.
Lich wise the coast).| ing; Fishing | Salmon spear;
in rivers. bow and arrow.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 159

To this might be added a table showing the conditions-among-the
most_extreme Subarctic Eskimo, with whom the summer inland-occu-.
y. The difference between Winter and summer {

Is the Aretic or the Subarctic form of Culture the older.

In discussing the Eskimo culture we have classified it according to
geographic situation. The question now is whether this classification
corresponds with the sequence of development. And next, whether the
direction of this development has been from Subarctic to Arctic or the
reverse.

As has been shown already the historical sequence of discovery led
to the Subarctic culture being regarded as the true and original form.
In reality, the problem has never before been set, as it has been here,
by distinguishing between Subarctic and Arctic,! nor, therefore, has
the question regarding the relative antiquity of these two forms been
discussed.

H. Rink did not in reality get beyond dealing with the Subarctic
form, and for this reason, amongst others, he referred the origin of the
Eskimo culture to Alaska. This, however, cannot be reconciled with
Boas’s previously mentioned demonstration of the fact that traditions
point towards the central regions, where the economic culture is deci-
dedly Arctic. Neither does the theory that the Subarctic culture origin-
ated in Alaska agree with the above-mentioned results of the JEsup
Expedition.

Consequently, at the very outset we find conditions which favour
the belief that the Arctic form of culture must be the older, but we
shall now see to what results an investigation on anthropogeographical
lines will lead us.

The Typical Arctic Winter Occupations.

Methods of hunting on Iee. The real Arctic elements in the winter
culture are represented by the methods of hunting on ice, and of these
the Maupok method is really the essential method of hunting during
the winter, while the Utok method is characteristic of the late spring
months, and finally, the annual period of hunting on ice ends late in
the spring or early in the summer with hunting at the cracks in
the ice or at the open holes. The chief weapon is the harpoon. This
weapon is not especially Eskimo in its origin; it is widely distributed,
and occurs both in North America and in North Asia outside the Eskimo

1 Except in my paper of 1905.

Li

160 H. P. StEENsBY.

‘circle. Those used in Utok and Maupok hunting are as a rule thrusting
‘ harpoons and fairly simple in form. But in the hunting at the cracks
in the ice harpoons must be used which can be thrown. The relationship
between the three main methods is as follows: in the central, most Arctic
regions, as for instance in the Netchillik and Coronation Gulf districts, the
Maupok method is the most important, and it is pursued during the

' greater part of the sojourn on the sea ice. The Utok method is the next
_ in importance.

But the further one gets away from these regions westwards or
eastwards the more the conditions are altered, in so far as there is
less and still less occasion for the employment of the Maupok method,
while the Utok method and still more the hunting at the cracks in
the ice still play an important réle for a time. Thus, the Utok hunting
and the hunting at the cracks in the ice are of importance in Norton
Sound, while the Maupok method is only occasionally employed; it has
ceased to be of importance even north of Bering Strait. In West Green-
land there is also occasion to observe that the Utok hunting and, espe-
cially, the hunting at the cracks in the ice play a great rdle even after
the Maupok method has ceased to exist as a regular method of procuring
a livelihood. In West Greenland the border-land as regards the impor-
tance of the Maupok hunting as a means of procuring a livelihood was
undoubtedly in old days Umanak Bay and the districts at the head
of Disco Bay.

With regard to the hunting at the cracks in the ice — which can,
however, scarcely be designated a fixed method of hunting as are the
Maupok and the Utok methods, among other reasons, because the
Maupok and the Utok methods are only used in hunting seals, while
by the more vernal hunting at the cracks in the ice not only the common
seals are caught, but also walruses and various species of whales (White
Whales and Narwhals) — it should further be stated that the hunting
has begun to take the kayak into its service. While with the Maupok
and Utok methods the dog sledge only has been used, in the hunting
at the ice-cracks the kayak also begins to be employed, both to ferry
the hunter across the wide cracks in the ice and to fetch home the booty
harpooned at the ice-edge. Thus the hunting at the cracks in the ice
forms a transition from hunting on the ice to kayak hunting on the
open sea.

Besides the three main methods of hunting on ice mentioned here,
it should be remembered that there are other methods, such as the hunt-
ing on smooth ice, and especially the ituarpok method mentioned under
Greenland, which is probably of very ancient date, and of interest a8
regards the history of the origin of the ice-hunting methods.

The hunting of the musk ox is partly a summer and partly a winter
occupation, but plays only a slight and local réle on account of the
musk-ox having been decimated. The winter musk-ox hunting was

=e

_ Pere

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 161

undoubtedly of importance originally, but must now be regarded as the
relic of an occupation which is of importance only for the small inland
tribes on the Barren Grounds, and occasionally for a few other groups.
I do not think that musk-ox hunting is now included as a regular
factor in the annual economic cycle of any other group than, perhaps,
the inhabitants of the Barren Grounds. February and March appear to
be the best time for the winter musk-ox hunting!. The hunter’s equip-
ment consists of the lance, snow shoes, and the dog sledge; and,
moreover, the dogs themselves to overtake and stop the animals.

The Typical Arctic Summer-occupations. .

Reindeer hunting is a summer occupation, and an important link in
the annual economic cycle of the Arctic groups. That it becomes of less
importance among the Subarctic groups is due in Greenland, as already
mentioned, to geographical conditions, while in south-western Alaska
the case evidently is that the Eskimo have wedged themselves
along the coasts into regions where the inland was occupied by In-
dians. Reindeer hunting is pursued, partly as a more individual hunting
with bow and arrow, and partly by the co-operation of several hunters.
The chief methods are the hunting at the fords and the hunting within
fences, which fences usually go down to a lake; in both cases the kayak
(and the lance) is an indispensable expedient. Both the latter modes
of hunting occur everywhere where reindeer hunting is of any impor-
tance; they are known from Greenland to Western Alaska.

Salmon fishing is a summer occupation which occurs everywhere
where the Eskimo have not passed-into a purely coastal life. The
chief implement is the salmon spear, which is not specially an Eskimo
implement; it is used in slightly differing forms among other tribes in
North America and in North Asia. Moreover, a small bag-shaped net
or a hand-net on a stick is employed; dams are also commonly con-
structed.

The Hunting Implements, which are considered here only because
of the réle they play as regards the “methods of hunting,” are only
mentioned, in the review of the summer and the winter occupations, in
connection with the hunting methods in which they are employed.

Means of Conveyance and Appurtenances.

There is scarcely any feature which so distinctly shows that the
Eskimo rank as a hunting people of high development as the fact that

- they use such highly developed means of conveyance at their huntings.

The Dog Sledge is a decidedly Arctic winter contrivance. Its area
of distribution extends from Holsteinsborg in Greenland to the mouth
of the Kuskoquim River in Alaska. But it is only from Melville Bay

1 Steransson, I, pp. 506—507.
minh, =, 11

162 LH. P. STeenssy.

and from Baffin Land to Kotzebue Sound that it is the most important
and, in the Central Archipelago, the only means of conveyance on the
sea, Where it is used on the smooth winter ice.

The Kayak in its simplest form is a decidedly Arctic summer-con-
trivance, which, in reality, is distinguished from its mother form, the
birch-bark canoe, — which is frequently partly decked over — only by
its covering of skin. This simplest form of kayak (cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34,
figs. 36—38) has an oblong and not a circular man-hole; it is, however,
small and light, so that it may be carried across land, and can be used
as a ferry, if two are lashed together side by side. Among the Central
Arctic Eskimo it is chiefly used at the reindeer hunting in lakes and
at the fords.

As this Arctic river-kayak, away towards the Subarctic regions,.
gradually develops more and more into a decidedly marine appliance,
it is perfected both as regards arrangement and structure. The man-
hole is made circular, so that it fits round the hunter’s person, and can
be made to fit still better by means of the waterproof jacket. Besides
the lance, which was the chief weapon of the river-kayak, the sea-kayak
is furnished with throwing harpoons with throwing boards.

The throwing board in all probability, for ethnographical reasons,
must be regarded as being of American origin. As regards the throw-
ing harpoon, I believe that the highly developed forms with long
line and the large bladder are of comparatively late origin. It seems
most likely that the throwing harpoons first used by the Eskimo were —
closely related to the thrusting harpoons, and have had no other floats but
the harpoon shaft; at Point Barrow and other places such throwing har-
poons without bladder still play a réle. I think it is doubtful whether
the so-called “bladder-dart” is a transitional form as RinK supposed.
I am more inclined to believe that the large bladder was borrowed
by the Eskimo from the Pacific Asiatics: according to this, then, the
bladder was first used with whale hunting, and the Eskimo were the
first to convert it into a contrivance for use when hunting seal from
a kayak.

I think that the double paddle must be of similar origin. With
the exception of the Eskimo, the American tribes do not appear to have
used the double-bladed paddle, but only the single-bladed one. On the
other hand, the double paddle was an implement rather commonly used ~
in Northern Asia1, indeed, its use extended right across to Europe,
where double paddles are known, for instance, from bog-finds. There-
fore I believe that the Eskimo in the regions about Bering Strait have
replaced their original one-bladed paddle by the Asiatic double paddle:

The hunting kayak — equipped with the view of enabling a liveli-
hood to be gained — as developed from the simple river-kayak, oc-

* Cf., among others, Mippenporrr, Vol. IV, p. 1356.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 163

curs, then, as a product of accretion, the individual parts of which
are partly of Eskimo and American (lance, throwing harpoon, and
throwing board; the bird dart must also be included among these),
partly of Asiatic origin (the hunting bladder probably and the double
paddle).

The Umiak and my theory which regards it as borrowed originally
from the Pacific-Asiatics have already been mentioned. As an argument
in favour of its southern origin and its distribution from the western
Eskimo regions to the eastern, the sails may be mentioned. From the
oldest times of ‘‘discoveries” sails have been recorded not only from the
districts around Bering Strait, but also from Davis Strait, where even
Frobisher saw umiaks with sails.

Eskimo Dwellings and Garments.

The dwellings also bear witness to the fact that the Eskimo possess
a rich culture. Several of the neighbouring tribes living immediately
south of the Eskimo, such as the Nenenot Indians in Labrador, the Tin-
neh tribes west of Hudson Bay, and the Kutchin tribes in the interior
of Alaska have the same type of dwellings both for summer and
winter use.

’ With other North American and North Asiatic peoples, on the
other hand, the summer and winter houses differ both in type and in
construction. But the Arctic Eskimo have, besides the summer house,
two quite different kinds of winter house, both equally useful; viz., the
snow house, and the house built of stones, earth, and wood or whales”

bones. ~-This-is a case parallel to that of the kayak and the umiak>~

From a purely anthropogeographical point of view, the earth house
among the Arctic Eskimo tends to become the house into which the
Eskimo move in the autumn, and in which they live as long as the
stores from the autumn hunting last. These earth houses are situated
at stated places, usually near the coast, and often on promontories or
high points. As a rule new houses are no longer built, the existing
ones being used after the necessary repairs have been effected and the
roofs renewed. By way of distinguishing it-from-the-earth house the \
snow house may be defined as the hunting lodge ofthe winter and spring,
without which the wandering life on the sea ice would not be possible.

' In the meantime it is difficult to believe that this distinction in
the use of the houses is a satisfactory argument for the necessity of
two different kinds of winter house coming into existence — or groups
of winter houses, as in reality the winter house of earth, stone and wood
or bones falls into several types, as will be mentioned later on. It is
also seen that the snow house is—not—used by the Subarctic Eskimo,
while, with the most decidedly Arctic Eskimoin the inner parts of the_
Archipelago, the snow house is now usually-the predominant. one, and
the old ruins of permanent houses are left unused.

ii*

K

164 H. P. STEENsBY.

In other places, for instance at the mouth of the Mackenzie, at
Point Barrow, and at Smith Sound snow houses as well as more solid
winter houses are used. The latter, in these three places, are, moreover,
seen to represent three different types, which differ from the snow
house not only as regards material but also in their structural
features, so that it is evident that each of them has a history of develop-
ment other than that of the snow house.

While the snow houses are everywhere of the same prevailing type,
the winter houses in the three places mentioned above, and in some
other districts, exhibit such great mutual differences that these cannot
be accounted to be simple local variations. In some cases we are
obliged to assume outside influences as regards the types of the winter
houses. These interesting conditions, which cannot be treated anthropo-
geographically, will be discussed later on in a supplementary ethno-
graphical chapter (See pp. 187 sqq.).

The snow house, on the other hand, must necessarily be regarded
as an original Eskimo creation. With no other people do we find anything
corresponding to it. But then, it must be remembered, no other region
provides so decidedly, as does the region of the Central Archipelago, the
geographical conditions for the origin of the snow house, such as the
presence of the necessary snow and the absence of other kinds of build-
ing materials (especially wood). Immediately the Mackenzie river and
Point Barrow are reached, where wood is present in sufficient quanti-
ties, other and more spacious and warmer houses occur, and the snow
house becomes of less importance.

The geographical distribution of the snow house is from Kotzebue
‘Sound in the west to Melville Bay and Northern Labrador in the east.
It plays its greatest réle in the Archipelago or in the regions where the
hunting on the sea ice is of the greatest importance. As the hunting
on the ice decreases in importance on getting away from the Archipelago
the snow house also disappears.

Consequently, if the snow house is of Eskimo origin, and some, at
any rate, of the other winter house types are of foreign origin, yet all
the winter-house types have adopted three contrivances which, it is
true, may not be regarded as being of Eskimo origin, but as they
are necessarily employed in every primitive Arctic house, must there-
fore be assumed to have been used in the oldest Eskimo houses,
These inventions are the passage which by its length and arrange-
ment replaces a tightly shutting house door, the blubber lamp which
replaces a fire, and the platform which also plays an important part
in connection with the heating of the house}. :

The Skin Tent is the summer dwelling from Greenland and Labrador

* Regarding these technical items the reader is referred to M. o. G., Vol. 34,
pp. 311 sqq.

[er a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 165

to Alaska. It occurs in somewhat different forms, which, however, may
probably be regarded as local variations of one and the same primi-
tive form (cf. pp. 187 sqq.),

The Eskimo Skin-garment shows from west to_east_a—certain_uni-
formity. Di Differences and local peculiarities occur, however. We have
the most motley picture from south-western Alaska of the forms of
the garments, which, in agreement with Rinx, I was inclined to
attribute to outside influences — Indian influence, according to R1nk’s
opinion, or influence of Asiatic origin, perhaps of the Pacific-Asiatics.
Considered anthropogeographically, this latter assumption appears still
to me more probable, but from an ethnographical point of view the
opinion has lately been expressed that these diverging forms of garments
from south-western Alaska must be very ancient local forms?.

_ A comparative description of the Eskimo skin-garments has recently
been given by Gupmunp Harr in his book cited above, in which the
Arctic skin-garments both in America and in Eurasia for the first
time are made the subject of a fundamental treatment. With regard
to the Eskimo, Harr arrives at the conclusion that their garments belong
to the oldest complex of forms of skin garments which are known from
the Arctic region, and that certain secondary west and east “Eskimo
peculiarities meet in the central regions, from which he infers that the
Eskimo forms have originated from the regions west and north-west
of Hudson Bay.

Conclusions regarding the Arctic and Subarctic forms of Culture.

According to the above survey we can divide the Eskimo methods
of hunting and the implements they use in connection with their
economic life into three main groups.

First Group. In this are included such methods and implements as
are distributed both among the Arctic and Subarctic Eskimo; for in-
stance, the various methods of reindeer hunting (where there is oppor-
tunity for it), the salmon spear, tent, bow and arrow, etc. In other
words, they are partly the summer implements of the inland, and
partly implements such as the bow and arrow, which are not specially
Eskimoic as regards their uses (quite another thing is that the
Eskimo in their compound bow have created a variation of tbe “‘com-
posite bow.”

Second Group. This consists of such methods and implements as
occur among the Subarctic Eskimo towards the west and the east, but
the distribution of which is interrupted in the central regions. Here
may be mentioned, for instance, kayak hunting on the open sea and the
highly developed hunting kayak;}the umiak, bird-dart, etc.

1 Gupmunp Hart, p. 108.

166 H. P. STeenssy.

Third Group. In this are comprised all the things which have a
central distribution and disappear gradually as we get away from
the central Archipelago. These are especially the typical features of
the winter culture or the methods of hunting on ice, the dog sledge, the
snow house, etc.

The conditions pertaining to the distribution of the last two groups
indicate a central origin. One may even be tempted to consider that
the central or third group is the youngest one, which has supplanted
the eastern and western forms and forced them asunder outwards.

However, for several reasons which will be apparent from the
preceding anthropogeographical investigations this cannot be the case;

the central Arctic group must represent the oldest Eskimo culture, as

will also be seen from the following arguments:

1) The reason why the so-called second group or certain Subarctic
implements and methods do not occur in the central regions is
due to purely geographical causes, as shown above.

2) Moreover, it has been shown that the most typical Subarctic forms
are easily explained either as borrowed later from outside sources
(for example the umiak) or — like the hunting kayak — as
special products of Arctic Eskimo implements developed by adap-
tation to Subarctic surroundings, and, probably, incited by adop-
tion of elements from outside.

3) Among the Central Arctic Eskimo, on the other hand, one meets
with all the methods and implements which are peculiar to
Eskimo culture (i. e. those not found in other cultures), and
they are met with in their most primitive form and usage, while
among the western and eastern Subarctic Eskimo they either do
not occur (methods of hunting on the ice, the snow house, etc.)
or else they have been developed to a special degree (the finest in-
stance of which again is the development of the hunting kayak
from the river kayak).

4) A further argument for the transition from Arctic to Subarctic
Eskimo culture is that such a transition must as a matter of
fact have taken place from the Arctic Archipelago and Arctic
Northern Greenland to Southern Subarctic Greenland and from
the Arctic Archipelago to Labrador. Consequently, as the transi-
tion from Arctic to Subarctic culture can take place, and has
taken place, in an easterly direction, our supposition that it has
also happened along the western line of distribution of the Eskimo
culture from the Archipelago to Alaska is strengthened. ~
Consequently, from the above arguments, we are compelled to as-

sume that the Eskimo culture is oldest in its Arctic form.
The Subarctic Eskimo culture, on the other hand, must be regarded

as a form derived from the Arctic Eskimo culture, which has been brought

about partly by new-adaptations, when the Eskimo emigrated down into

a

ie

———

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 167

‘the Subarctic regions, and partly by the influence and incitation exerted

by the cultures with which they there (especially in the districts around
Bering Strait) came into contact.

This transition from Arctic to Subarctic Eskimo culture is, anthro-
pogeographically, easily accounted for, while a development in the
opposite direction from Subarctic to Arctic would be rather inconceiv-
able, there being in the Subarctic culture an entire absence of any
germs from which some of the chief elements in the Arctic winter-culture
might be able to spring. Consequently, in the latter case there could be
no other explanation than this, that they were cultural borrowings, but no
other form of culture is known from which the most Arctic cultural
objects and methods of hunting could be conceived to have been adopted.

This negative consideration is also an argument in favour of the
Arctic form of culture being the original one.

The Home of the Eskimo Culture from an Anthropo-
geographical point of view.

The home of Eskimo Culture is consequently synonymous with the
home or point of origin of Arctic Eskimo Culture.

The point of origin must necessarily have been an area in which »

there were the necessary geographical conditions for the existence of
the Arctic Eskimo culture. Indeed, very special conditions must have
been present in this area for it to have forced the ancient Eskimo,
through the demands of adaptation, to modify their original culture
in an “Eskimoic”’ direction.

Even according to this view there can scarcely be any question of
other tracts than such as are still inhabited by Eskimo. The north
coast of Siberia is excluded by its geographical nature. Its decidedly
flat-shore character with low-water areas of great extent, and its barrier-
forming masses of pack-ice and lack of extensive fields of winter-ice over
deep water behind protective groups of islands, all have prevented
Eskimo culture from being able to find, on the whole, means of distri-
bution there. ;

Then there is the north coast of America. But even that is too
large to be taken, as a whole, for the point of origin. For instance, we
must leave out the stretch of coast along Alaska’s north-west and north
coasts, from Kotzebue Sound towards’ the Mackenzie, because, for
similar reasons as exist on the north coast of Asia, it is not inviting
for the Eskimo, and only at places, few and far between, from Kotzebue
Sound to Point Barrow are small groups of Eskimo met with, who
are even mainly dependent on whale-hunting from umiaks of big
whales — thus borrowing from more southerly regions in their manner
of obtaining a livelihood.

168 HL P. Sreensey.

We next come to the stretch of coast on both sides of the mouth
and the delta of the Mackenzie. This place, where a large river abounding
in fish connects the inland regions with the sea, might appear to be well
suited to participate in the development of Eskimo culture. But, never-
theless, I do not think that this has been the case. Firstly, the district
with its abundance of fresh water in the delta and with its abundance of
drift-wood could permit of what we may term an “Indian” mode of life;
it is impossible to believe that the district in question could force people
having another mode of life to make radical and fundamental changes in
it. Secondly, these Eskimo at the mouth of the Mackenzie did not in
any great degree use the abundant drift-wood for fuel in winter, but
depended upon oil lamps, which shows that their ancestors had mi-

grated from regions where drift-wood was not abundant. It must, then,

be assumed that the Mackenzie Eskimo have migrated along the coast
from Coronation Gulf or adjacent parts.

Then we have left only the Barren Grounds Peninsula, between
the Arctic Ocean and Hudson Bay, and the Arctic Archipelago situated
in front of the Arctic Ocean. As regards the regions more easterly than
Hudson Bay, these are out of the question for both geographical and
ethnographical reasons.

Consequently, these considerations lead us to the region of the
Arctic Archipelago, where we find the Arctic Economic Culture in its
most typical form. Hence it appears that we must also assume that
the Arctic Archipelago is the region where the Eskimo cul-
ture originated.

We must suppose, then, that for some reason or other the ancient
Eskimo moved across the inland regions between Hudson Bay and
the Lower Mackenzie River to the coast of the Arctic Ocean and the
southern parts of the Archipelago, whereby Coronation Gulf and the
Netchillik districts are especially meant; and that the Eskimo culture
was gradually modified as an adaptation to the peculiar natural con-
ditions existing in the Archipelago, of these natural conditions the most
important features to be mentioned are the ice-covering, the aquatic
mammals, the wanderings of the reindeer herds and the absence of
wood. To these must necessarily be added, in connection with the
times we are here considering, thie musk ox; originally, it must have
been of great importance.

It is these natural conditions in the Archipelago or, to put it more
exactly, in the coast and sea regions between the mainland and the
islands which have been able to force a slow hunting people such as
the ancient Eskimo must have been to undertake so thorough a cultural

change as that which the modification of the Eskimo culture must neces-
sarily have required.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 169

From Continental Culture to Coast Culture.

The Eskimo are always described as a coast people, and their cul-
ture as a well-marked coast culture. This is of course true as regards
the Subarctic Eskimo; but, properly speaking, it does not in reality
apply to the Arctic Eskimo.

It is true that, in a strictly geographical sense, the Arctic Eskimo
are inhabitants of the coast. But in reality their culture is not adapted
to a coast-life in the general meaning of the term. This is at once seen
by looking at the table for the Summer and Winter cultures of the deci-
dedly Arctic Eskimo (p. 157). Normally, the summer is spent inland,
and they do not move to the coast until the sea is frozen over.

The typical mode of life of the Arctic Eskimo consists, then, in moving
to and fro between the interior and the sea-ice, while the coast and the
open sea play so insignificant a rdle for them that they must be des-
cribed as quite continental in their mode of living’.

This continentality is interestingly illustrated by the fact that the
testaceous and crustaceous animals of the coast, which are otherwise
so important as reserve food for inhabitants of the coast with a hunting
culture, play no réle whatever for the Arctic Eskimo. There is hardly any
other explanation for this than that the latter descended, or at any rate
have inherited their mode of living and way of thinking, from inhabi-
tants of the inland who have moved direct out to the Arctic sea coast,
where they have developed this mode of living with its continental
characteristics. As regards the observation mentioned above, I shall
cite Srrransson®: “No sort of shell fish ever seems to have been used
as food by the Eskimo, north of the mouth of the Yukon River, at least,
although clams and shrimps abound in certain places, and their use is
just now being introduced by white men.”

It is seen, then, that the Eskimo culture in its older, original form
— viz. the Arctic form — has still preserved its continental character.
The modification of the Eskimo culture into a real coast culture takes
place, then, only gradually, as it gets away from the Arctic Archipelago
and becomes Subarctic.

A Palezeskimo and a Neoeskimo Layer of Culture.

Herewith we finish the anthropogeographical investigation, in which
we have studied the economic culture of the various Eskimo groups
such as it has developed in various places on the basis of the geogra-
phical adaptation.

It appears, however, that the Eskimo culture ought not to be regar-
ded exclusively as a result of the geographical adaptation. Influence

'1 Cf. M. 0. G., Vol. 34, p. 402.
2 Steransson, IJ, pp. 450—451.

ie

170 H. P. Sreenssy.

and borrowings from without also have conduced to the forming of the
Eskimo culture which we now know, or which, more correctly, defined
itself when the Europeans first established a connection with the dif-
ferent divisions of the Eskimo. Yet the adaptation is the primary factor
— the influence from without being a secondary factor in the history
of the development.

We have arrived at the result that the Eskimo culture is oldest
in its Arctic form, and that it has arisen in the Arctic Archipelago
as a product of adaptation.

From the Archipelago the Arctic Eskimo culture spread east and
west as far as the ice-conditions allowed. Towards the west it reached
the districts at Bering Strait, where it came under foreign influence,
especially under the so-called Pacific-Asiatic influence. By this we under-
stand influence along the coast route from some different Asiatic Pacific
peoples. The conception must be understood collectively, because there
is so much that is unknown and unravelled as regards ethnology and
history of these peoples; but there can hardly be any doubt that it is
in this direction we must search for the most important source of the
cultural influence on the Eskimo before they met the Europeans.

It so happened that the foreign influence was not so much a re-
fashioning of the Eskimo culture which was created in the Archipelago
as a contribution towards a further development in established direc-
tions. Some new implements were, of course, adopted, but that contact
with a higher and richer technique has no doubt brought about im-
provements of existing forms is of just as much significance. Thus not

“\only was the Arctic form of the Eskimo culture improved, but
' simultaneously the Eskimo culture expanded and advanced further in

a southern direction, whereby the Subarctic form was first fashioned
and developed.

The place for this influence, or rather for these various influences,
amongst which the so-called Pacific-Asiatic is the most important, was
the west coast of Alaska or the districts round Bering Strait, which we
can best express by alluding to the most essentially geographic momen-
tum viz., the approximation to Asia.

With this demonstration of the Archipelago and Bering Strait
being the two geographical focuses in the history of development of the
Eskimo culture — the Archipelago as important for the adaptation
and Bering Strait for the influence from without — the investigation
at issue essentially ends. If one would make these results more intense
one must do so by employment of other scientific methods, ethnographic,
archeologic, etc.

In the following, I myself shall endeavour, however, to throw a
little more light on the process of development of the Eskimo culture
by firstly investigating whether one can form any idea of the pre-
Eskimo mother culture from which the oldest Arctic Eskimo culture

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 171

has issued; I will call this last mentioned oldest Arctic Eskimo culture
the Paleeskimo culture, and the older Arctic Eskimo people Pale-
eskimo. A further explanation of this name as being analogous with
Paleasiatic and the like is hardly necessary.

Nextly I will subject such a conspicuous object of culture as the
house to an ethnographic investigation, whereby, amongst other things,
there will be occasion to try and decide firstly which forms are originally
Palzeskimo, brought along from the home of adaptation in the Archi-
pelago, and secondly which have first arisen in the domain of influence
— the area of acculturation — at Bering Strait. I will call all these
latter forms, not only of the house but also of other cultural objects,
received here or developed by incitation from foreign influence Neo-
eskimo, and the whole of the younger Eskimo layer which carries
this hybrid culture Neoeskimo.

The transition from Paleeskimo culture to Neoeskimo culture has
taken place in any particular spot at the moment when the tide of cul-
ture coming from the regions around Bering Strait in some way or other
reached the place in question, having fructified and enriched the present
Paleeskimo culture. The Subarctic culture, both towards west and east,
entirely belongs to the Neoeskimo layer.

The Economic Cultures Adjoining
the Eskimo Culture.

hus, the origin of the Eskimo culture is a somewhat intricate

matter. In the Archipelago, by adaptation to the special conditions
of nature here, the Paleeskimo culture first came into being, and then
spread north, east and west in the Archipelago and along the north
coast of North America. In the regions around Bering Strait and over
an area which must not be considered in a too restricted sense, the Pale-
eskimo culture has been exposed to influence from without, and the
Eskimo culture, of which the various nuances have been dealt with here,
gradually emanated.

We must now propound two questions: 1) What was the character
of the economic culture from which the Paleweskimo culture originated,
and 2) what forms of culture in the district round Bering Strait can
have influenced the Eskimo culture?

For the solution of both questions is demanded a consideration of
the forms of culture contiguous to the domain of the Eskimo, or, at
any rate, that which is found in the vicinity of this, and from which
there is a possibility of influence.

I prefer to begin with America, because there, we have more simple
and comparatively less compounded conditions than in Asia. We need
pay little regard to the civilizations, based on plant-cultivation, which
we find in the south-eastern and southern parts of North America, even
if an indirect influence and an interchange of culture is not quite out
of the question. We must go north of the Canadian lakes before we
find those forms of culture which can be considered to represent con-
ditions similar to those with the mother-culture of the Paleeskimo. In
these northern districts we can, then, pick out three forms of economic
culture, which I will call 1) the Forest Indian form, 2) the Prairie Indian
form, and 3) the North-west Indian form. :

The three forms, which are associated with the three pronounced
geographical types of landscape, the forest, the prairie, and the west
coast so abounding in inlets, comprise, as it were, three belts from south
to north. In its distinctive form the prairie extends no further than
the region of the Saskatchewan River, but smaller parts of prairie occur

————————

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 173

amidst forest regions as far as 60° N. lat. Around Peace River, even
larger regions of prairie are found, and the bison, the most important
form of animal life on the prairie and the Prairie Indian’s most im-
portant game, only reached its northern boundary at, or a little north
of, the Great Slave Lake.

The North-west Indian culture is by considerable distance and by
the huge range of the Cordilleras separated from the interior districts
where we must assume that the pre-Eskimo mother-culture must have
had its home. Next, the North-west Indian culture is so peculiarly
developed and, no doubt, so influenced from Asia at a comparatively
recent date, that for these reasons we cannot expect that a study of
this culture will give us the basis of the Paleeskimo culture. At a later
stage the North-west Indians may have influenced the Eskimo in Alaska,
but this influence has hardly been of encroaching significance in any
direction.

If we will seek to understand the basis of the Paleeskimo culture
we must investigate the economic culture of the Northern Prairie and
Forest individuals. But before that, we must look at the forms and
groups of economic culture which in Asia may be assumed to have in-
fluenced the Eskimo culture in its later Neoeskimo stage. When, for
the sake of a general view, we number the mentioned American forms
of culture from 1—3, and continue in Asia, we get the following:

4) The Siberian Reindeer Nomadism, which is a form of cul-
ture of a distinctly continental character which only relatively late pene-
trated to Bering Strait; its influence on the Eskimo culture has no doubt
been very slight.

5) The Siberian Continental Hunting Culture. The reindeer
nomadism, however, forms only a comparatively thin layer over another
and older form of culture, which in reality still exists, supported partly
by certain tribes and partly by the real nomads, who, besides their
reindeer-breeding, carry on hunting and fishing in the old way. This
hunting culture, which is associated with the forests and rivers in Siberia,

- corresponds, however, rather exactly with the above-mentioned culture

of the northern Forest Indians.- A more exact demonstration of this
would, however, in this connection, lead too far, but most of the under-
mentioned hunting and fishing methods from the regions west of Hudson
Bay are refound in Siberia. The same holds good of the hunting im-
plements, and vehicular contrivances such as snow shoes and _ birch-
bark canoes; indeed, a sledge of the Canadian toboggan type seems even
in the time of Marco Poto? to have been in use in North-eastern Siberia.

There is hardly any doubt that these and other congruities represent
a reminiscence of the ancient distribution of culture, and perhaps simul-

1 Cf. Hornapay.
® Cf. Marco Poto’s third book, chapter 44.

174 H. P. STEENSBY.

taneously the distribution of people from Asia to North America. And
this is the Paleasiatic-American connection which JocHELsoN speaks
about when taking in consideration the distribution of the forms of the
houses.

In Asia, however, the original conditions have been greatly changed
by the waves of people and the streams of culture which have poured
northwards; but even with these alterations the inland culture of the
Asiatic continent has had no particular significance for the Eskimo cul-
ture at any of its stages.

6) The Pacific-Asiatic Influence. On the coast of the Pacific
the Paleasiatics have been able to hold out. Here the nomads have
not been able to expel or denationalize them. On the other hand their
culture has been subjected to such a strong, direct influence from the
south, especially from Japan, that the original conditions are greatly
altered. When reading STELLER’s description of the old Kamchadales,
for example, one gets a strong impression of their influence from the
south. There is no doubt that they have been closely in touch with
Japanese navigation, even if this, in the time of Brrtne and STELLER,
was no longer the case, and was only traced through tradition and the
possession of culture, inasmuch as Bertne and STELLER arrived at these
shores about one hundred years after Japanese navigation had been sup-
pressed by the Shogunate.

As emphasized ‘before, the Pacific Asiatics have, from a purely geo-
graphical point of view, therefore, the common characteristic that they
live along the Pacific Coast, but they do not constitute any source for
a homogeneous influence on the Eskimo culture. We must rather com-
prehend the conditions as expressing a route, in that the Pacific Asia-
tics have been nearer to elements of culture of different origin and, on
account of navigation, the communication between south and north has
been considerably shorter and easier along the Pacific Coast than through
the interior of Siberia.

In reality the Pacific Asiatics must have been in a position to carry
elements of culture having very diverse origin. The unravelling of this —
would demand thorough ethnographical studies, for which we scarcely
possess the material at present.

We must therefore be content with a purely temporary analysis
of those different elements of culture which the Eskimo in the regions ©
around Bering Strait may have received along this Pacific Asiatic way
of influence. They fall principally within 3 groups, which will here be
made the subject of a temporary classification.

a. Elements of culture which may be described Paleasiatic in their
origin.

b. Elements of culture from more southern cultures which have been
adopted by the Paleasiatics, or by some of these, and through
them transmitted as far north as the Eskimo. Within this group

a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 175

there may be a question of various continental Asiatic elements:
Korean, Japanese, indeed even Malayan, and, possibly, still other
elements.

ce. Direct influence from East Asiatic, not Paleasiatic, navigators who
have reached as far as the Eskimo, along the Pacific Coast. In
this connection ‘special attention must be paid to the Japanese,
and to the period when they were great navigators, before the
beginning of the 17th century.

There might be a question of yet a 7th source for the influence
on the Eskimo, viz., the old Norse population in the eastern and western
districts of South-west Greenland. There has been an inclination to
point to Norse influence, for instance, in the structure of the Eskimo
house in South Greenland and in the Eskimo employment of iron etc.;
but such influence has not been conclusively proved, and whatever the
circumstances may be, a Scandinavian influence in South Greenland
can never have had, however, any decisive influence whatever on the
fundamental shaping of the Eskimo culture.

In the following lines we shall further consider the economic culture
of the Prairie Indians, and still more so, of the northern Forest Indians,

‘inasmuch as, as has been suggested, it is amongst these two groups in

particular that one may expect to find represented those conditions of
culture which have formed the basis for the Eskimo culture.

The Economie Culture of. the Prairie Indians. The economic culture
which has developed on the prairie cannot entirely represent the direct
mother-culture of the Paleeskimo culture. But a consideration of it
will tend, however, to throw light upon pre-Eskimo conditions. This is
especially true because the prairie and tundra, regarded anthropogeo-
graphically, present very similar conditions. The Eskimo must have pas-
sed the tundra, and have essentially lived there before they came to
the shores of the Arctic. The chief means of subsistence with the prairie
tribes was bison hunting, but on the tundra the bison herds were re-
placed by the musk ox and enormous herds of reindeer.

It is true that the climate of the tundra is considerably colder than
that of the prairie, which accounts, also, for the difference in the vege-
tation; but the northern parts of the prairie still have a very cold winter
together with a comparatively warm, but short, summer. On the prairie,
therefore, we also find a cultural dimorphism corresponding with this.
This first shows itself in the conditions of their dwellings. The typical
summer dwelling of the prairie tribes is the conical skin-tent of the
“Tipi” form. It evidently originates from the dome-tent, but it is a
form! which came into use even before the time of the Europeans,
even if, with the introduction of the horse, it seems to have been more
generally distributed. As a winter dwelling, either this form of tent or

1 SARFERT, pp. 22 sqq.

176 H. P. STeenssy.

a round earth house was used, which is known especially from tribes
belonging to the Sioux Indians, who lived round the Missouri River. It
is especially known from the Mandans through the descriptions’ of
Carin and the Prince or WiEep*. The house had a frame of wood
and an outer covering of turf.

As regards the economic culture we naturally do not consider recent
times — since the introduction of the horse — and special regard is
paid to the most northern regions. Here the distinction between the
occupations of the summer and the winter are most pronounced. If,
when speaking about hunting and fishing as two different means of
livelihood, hunting was by far the most important on the prairie on
account of the bison and on account of the comparative scarcity of
water on the prairie, fishing was more to the fore in the forest.

In the winter the bison was hunted on snow shoes, with lances or
with a bow and arrows, and even the toboggan was used with this hun-
ting. When, in the winter, the snow had covered the prairie with a firm
layer, the Prairie Indian on his light snow sledge, which was put-to
with 3 dogs, could drive straight into the herd of bisons and slay the -
beasts with his arrow. In the summer different kinds of underhand
hunting were employed, when the hunter tried to steal upon the ani-
mals; but the method of hunting which gave the best return, however,
consisted in driving the herds of bison in between two convergent rows
of poles, which ended in a narrow fence, where the animals could be
slain fairly easily*; thus it is the same method which we know from the
Eskimo reindeer hunting.

The Economie Culture of the Northern Forest Indians. By the Nor-
thern Forest Indians I understand the original inhabitants of the areas
most essentially covered with forest, which in North America lay north
of the St. Lawrence and the Canadian lakes, or more correctly, north
of the old frontier for maize cultivation.

Towards the south-west and west this northern forest area was
bounded by the prairie and the Cordilleras, which occupy the whole of
West Canada and South Alaska. Towards the north the forest area
is bounded by the limit of the forest, which on the west coast of
Hudson Bay is at about 60° N. lat., and then runs east of Great Slave
Lake to Great Bear Lake. Finally a belt of forest goes along the
Mackenzie River northwards to the delta of the river, and a similar belt ~
of forest runs along the Yukon River as far as the delta of this river.

Apart from Labrador one can divide this area of forest into a larger
Hudson part, which comprises the area from Hudson Bay to Mackenzie

— «

Sas regards my former, but now abandoned, supposition that this house
was a direct precursor of the Mackenzie house, I refer to my preliminary

paper on the subject and to the following section about types of Eskimo houses.
* Wig, pp. 285—8&6.

* UMFREVILLE, pp, 114 sqq.

OS ——

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 177

River, and a smaller Alaskan part which comprises the considerably more
restricted forest districts in the valley and side valleys of the Yukon River.

The forest vegetation is the only hitherto mentioned geographically
characteristic feature. Meanwhile there are others of great anthropo-
geographical importance. Firstly the great abundance of fresh water.
This especially applies to the Hudson part, the old granite and gneiss
surface of which has been formed by glaciers and presents itself as “the
land of a thousand lakes,” a character presented also by Finland. Lastly
it must be remembered that the forest is of northern pine and birch,
and that it does not everywhere occur in overpowering luxuriance. It
has already been mentioned that there is one area which, with alter-
nate stretches of forest and prairie, forms the transition from prairie
to forest. In a corresponding manner the boundary of the tundra is
naturally not sharp, as the outer belts of forest are already, from time
to time, interrupted by tracts showing the tundra character. As regards
climate these regions are characterized by their distinctively continental
climate, with a long and severe winter and a short and comparatively
warm summer. Almost the entire region lies north of the January iso-
therm, — 20 C., which runs from Hamilton Inlet on the coast of Labrador
in a curve almost mid-way between Hudson Bay and the Canadian
Lakes, southwest round Lake Winnipeg, west of the Upper Mackenzie
and south of the Yukon River. On comparing this with the fact that
the same isotherm in Greenland reaches to about Disco Island, one
understands that the here mentioned regions are during the winter just
as cold as several Eskimo districts, and have almost as long a winter.

A circumstance connected with this, which is of the greatest anthro-
pogeographical importance to the inhabitants, is the protracted covering
of lakes and rivers with ice. If regarded from the point of intercourse
the use of the sledge (toboggan) is contingent upon this covering of ice
together with the covering of snow. In the economic culture, the réle
played by the covering of ice is that, through this, some fishing methods
through holes in the ice occur.

The stock of fish in rivers and lakes is very abundant. All judges
of the land agree in emphasizing this. The most important fish is the
“white-fish” (a species of salmon, Coregonus albus), which, on account
of its abundance and importance to the Algonquin Indians south-
west of Hudson Bay, has even got the surname “the reindeer of
the waters.” In addition, sturgeon and pike are mentioned, as also
Salmo Mackenzii', which is only found in the affluxes to the Arctic
Sea from the Mackenzie River and eastwards; the Tinneh tribes call it
Si, which is said to mean “the unknown,” which reappears in the French
Canadian term for it, L’inconnu.

Nowadays the most important hunting animals are the stags. The

1 Cf. SABINE.
Lil. 12

178 H, P. Sreenssy.

two most important kinds of stag in these regions are the elk and the
reindeer, The American elk (moose; the French Canadian orignal)
lives in quite a similar manner as the European elk, in that it keeps to
the forest districts rich in lakes and rivers, and avoids prairies as well
as tundra areas. The reindeer is also found in the forest districts, where
it roams singly or in small herds. These forest reindeer are, however,
of slight importance as compared with the huge masses of the tundra
reindeer, which in the summer overrun the tundra, while in the winter
they migrate southwards to the forest-edge, or to protected places within
the tundra. Also small game, such as hares and web-footed birds are

of anthropogeographical importance. If we go hack in years, we are _

obliged to assume that the bison south of Great Bear Lake and the

musk ox as far as the edge of the tundra must once have played a réle.

as hunting animals to the Forest Indians also.

The population in the mentioned forest belt is, in an ethnographic
respect, not very heterogeneous, inasmuch as here only two groups of
tribes are found, the Algonquins and the Tinneh people. Algonquin
tribes occupy the interior of Labrador, and also the regions south and
south-west of Hudson Bay as far as Churchill River. Further north,
Tinneh tribes (Athabascans) are predominant both in the Hudson and
the Alaskan parts of the forest territory.

It is not necessary, here, in this connection, to enter further into
detail about the individual small groups or tribes, although an attempt
to apportion the tribes to the geographical differentiation of the country
would not be without interest. Meanwhile it must be emphasized, that
these so-called Forest Indians also extend somewhat on the tundra.
This applies to the whole stretch from Hudson Bay to Western Alaska. On
the north-eastern Barren Grounds the boundary of the Eskimo’s hunting
fields runs south of Dubaunt Lake, and slightly north of Aylmer Lake.

In my work of 1905 I made an attempt to localize the groups in
relation to hunting districts and groups of Jakes, and on the whole I
there gave a more copious description of the anthropogeography of
these regions in question. Finally, I there quoted a series of arguments
which showed that the Tinneh people could not originally have popu-
lated the Hudson lowland, but must have come from the west across
the mountains. Probably those authors are right who assume that their

source of origin lies in British Columbia, and that along the vast valleys —

of Fraser River and Columbia River they have made their way towards
the east, As far as I know Scnootcrarr! was the first exponent of
this conception. Whatsoever the conditions of the source of origin may
prove to be, it is a fact that the Tinneh people have expanded in a more
restricted territory. They now inhabit such large areas that it is im-
possible that they always can have possessed these.

* Scnootcrart, Vol. II, p. 27.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 179

What, here, we have to investigate is, however, the economic cul-
ture in the forest regions, and especially so in the Hudson territory. It
will not be possible to give a description of the annual economic cycle,
partly on account of the lack of information, and partly because to do
so one must distinguish between tribes which, for preference, live at
the good fishing places, and tribes which, for preference, hunt on the
tundra and at the edges of the forest regions, and tribes which live in
districts in which all big game has been hunted out, for which reason
they must maintain life by catching small game (hares). Yet fishing
plays an important réle for all of them; it is their resource for sustaining
life when the other, more favourite, means of livelihood fail.

We must therefore content ourselves with a distinction between the
occupations in winter and summer, and between the various economic
apparatuses for use in winter and summer. Firstly as regards the dwel-
ling, the Indians of the territory deviate from the Prairie Indians and
from the Eskimo in that they inhabit the same kind of tent all the year
round, viz., a cupolar tent of the same kind as that also employed by the
southern Forest Indians, and best known from the Algonquins under
the name of wigwam. This word is, however, really only the designation
of the tent covered with birch-bark. The frame work consists of light,
pliable tree-trunks of 2—3 metres in length, the lower ends of which
are driven into the ground, while the upper ends are tied together in
such a way as to form a dome. If the poles are sufficiently long and
pliable, they can simply be bent into a semicircle, when both ends can
be driven into the ground. In the summer the tent is only covered with
bark, but in the winter with snow also. A hole is dug in the snow, about
one metre deep, or as deep as the firm ground, on which the tent is pit-
ched?. With the Kutchin-Indians in Alaska the tent has become slightly
altered in form, in that the ground plan has become somewhat elliptical.

As regards contrivances for transportation there are two groups,
one for summer and one for winter. The summer means of conveyance
is the well known birch-bark canoe, which is so small and light that it
can be carried over land from stream to stream, and yet so large that
it can hold two men at least; it is propelled with a single bladed paddle,
and the authors describe the strength and ease with which the Indians
handle their boats. The snow shoes and the toboggan are the winter
means of conveyance. Snow shoes are used by both sexes and are —
to which even Mason? draws attention — an indispensable contrivance
when hunting and travelling in the most northern lands. On the other
hand, in the forest district the toboggan seems to have become a woman’s
instrument, the use of which was not greatly developed; it was drawn
by women, who, however, when dogs were at hand, inspanned a couple

1 Scnooxcrart, p. 19 sqq., where there are also references to literature.
2 Mason, p.381. On various forms of snow shoes see Kout, Vol. I, pp. 154—59.

12*

180 H. P. STEENsBY.

to help them?, The man’s only task was to make the toboggan, and
if he was too lazy to do so, the woman had to put up with carrying the
luggage on her back, or — as HEarne* reports — with wrapping it
up in skin, and pulling it along the ground.

Canoe, snow shoes, and toboggan are contrivances which, on ac-
count of their exact adjustment to the conditions of nature, have been
able to maintain themselves even to this day. On the other hand most
of the real hunting-implements disappeared fairly early, in the same
ratio as trading with the Hudson Bay Co. advanced, but even in 1789
MAcKENZIE found bows and arrows, as also the lances for hunting big
game, in use along the Mackenzie River. HEARNE likewise mentions
and illustrates a spear of this kind used for “killing reindeer in the water.”

Other implements which ought to be mentioned are the two or |
three-pronged fish-spear; another fish-spear which was used both for
throwing and thrusting, being provided with a line which was held fast
in the hand or tied to the stern of the canoe; harpoon-forms where the
point is released with the thrust; harpoon-arrows which are shot with
a bow; a club, which, according to Mackenzie, was of reindeer antler
and ¥% metre in length; and an ice pick which was used for making
holes in the ice, and was for all the northern Indian tribes an indispen-
sable instrument, as their fishing through holes in the ice during the
winter was dependent on it. Nowadays the natives buy iron picks
or axes, and the original form is known only from one single report,
through the legends, and from some archeological discoveries. It con-
sisted of a single branch from the antler of the elk or reindeer, which
was fastened to a shaft of wood*® 1—1*/2 m. in length.

For the sake of completeness it must be mentioned, moreover, that
the Indians here mentioned knew fishing nets, which they made of wil-
low bast. Without doubt, however, it is a late acquisition of culture.
Besides large nets, the bag-nets on a frame-work fastened to a long stick,
and well known from the Eskimo, were employed. Fish-hooks were also
known. Even Hearne‘ observed fishing with hooks through holes in
the ice; and Mackenzre® saw fishing-lines made from the sinews of
animals, and hooks of wood, horn and bone. The personal outfit was
not complete without a knife. Mackenzie observed at the Mackenzie

River that the Indians were in the habit of carrying a knife in a sheath
which hung from the neck®,

* Mackenzig, p. 120; Franxuin, I, pp. 160—-61; Ricuarpson, I, Vol. II, pp.
15—16, 92—95; Hewry, p. 301.

* Hearne, I, p. 849.

* Scnootcrart, Vol. 1, pp. 88—89; Hearne, I, p- 116; Kine, p. 152.

* Hearne, I, p. 45.

® MacKenzie, p. 387.

ae cannot refrain from pointing to what a degree the old North Indian copper
knives, for which the material was native copper procured from copper

—

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 181

Some of the implements mentioned were only used during the
winter, and on the ice; but most of them were used during both winter
and summer, although with somewhat different methods of hunting.
Some of the methods of procuring a livelihood were so easy that they
could be carried out by women, children and old men, but they are
not of particular interest here. Among these, for example, were the
catching of hares and other small mammals in snares and traps, and
also certain methods of fishing. To these also belongs the fishing method
well known from the Eskimo, which consisted in blocking up a stream
with an arrangement of stones or with a row of stakes, which were placed
so close together that salmon and sturgeon could only pass through a
single opening when on their way to their spawning ground. Here the
fisherman placed himself with his fishing-spear or bag-net, or put a net
or a kind of trap platted from willow branches in front of the opening.

On the other hand it is the man’s work to take charge of the hunting
of big game, as also the more difficult task of fishing from the canoe.
Each little fishing canoe holds two men; at the stern a paddler, and
in the stem a fisherman who stands up spying for the fish, which, as
quick as lightening, he strikes with his fishing spear or catches with
his bag-net. On lakes and quiet rivers the fishing spear is the most com-
mon implement, and by signs and signals the fisherman causes the canoe
to be guided in such a way as will enable him to strike the fish with
his spear. At night the fishing is carried out in the same way by the
light from a torch, which is placed on a pole above the fisherman’s
head}.

One can get a better idea of this kind of fishing by reading a descrip-
tion by H. Y. Hrnp? who has travelled amongst Ojibways and Algon-
quin Labrador tribes where he has had opportunity to observe fishing
in quiet waters by torchlight as well as fishing at the foot of rapids;
I shall be content, however, to refer to Hrp’s descriptions.

It was particularly with the fishing of sturgeon that a fishing spear
with a line was used, which line was held in the hand or was tied to the
stem of the canoe. When the sturgeon was struck it fled through the
water dragging the canoe with it, until it became exhausted.* Biespy*
relates that on one journey up a river he saw a long upright spear rushing
through the water, and the next moment saw a canoe dart round a
curve, with an Ojibway Indian standing erect in the stem, and another

pits, used both by Eskimo and Indians, at the most northern Rapid of
the Coppermine River, Bloody Fall, call to mind forms from the European-
Asiatic bronze age; cf. C. WaiTNney’s figures on p. 264,

1 Scnootcrart, Vol. II, p. 52, Vol. VI, plate 8; Henry, p. 61; Mc. Kenney,
p. 193; Kane, p. 31; Kont, Vol. II, pp. 144—45, 150.

* Hinp, Vol. II, pp. 98 sqq.

5 Faraup, pp. 310—11.

4 Biessy, p. 2658.

182 H. P. SrEENSBY.

behind, who paddled. A large fish — a sturgeon, as Biaspy assumed
— had torn away with the spear attached to it.

Cuartevorx! gives the following description of sturgeon fishing,
without, however, referring further to the “throwing spear” which he
mentions. “Two men are in the canoe, each at his own end; the one
behind steers, the other stands up and has in his hand a throwing spear
to which is tied a long line, the other end of which is fastened to the
canoe. The moment he sights a sturgeon at a suitable distance he hurls
his throwing spear, and tries to strike between the lamin of the bones.
If the fish is hit it rushes away, dragging the canoe after it at a rather
rapid pace, but when it has swum about 150 steps it dies, when the
line is hauled in and the spoil secured.”

Of great interest is a winter method of fishing used on the ice, which, ~
when employed with seals, is known from Greenland as the iuarpok
method. After an interval of a century it has been described by Henry*
and Kout*, who observed it in use with the Ojibways, and ScHoot-
cRAFT says that it is one of the most common methods in the northern
districts. Holes of 45—60 cm. in diameter are chopped in the ice, and
over them a small scaffolding of branches is raised which is covered
with skin, so that the light is entirely excluded. When the fisherman
lies down and puts his head into the bower with his face just above the
hole he can distinguish to a great depth everything which takes place
in the still, erystal-clear water and, with a fish-spear which according
to Kout may have a length of 11—12 metres, can strike any fish
of which he catches a glimpse. Frequently he makes use of a bait to
allure the fishes. Kout relates, further, that where there is a current
in the sea water, as for example where a river debouches, a furrow
8—9 m. long is chopped in the ice from the hole and to the current,
through which an assistant with the aid of a long line supports and
steers the long fish spear according to the signals of the fisherman. With
this method of fishing on the ice the harpoon does not seem to have
been employed. Probably the method has only been used in places
where one could see the bottom. Harpoons, however, have been in
general use in open water, and this has probably also been the case when
catching large sturgeon and salmon by fishing through holes in the ice,
a method so generally carried on.

When the hunting of big game is mentioned, it must be remem-
bered, as previously stated, that on the one side there is a transition
region towards the prairie, and that, on the other side, the Indians ad-
vance on the tundra to some extent. This is reflected in the methods,
of hunting. The hunting of elk in the pinewoods does not greatly differ

' Cuarvevorx, I, Vol. 3, p. 154.
* Henry, p. 66.
* Kout, Vol. Il, pp. 147—49.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 183

from the forest hunting in the east of the United States of America,
where the ability to follow up the trail of the game is the most important
demand made on the hunter. Consequently he has to have the most
exact knowledge of the mode of living, favourite food, trail, and general
movements of the game, when, by the aid of numerous precautions and
boundless patience he ought to be able to approach his victim. A further
description of these modes of procedure is not wanted here, partly be-
cause they are well known from elsewhere, and partly because they
cannot be of great interest in the connection in question. It will only
be mentioned that in the pine forests the hunter makes extensive use
of the bireh-bark canoe, which he partly uses at night to get within
gunshot of the drinking animals', and partly uses to hunt the swimming
elks. By preference these live in lake districts with many islets, and,
besides, generally have fixed tracks, along which they move and cross
the rivers. In such places the hunter lies in hiding with his canoe, in
order to pursue the swimming animal, which he can easily overtake
and kill. This method of hunting is mentioned by Faraup? and HEARNE®
from the Hudson forest-lands, and by Wuymprr‘ from the Yukon
Valley.

The protracted covering of snow during winter, as also the ice, must
naturally also cause peculiarity in the methods of hunting. When the
snow lies so deep that the elks can only with difficulty work their way
along, the hunter who is on snow shoes runs down his animal, and drives
it in front of him to a river, where he then kills it, in order to avoid the
difficult transport through the forest®. .

It is common with the Forest Indians and the Tundra Indians as
also with the Central Eskimo to follow the trail in the snow, and steal
upon the victim by putting on the skin of a deer and imitating its
movements ®,

On the tundra, again, the hunting is different from what it is in the
forest, in that, here, it is not a question of a single animal, but of reindeer
living in herds. When on their wanderings in spring and autumn the
herds move to the sea coast or the tundra, and back to more southern
regions, they have some fixed tracks which they generally follow, and
certain places where they cross the rivers. At these places, which the
Indians know so well, the latter lie in hiding with their canoes. The
mode of procedure is described by R. Kina‘: “The natives, seated in
their canoes, remain in ambush until the first two or three animals have

‘1 Scnootcrart, Vol. II, p. 53 sqq.

* Faraup, pp. 305—306.

8 Hearne, I, p. 289.

* Wuymper, I, pp. 214—215,

5’ W. Pike, II, p:-95.

® Frankuin, I, p. 244; Faraup, pp. 304—306; Kiutscnax.
7 R. Kine, Vol. I, pp. 254—56.

184 H. P. STEENSBY.

landed on the opposite shore; when they dart forward from all quarters,
and spear them in vast numbers, fully aware that the deer, like a flock
of sheep, will follow their guides notwithstanding the intrusion.”

In the spring of 1834, Back and K1ne at Back’s River (64°40’ N. lat.,
108° W. long.) met a group of Red Indians who here were accustomed
to lie in wait for the reindeer herds. That year, however, the reindeer
had come before their pursuers, and the Indians found themselves
obliged to feed on the flesh of the musk ox, which is not relished by
them, as it is by the Eskimo.

In the early summer, as soon as the reindeer have arrived on the
tundra, the Indians prosecute a lively killing of the new-born calves,
the skin of which is much sought after for underclothing. In the course
of the summer a battue is arranged from time to time, inasmuch as. .
women and children surround a herd, and drive it out into a river or
lake, where the men lie in hiding with their canoes’. The principal
yield from the hunting is, however, procured in the autumn, when the
reindeer are fat and begin to wander southwards. It is especially on
this occasion that the Tundra Indians, like the Prairie Indians and the
Eskimo, employ hunting fences. Such fences are mentioned from all
districts of the tundra, from the Barren Grounds, and from Alaska north
of the Yukon and the Koyukuk. By means of two convergent rows
of poles, which may be several kilometres long, the herd is directed out
into a lake, where the animals are pushed down from a canoe, — into
a fold where they are killed with arrows, or into a kind of maze where
they are caught in nooses and snares. The meat which they may pro-
cure on such an occasion is prepared into pemmican: dried and pounded
meat mixed with fat, which can keep for a long time’.

Comparison between North-Indian and Palweskimo Forms of Eco-
nomic Culture. Two North-Indian forms of economic culture have now
been outlined, the reciprocal diversities of which must, no doubt, be
ascribed exclusively to adaptation, according to the various geographical
conditions. Like the Eskimo culture — especially the Arctic type of
this — they are both distinctly divided into a summer and a winter
phase.

When we now try to set up a comparison between these forms of
culture and the Paleweskimo economic culture we must particularly
think of the Arctic Eskimo culture in the Archipelago; because anthropo-
geographical conditions indicate the Archipelago as being the place of
origin of the Paleeskimo culture.

If, first, we take into consideration the summer culture, we find

a ~ .

* Mackenziz, pp. CXXV, 38; Hearne, I, pp. 70—71, 154165; J. W. Tyrrew,
pp. 80 sqq.

* Mackenzie, p. CXX1; Hearne, I, pp. 74, 1183—116, 121809, 348; FRANKLIN,
I, p. 243; Ricnarpson, Vol. I, pp. 393—394, Vol. II, p. 25; Simpson, I
pp. 311—312; Kine, pp. 154 sqq.; Wuyren, I, p. 182.

eee eeeEeEE eee

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 185

on the one side the most exact conformity between the northern Prairie
Indians and the Tundra Indians, or those Forest Indians who spend the
summer on the tundra, and, on the other side, the Arctic Eskimo. It is
quite characteristic of the latter that they spend the summer in the inte-
rior, where they live in tents and carry on salmon fishing and reindeer
hunting. The methods of hunting are the same with Eskimo and Indians;
but the hunting within fences is especially conspicuous. The diversities
are only such as are involved in the altered geographical conditions.
On the prairie the animal hunted, in the proper sense of the word, is
the bison; on the tundra it is the reindeer. The Forest Indians use the
birch-bark canoe — also during their summer stay on the tundra. The
Eskimo who are debarred from the forest have had to resort to skin for
covering their boats. Indeed, even the difference between the river
kayak of skin and certain — older — forms of birch-bark canoes can,
I think, be reduced essentially to a difference in material.

When we then regard the winter culture, there at once appears
to be a great difference. But this difference will, however, prove to be
more apparent than essential in kind. The characteristic of the Eskimo
is the life on the smooth winter ice with its methods of ice-hunting,
and the snow house. What the facts as regards the origin of the snow
house and of the other forms of Eskimo houses are, I shall endeavour
to unravel in the following section.

Then there remains the methods of hunting on the ice, as also the
winter hunting of the musk ox, still occasionally employed, which for-
merly seems to have been of great importance. The methods and expe-
dients used with this musk-ox hunting correspond with those of the
Prairie Indians on their winter bison hunting.

As regards the methods of hunting seals on the ice, the described
culture of the Forest Indians has methods which are in reality also
precursors of these. Naturally one cannot expect to find precursors of
the Utok method, as this spring hunting method is in such a special de-
gree due to a peculiarity which only the seals exhibit in their mode of
living, e. g., that they creep up onto the surface of the ice in order
to sun themselves. The Maupok method, on the other hand, is nothing
but an adaptation to the fishing through holes in the ice so commonly
carried on in the Hudson regions, which are so rich in rivers and lakes.
Another old Eskimo method of seal hunting, viz., the ituarpok method
was even rediscovered direct?.

When regarding the forms of the winter implements there is a greater

1 The method, however, is — as little as the ice-fishing on the whole — hardly
“Hudson” in its origin, it is refound with the remaining methods of hunting
on the ice at the rivers of Northern Siberia. Probably it has come from
Asia with the Palzasiatic-American expansion of culture which presumably
took place long previous to there being a question of any kind of Eskimo
culture.

186 H. P. SreENssBy.

difference between the Eskimo and the Prairie and Forest Indian forms,
than there seems to be between the forms of the summer implements.
Even the river kayak could probably be traced back rather closely to
certain forms of the birch-bark canoe; but as regards the Eskimo forms
of harpoons and sledges the matter is somewhat different. The snow
shoes, on the other hand, are not essentially different. The sledge is of
quite another type than the Indian tohoggan, and the harpoons display
a development and richness in form for which we have no match in the
Forest region. In these respects, therefore, the Eskimo winter culture
shows a peculiar stamp, which must be considered partly to be caused
by the separate development brought about by the great possibilities
which the hunting of seals on the ice presents and by the special de-

mands made by this, and partly to be due to influences from without. We -

must remember that the observed arctic winter culture is not the ori-
ginal Paleeskimo winter culture, but a Neoeskimo form i. e. a mixture
of Paleeskimo adaptative culture with foreign influences. Only if in the
Archipelago we had still had a Paleeskimo culture, should we be able
to observe direct the special development brought about by the hunting
on sea ice,

Thus, when we collect these observations of a comparative character,
we see that the Paleeskimo culture, from the summer point of view,
has, or I should say had, not deviated essentially from the North Indian
culture. From the winter point of view, on the other hand, it is different;
but our investigation of the nature of this diversity, however, also leads
the winter culture back to the same source. In this way these obser-
vations lead to the following result:

The Paleeskimo culture was an original North Indian
form of culture, the winter side of which had become spe-
cially and strongly developed by adaptation to the winter
ice of the Arctic Ocean.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 187

Types of Eskimo Dwellings.

(Hereto belongs a plate.)

When to this anthropogeographical work I wish to add a section on
Eskimo house types, and to regard these from a more ethnological point
of view, it is for various reasons.

In the previous chapters special regard has been paid to the methods
of hunting, and less to the dwelling, which, however, is also of great
anthropogeographical importance. Moreover, in my work of 1905, I sub-
jected the Eskimo house-structure to the result of my/ considerations
at that time, but that result I cannot now approve off This refers to
the view that the Mackenzie house originated direct from the North
American prairie house. 7 the time mentioned, Lewis H. MorGan’s
work was essentially the only one to hand about North American house-
structure, and he employed a more sociological method, and set himself
quite a different task from that which now lies before us. In works
of travel hardly anything, or only scattered information, was to hand
about North Asiatic house-structure. Since 1905 some valuable works
have appeared, of which I lay stress on E. Sarrert’s paper from 1908
on North American house-types and on H. T. Stretrus’s papers on the
primitive dwellings in Northern Asia from 1906—1909, and in addition
to the works of Bocoraz and Jocuetson. Finally, regarded from a
modern sociological point of view, the Eskimo dwellings have been
treated by M. Mauss and H. Beucnat.

An the previous chapters I have already drawn attention to the fact
that the form of the Eskimo houses varies considerably, not only because

_/there are forms for use at different seasons, but also because there are

forms which seem to show that the history of their origin must be dif-
ferent. I mentioned the summer dwelling or skin tent, the snow house
or dwelling for ;winter travelling and hunting, as also some forms of
winter houses.

A-division of the last mentioned has lately been given by W. THAL-
BITzER'. He distinguishes between three types of these Eskimo houses:
1) The roundish, dome-shaped type, with whale bone as material, 2) the
rectangular type, in which the material consists of wood, stones, and
turf; and 3) the pear-shaped house, mainly built of stones and turf.

The five different types of dwellings, however, do not entirely
exhaust the whole series of house-forms existing amongst the Eskimo.

1 W. THavsitzer, II, p. 352 sqq.

188 H. P. Sreenspy.

In any case three forms can be mentioned which occur with the Eskimo,
although with a limited distribution. These three forms are the North-
West Indian houses of planks, the pile-dwelling, and also the double
winter tent, originating from the reindeer nomads and now adopted
and used by the Asiatic Eskimo and the Eskimo in 5t. Lawrence Island.

The North-West Indian plank-house, which at times occurs in the
form of a log-house, is still found with the Chukches as a winter dwelling,
and it is also said to occur with the Kenai-Indians. With the Eskimo
in South Alaska we immediately, however, find an earth-covered house
as a winter dwelling, while the plank-house occurs as a summer dwelling
in the summer settlements, which are inhabited during the fishing season.
Where the forest ceases the plank-house disappears, and the skin tent
predominates as a summer dwelling?.

While the Eskimo have got this plank-house from the North-West
Indians they have got the pile-dwelling from North-East Asia. It is a
well known fact that Paleasiatic people in North-East Asia, such as
the Gilyaks and Kamchadales, use the pile-dwelling as their summer
residence. The origin of this pile-work form, however, points still further
south across Japan and right to South-East Asia. In Alaska, the pile-
dwelling as a summer dwelling has already been mentioned from the
islands in Bering Strait, and in this connection is especially known from
King’s Island. But it also occurs on the coast of Alaska itself; not,
however, as a dwelling but as a store-house. Thus Perrorr® says about
the Kuskoquim district “the store-houses of all the Eskimo tribes are
set on posts at a height of from 8—10 feet above the ground, to protect
them against foxes, wolves, and dogs.”

According to Murpocu the pile-work structure is found at Point
Barrow in the form of stands for preserving and drying meat and such
like, and similar stands are found again right towards the east, for in-
stance in Baffin Land, and also in Greenland, where they are commonly
employed.

We now come to THALBITZER’s three types of winter houses, with
regard to which I shall first remark that main stress must be laid on
the groundplan and manner of construction. while the material employed
ranks only secondarily; as, in this respect, one employs what lies ready
to hand. Naturally it alters the house if whales’ bones are adopted after
wood has been employed, or if, perhaps, stone is exclusively used. But
the point is to discover the original type just through such alterations
as are involved,

Firstly I mention “the pear-shaped house.” This is built by
exclusively employing stones and turf, and by that alone betrays itself”

* Bocoraz, p. 180.
* Sarrert, p. 54,
* Perrorr, p. 128; cf. Netson, I, p. 244.

}

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 189

as a non-original form of structure; it is a house type which has originated

in districts where wood and whales’ bones have been lacking. That this
< is also evident from its construction one will easily see from the descrip-
( tions. I will refer to my own description and illustration in M. o. G.,
~Vol. 34, p. 107 and pp. 311 sqq. (cf. the plate in this volume, fig. 2).

Thus I have endeavoured to show that the “pear-shaped house”
must originate from a rectangular house, where whales’ bones have been
the most important building material. In favour of this I may say, firstly
that one finds in the same district old remains of rectangular houses
which also were somewhat larger than the present stone houses!, and
secondly that it appears from the construction itself, with stones which
project in pairs opposite each other and help to carry the roof, that in
these places the construction at one time must have had beams lying
from right to left in order to carry the roof. It is distinctly evident
that such a main beam (of wood or possibly of whale bone) must have
lain across the centre and just where the main platform began®. As
a third argument I may now quote the result of the Danmark Expedition
to the north coast of Greenland; a glance at Tuostrup’s figures shows
that small rectangular houses have been used side by side with such
as approach the pear-shaped type’.

From this it follows that Tuatpirzer* cannot be right when he
regards the pear-shaped house as a relic of the Mackenzie Eskimo house.
This building being constructed on quite a different principle, and the
similarity in the inner arrangement also being only superficial, inasmuch
as the side platforms in the Mackenzie house have the same value as
the hindmost platform, while in the pear-shaped house only the hind-
most platform is for human use, the side platforms being small lamp
platforms.

If on the other hand one wishes to find a house-type which, both
in its construction and in its arrangement, shows affinity with the pear-
shaped house as well as with the small rectangular house from the north-
east coast of Greenland, one must go to Point Barrow. The main feature
in the construction of the pear-shaped house, viz., the above mentioned
couple of projecting stones at the fore end of the main platform, recurs
in the Point Barrow house in the form of a main beam, which carries
the roof, which in reality in both cases, according to its construction,
is a gable roof, even if the outer covering of earth hides this, and even
if the difficulty in finding a sufficiently long beam may cause the house
to have a greater extent from the front to the back than from the right
to the left (cf. figs. 1—4 on the plate).

The arrangement of the platform, the lamps, the house passage

L. ¢., p. 307.
Cf. M. o. G., Vol. 34, figs. 8—10.
o. G., 44, Pl. II.

. 0. G., Vol. 34, pp. 360—361.

190 'H. P. Steenssy.

and the entrance from below is the same. Only as regards the window
is there a difference of a rather immaterial character, because the Polar
Eskimo have had to move the window down on the front side of the
house, just above the house passage; while the original window has been
retained as a small opening (“the nose of the house’’).

There is also a congruity in the way that the two forms of houses
are placed on the ground, inasmuch as both are placed on slightly sloping
ground, and generally near the top of a low hill, As regards the material,
the Point Barrow house is constructed of wood, and, which is of no
small interest, even planks are employed. According to MurRDOcH even
whales’ bones may enter into the structure, earth being heaped over
the whole.

To imagine this Point Barrow house transplanted to regions where
there is neither wood nor whales’ bones is to imagine the beams replaced
by a kind of cantilever construction of stones, and then one has the
pear-shaped house, the form of which is only a result of this forced con-
. struetion. It is best known from the regions at Smith Sound, But yet,
as mentioned, approximate forms also occur on the north-east coast of
Greenland; though only in ruins. Its distribution is still almost un-
known in the North American Archipelago, although it is probable that
it is just in the Archipelago with its lack of wood as well as of whales’
bones that the Point Barrow house type has first had to change into
the pear-shaped house.

We shall now proceed to a further consideration of the Eskimo
house of a rectangular type. THa.pitzer draws attention to the
fact that it is found both in Alaska and in Greenland, and he is justified
in saying that one gets the impression that the house from Point Barrow,
described by Murpocu, “is not very different from the rectangular house
we find in South Greenland and Angmagsalik.”

The principal difference lies in the size, The Point Barrow house
is small, and for two families at the utmost, while the South Greenland
house may be for several families. On comparing Hoxm’s figure (fig. 4
on the plate) of a transverse section of an Angmagsalik house with the
corresponding one from Point Barrow by Murpocn, one gets an im-
pression of the affinity in construction; but a comparison of the ground-
plans shows the difference in size. Elsewhere! I have tried to show

that the South Greenland common-house must be thought to have —

come about through a row of houses lying side by side being built into
one. In other words the idea which has been carried out here is quite
different from that which underlies the Mackenzie house, which likewise
can contain a larger number of families (up to two in each niche or six
families in all). This also shows distinctly that the pear-shaped house is
not an off-shoot of the Mackenzie house. If such were the case there

*M. o. G., Vol. 34, pp. 322 sqq.

SS el

7 ee eeEEOoEeEeEE=

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 191

is no doubt that in South Greenland, on account of the greater supply

of drift-wood, an attempt would once more have been made to realize

the Mackenzie house.

Now, on the other hand, a common-house has been made which
distinctly evinces the relationship with the two North-Greenland small
forms of houses, the pear-shaped house and the small rectangular house.
As mentioned, these two are really of the same kind, inasmuch as the
rectangular house necessarily must merge into the so-called “pear-shaped
house” the moment the stones have to be employed exclusively. In
1909 I was inclined to regard the “pear-shaped house” as the only
direct precursor of the South Greenland common-house, At that time
it was not so evident, as was made clear by the Danmark Expedi-
tion, what a great réle the small rectangular house has played in
North Greenland, though, even then, the existence of that house form
was not unknown. From the regions about Scoresby Sound it was
known from Ryper’s! and Amprup’s? reports of their expeditions.
From North-western Greenland at Wolstenholm Sound it was known
to me partly from verbal information from Knup Rasmussen and
partly from my own observations.

Thus, I shall only point out that the result is that the South
Greenland common-house originates both from a pear-shaped house
and from a small rectangular house like that we know from the
north-west and north-east coasts of Greenland, and that by the way in
which it is arranged it plainly shows that it has got its interior arrange-
ment from the building together of small houses lying side by side (cf.
M. o. G., Vol. 34, p. 328, Figs. 14, 15 and 16)*.

In this way, then, the predecessor of the South-Greenland common-
house dates right back to the house-type at Point Barrow or to the
rectangular house with a wooden structure and a covering of earth.
When whales’ bones have been employed, these have entered into the
structure as a direct substitute for wooden beams or planks, and one
must keep this construction distinct from a quite different one, into
1 RypeErR, pp. 296 sqq.

* Amprup, pp. 314 sqq.

3 Amprup and Ryper both were of opinion that the small rectangular houses.
were precursors of the large common-house, whereas now Birket-SmitH
thinks that the small house is to be considered as a simplification of the
large one. Even if Birxet-Smirn is evidently right when on account of
the distribution of different implements both on the west coast and on a
considerable part of the east coast, he decides that at a certain period
migrations from the west coast to east coast must have taken place, I am
not inclined to agree with him in his conception of the origin of the small
rectangular house. I would rather believe that the development of the big

common-house took place at a later period than the migrations which he
refers to.

192 H. P. STeensBy.

which whales’ bones may also enter, and which was called the round,
dome-shaped type; this will be mentioned later.

The distribution of the rectangular house in the Central Archipelago,
Baffin Land and Labrador is but little known. As mentioned, it is pro-
bable that even in the Archipelago it was early merged into a pear-
shaped form. It is also probable that in some places it is intermingled
with the round type of house which otherwise has been predominant in
the Archipelago. It/seems as if Boas’s observations from Baffin Land
may indicate this»

In Alaska, however, the rectangular house plays a great réle. Be-
sides the before mentioned younger forms two types of houses are pre-
dominant in Alaska, one of which is decidedly rectangular, while the
second perhaps seems to be derived from a square form. It is, howewer, .
just the origin and history of development of these house-forms which
we now shall try to find out. For convenience sake we may again call
the first type the Point Barrow type, because Point Barrow is the place
in Alaska where we first met with this form, while the other was long
ago named after the Mackenzie Eskimo.

The Mackenzie house was the predominant one with that group of
Eskimo which we have here named after the Mackenzie River. In addi-
tion it oceurred at Kotzebue Sound, although here it was not predo-
minant®,’ A house of the Point Barrow type is predominant, on the
other hand, along the entire west coast of Alaska from Point Barrow
to the region south of the mouth of the Kuskoquim River. SARFERT
describes it as the typical West Eskimo house, which, however, might
be misunderstood, as the most ancient West Eskimo house probably
was of a still older type (the round dome-shaped type). On the Aleu-
tian Islands underground houses occurred originally, which were of con-
siderable size, and held several families; they were probably built with
the aid of drift-wood and whales’ bones, and were probably a form of
this rectangular house.

According to Pattas the houses in Unalaska were dug a fathom
deep in the ground, and covered with drift-wood. In Kadiak are found
remains of underground houses which seem to be of the same type as
the house in the Aleutian Islands*. It is possible that this common-
house represents a form of development which is parallel to the com-
mon-house in Greenland; Sarrerr‘, however, is probably right in as-
suming that it originally came from the Asiatic Pacific Coast, where
such large houses were formerly in use.

On further observing the house of the Point Barrow type, or the
predominant winter house in West Alaska, we get through the forms’

* The Central Eskimo, pp. 494—502.

* Cotuinson, III, [Fig.]; Simpson, III, pp. 932 sqq.
° Cf. JocuELson, p. 464,

“ Sanrert, pp. 61—62.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 193

here a still stronger impression of it being a rectangular gable-house,
where the supports are formed of wooden beams. The réle which wooden
planks generally play in the covering of floors, walls and platforms is
a point of special interest, and shows that the house must originate from
more southern parts of the globe.

The house itself is dug somewhat down into the ground, and then
covered with earth, so that one is not wrong in calling it “underground.”
The entrance to the house which, on account of the covering of earth
is from the outside not of the gable type but roundish, is through a low,
underground passage which leads into the house in the middle of the
one side (originally the long side) facing the main platform. The en-
trance is frequently double, inasmuch as there is a high lying passage
for use in summer and a low lying one for use in winter’. The same
is found in Asia. The habit of using the top-hole of the house as an
entrance, well known to the Paleasiatics, recurs in America, it was
found, for example with the Aleuts. On the Asiatic side of Bering Strait,
where whales’ bones must almost entirely replace drift-wood, and where,
as before mentioned, the form of dwelling is influenced from the interior
of Asia, the rectangular house occurs in a somewhat changed variant?,
which, however, may easily have been related to the Aleutian house,
such as Perrorr® describes it.

There can be no doubt that the described house type originates
from more southern latitudes. Form, material, and construction bear
witness to this. Everything bears the impress of its having originated
from regions with an abundance of wood, and from districts with such
a mild climate that houses of wood have been used, at any rate posts
of wood, the walls being of planks, mats, or perhaps wattle, and not
covered with earth.

As SarFERT points out, a rectangular earth-house is really a con-
tradictio in adjecto, for which reason it must be assumed that “der vier-
eckige Erdbau sich aus dem viereckigen Holzhaus entwickelte oder sich
zum mindesten an ihn anlehnte.”

The question is, then, from where can this rectangular house which
was transformed into an earth-house originate. There are at once two
places which are conspicuous viz., North-Western America (the North-
West Indians) and North-Eastern Asia (the Pacific-Asiatic region). The
North-West Indian house, however, has scarcely exercised any greater
influence than has already been mentioned from South Alaska, where
it becomes the summer dwelling at the fishing places. Nor does a glance
at the construction and plan-work show that the one has been the direct
model for the other.

1 Attention is specially directed to Nexson’s description and illustrations of
Eskimo houses from Alaska (Netson, I, pp. 241 sqq.).

* Bocoraz, pp. 180 sqq.

5 Petrorr, p. 128.

Li. 13

194 H. P. STEENsBy.

Different forms of earth-houses occur however in North-America
besides; a rectangular earth-house is also known from Northern Cali-
fornia. There cannot, however, be any question of its being one of these
forms which has been transferred to the Eskimo domain. The type
is quite different. There is no doubt that Jocnetson' is right when,
on the basis of his investigations, he says “we may draw the conclusion
that the underground houses of the Palasiatic tribes bear more simi-
larity to those of the Aleuts and Alaskan Eskimos than to the under-
ground dwellings of the North-Western Indians.”

In this way nothing remains but North-East Asia. We must assume
that the rectangular earth-house is due to Asiatic influence
exerted along the Pacific Coast. Sarrerr? also assumes something

of the same sort when he emphasizes some features which he thinks are —

to be found both with Aleuts and Alaskan Eskimo, and in the older houses
which formerly were in use with the Kamchadales, Koryaks and Gilyaks.
Still further south we find semi-underground rectangular houses which
from outside appear like round hills. R. Hrrencock® has observed such on
a small island Thikotan off the east coast of Jesso, and he supposes that
similar houses formerly played a réle on Jesso, where he could see the
hollows where the houses had been.

There still remains to be mentioned that form of an apparently
rectangular house which we have called the Mackenzie-house.
Formerly I assumed that it was a further development of the earth-
covered prairie-house, which, through Cariin’s and the Prince oF
Wiep’s descriptions for example, we know so well from the Mandans.
Thus I thought that the Mackenzie house was an original round house
like this prairie-house, and that it had adjusted itself to this peculiar
cross-form in the ground-plan. I supposed that this form of house might
have struck root at the mouth of the Mackenzie on account of the great
richness in drift-wood. Now, however, I must admit that THALBITZER
is right when he, on the basis of Srrettus’s work, points to Asia as the
place of origin for this form of house.

It seems to me that in reality the history of the development and
origin of the Mackenzie house is now manifest. The source of origin
must be a form like that which, according to ScureNcK, we find with
the Gilyaks. It is an earth-covered, approximately square house with
four posts in the centre which carry the obliquely placed poles or beams
which form the walls and the roof. Inside, out from the three sides.
rectangular platforms are placed, while the entrance is found in the
fourth side, The fire place is in the middle of the floor. A form of house
quite corresponding with this is found with the Koryaks*, Next it is *

1 Jocuetson, p. 446.
* SARFERT, pp. 61—62.,

® Hircucocn, p. 425, Fig. 65 and Plate LX XIX.
* JocHELsoN, p. 454,

Srl

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 195

refound at Kotzebue Sound on the coast of Alaska, and finally in the
Mackenzie district+ (cf. figs. 5 and 6 on the plate).

When these northern regions are reached, there are two facts, how-
ever, which assert themselves. Firstly the wood-fire in the middle of the
floor of the house has to be relinquished and replaced by the blubber-
lamp, secondly the cold becomes more perceptible. These two facts en-
force the avoidance of any superfluous space which would make the
warming up of the house more difficult. The problem is solved by filling
up the platformless space between the platforms, the outer walls being
drawn in to the platforms themselves, which thereby come to lie in
niches. Finally the construction is thus so altered that the roof becomes
flatter and lower, and the space becomes restricted by this also.

By these means a house is attained which can comparatively easily
be warmed up, and which can nevertheless hold a relatively large number
of inhabitants. The geographical distribution of this house in America
enters like a wedge into the West Eskimo domain from Kotzebue Sound
to the Mackenzie region (in this connection one must remember that
the most used route of communication from Kotzebue Sound to the
Mackenzie does not go round the coast past Point Barrow but straight
across country along Colville River to the coast of the Arctic), and this
condition of distribution may perhaps indicate that this form of house
Jhas arrived at a later date than the rectangular house, Like the latter,
however, one must suppose that it originates from Asia, and that it has
been introduced along the coast route; but it seems that not until the
Mackenzie-domain is reached do we find it finally adapted to the con-
ditions of Arctic winter dwelling. This explanation is more probable
than Sarrert’s assumption that the whole development from an ordi-
nary rectangular house into a Mackenzie house must have taken place
in America amongst the Eskimo. To this must be added that Stretrus
has now shown how the Gilyak earth-house, which in my opinion repre-
sents the primitive form of the Mackenzie house, has eventuated from the
conical tent, in that this, as a support for the roof, is provided with four,
or sometimes more, inside wooden pillars. So far, therefore, the Mackenzie
house originates from a circular building; but the point of origin is in’
Asia and not in America, Thus I agree with THaLBirzeR? as regards
the possibility of the Mackenzie house finally being traced back to the
Siberian “earth tent”; but I do not agree with him when he assumes
that it is one of the most ancient Eskimo domiciliary forms. Necessarily
it must have found its way into Alaska at a secondary period, no matter
whether it came later than the rectangular house, or even if it perhaps
came somewhat before this.

In this way the forms of the Eskimo houses which have been

' Cf. Sarrert, pp. 56 sqq.
* M. o. G., Vol. 39, p. 361.

13*

196 H. P. STEENSBY.

previously mentioned all seem to originate from Asia, setting aside the
North-West American plank-house, which, also, no doubt, will ultimately
prove to be of Asiatic origin. The lately introduced forms, such as the
pile-work and winter dwelling adopted from the Chukches, are of the
smallest importance as regards dwellings. The so called Mackenzie house
stopped at the Mackenzie area, and it is probable that lack of wood
determined the limit. On the other hand the rectangular house of the
Point Barrow type extended into Greenland to the eastern boundary
of the Eskimo, though it had to be converted into a pearshaped house
locally where only stones were to hand; into the small rectangular
house in districts where the wood was replaced by whales’ bones; and
‘finally into a large common-house in South Greenland.

The whole of this group of houses has been adopted by the Eskimo -

in the districts round Bering Strait — in the second geographical focus
of the development of the Eskimo culture, — and therefore, pursuant
to the established terminology, must be designated as Neo eskimo,

There now remain to be mentioned some forms of dwellings which
will prove to represent the oldest development of Eskimo culture in the
Arctic Archipelago — the first geographical focus — whence they have
spread as far west and east as the primary Arctic distribution has reached.

While the first-mentioned group consisted principally of rect-
angular houses, this second group consists of forms with a circular
ground-plan. The tent, the snow house, and the before mentioned winter
house of a circular dome-shaped type belong to this group.

Often it may be difficult to keep the Jast mentioned separate from
the winter houses of the Neoeskimo group. As a rule the latter from
outside also appear like round hills of earth, so that it is only by the
interior or by the ground-plan that they can be distinguished. To this
must be added that a rectangular house, where wood disappears or de-
creases in importance, has a natural inclination to change to a roundish
form. This appears distinctly in the pear-shaped house, and is also ob-
served as regards the rectangular houses.

Firstly will mention the tent, because the circumstances as regards
this are clearest. A tent of reindeer skin is the typical summer dwelling
of the Eskimo from Alaska to Greenland and Labrador. It appears,
however, in a somewhat different form. The dome-shaped tent known
from the Indians in the forest regions in Alaska and the Hudson lands,
which generally and justly is regarded as the old, original form for a
summer dwelling occurs at Kotzebue Sound!, and the summer house °
at the Lower Kuskoquim described and illustrated by Perrorr? like-_
wise has the form of the dome tent. For the rest, the Western Eskimo”
seem to use tents which are conical, like the “tipi” tents from the prairie,

1 Sarrert, p. 25.
* Petrorr, p. 128.

--_ a a ae

——————EE——<x—

oe

a
s

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 197

and like these must be regarded as derived from the dome tent. The
conical tent is not very spacious, but it requires fewer skins than most
other forms of tents. For this reason it is also occasionally found with
the Central Eskimo in a small dwarfed form, which is only pitched where
there is a lack of skins1.

With the Central and Eastern Eskimo, however, we find a somewhat
different form of tent, which must also be regarded as a conversion and
a more direct one of the dome-shaped tent. When one gets to northern
regions where drift-wood and whales’ bones are the only material fit for
use as tent supports, one cannot make the dome-shaped tent, as this
requires young pliable stems from the forest.

One must therefore be contented with making a single arch or frame,
over which the framework is then placed, and in such a way that the
tent is highest in front. Behind, the ground-plan is a circular arch,
which is cut straight off in front.

A tent of this simple type is still in use with some central and eastern
tribes, for example the Angmagsaliks*; in order to increase the space,
the lower end of the tent poles may be fixed in a mound of earth and
stones instead of being placed in the ground itself. In West Greenland
the tent has an addition in front of a rectangular extension, a new frame
heing connected with the door-frame by horizontal poles.

With the Central Eskimo, the tents with a rectangular front part
seem to predominate*®. On an average, however, the tents of the Central
Eskimo are worse made than those of the Greenlanders on account of
the greater scarcity of wood. This, for example, appears in the cases from

. Iglulik and other places emphasized by Boas, where wood is rare, and

/ where the carrying frames are replaced by perpendicular poles of wood

or bones, while the horizontal bars in the ante-space are replaced by a
horizontal cord. In these cases, however, the back of the tent has pre-
‘served its circular form. On the other hand this is not the case in La-
brador, where it has disappeared, and only the rectangular front has
remained. Sarrert likewise explains that the arrival of this form of
tent is due to lack of wood, and I believe he is right. In 1909 I found
the same form of tent in use in West Greenland in the district round
Egedesminde, and I then‘ assumed that perhaps it might be due to
European influence. This, however, can scarcely have been the case, all
the more so because, according to verbal reports to me from Knup Ras-
MUSSEN, the same form of tent may be found now and then amongst
the Polar Eskimo.

After the tent I will mention the roundish, dome-shaped type of

__ Eskimo house, but I must remark at once that undoubtedly my con-

1 Boas II, pp. 552—553.

2 Boas II, pp. 552—553.

8 Cf. SaArFERT, pp. 26 sqq.; Boas II, pp. 559 sqq.; KLurscHak, p. 139.
4M. o. G., Vol. 50, pp. 155 sqq.

198 H. P. STEENSBY.

ception of this type is quite different from that of THALBITZER and
other authors.

I do not lay main stress on the fact that it has preferably been
erected by employing whales’ bones. Whales’ bones can also act as a sub-
stitute for wood in forms of houses which have quite a different origin
than the form mentioned. It cannot be the full explanation, as MAuss
and Beucuart think, that it is the exclusive employment of whales’
bones which results in the arrival of a new type of house which is “pe-
tite, penchante, a forme circulaire ou elliptique. Le mur est recouyert
de peaux, recouvertes, a leur tour, de gazon; ....”'.

What however, in my opinion, is characteristic of this cone
shaped house is that it descends direct from the tent in its Central and

Eastern-Eskimo primitive form, or more correctly, is nothing else but |

this tent furnished as a winter dwelling with a passage and a cover of
earth, plant material, or snow on the top of the skin-covering. In the
next place it is either dug into the ground somewhat, or has a mound
of earth and stones. The framework is as with the tent mentioned from
the Central and Eastern Eskimo; in front there is a supporting arch
or frame which carries the remaining framework of sloping bars.
Similar examples of a form of tent having passed over into an earth-
tent are known from North Asia (cf. Srretivus). The fact is not unique,
but is a well known phenomenon.

Houses of the type mentioned are described by Boas from the
Central Eskimo, where they are called garmang. Houses of this type
have a passage of stone, and the arrangement inside is the one also known
from the rectangular houses with a broad platform at the back and
side platforms for lamps and cooking utensils. The framework is carried
by the rib of the whale which forms an arch. “The whole curve formed
hy the rib is covered with a window of seal intestines, while the poles
are covered with sealskins, which are fastened in front to the whale-rib.
.... The roof is covered with a thick layer of Andromeda, and another
skin, .... is spread over both covers.” The houses before mentioned
from the Melville Peninsula have, I think, originally been of the same
kind.

No doubt, houses of this type are no longer found with the Western
Eskimo with the exception of the Eskimo on the Asiatic side of Bering
Strait. From here Netson mentions and illustrates houses with a some-
what oval ground-plan, which apparently must be accounted to this
district. That the tent as a winter dwelling has been able to hold its
own on the Asiatic coast while it has disappeared on the Alaskan coast .
(it is not predominant in Asia however; as already mentioned, other ~
forms of winter houses are now generally used) is quite interesting.

Apparently this dome-shaped house has also existed in Greenland.

* Mauss and Beucnar, p. 78.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 199

According to verbal information from Knup Rasmussen there exist in
Melville Bay old house-ruins of an oval form which according to his in-
formation seem probably to be of this type. How far ruins of a similar
type occur south of Melville Bay is not known. K. Brrxet-Smirn has
lately described some ruins from Southern Greenland which he likens to
houses from Baffin Land which are indubitable earth-tents. He from
GrorceE Best’s “True Discourse of the three Voyages .... under the con-
duct of Martin FrosisueEr,” first cites a very striking description of such
semi-underground houses with a framework of whales’ bones and a
roof of skins, and then he tries to show that such houses have existed
on the Greenland side of Davis Strait?. Brrxer-Smiru, however, does not
distinguish, as we do here, between a dome-shaped type of house which
originates from the tent, and a rectangular house of quite a different origin.
Therefore he can compare the house from Baffin Land with the house
ruins from Julianehaab which for the rest he apparently correctly
considers to be old rectangular small houses from the time before the
common house. Yet, further, I agree with him when he expresses some
doubt as to whether the house-ruins found by V. C. FREDERIKSEN?
at Holsteimsborg really originate from the pear-shaped house type
(trefoil houses, as FREDERIKSEN calls them). I could imagine that in
reality they were of some more modern house type.

The mentioned type of house which ought rather to be called the
Eskimo winter tent or “earth-tent” than the dome-shaped type conse-
quently seems to have a very sporadic distribution, which corresponds
with the fact that it is an old form of dwelling which once had a greater
distribution, but which is now superseded by other types of houses. In

Alaska and at the Mackenzie, as also eastwards and especially in Green-

land, it has been superseded by forms of houses which originally have
come from Asia. In the districts of the Central Archipelago it is the
snow house which has won.

The snow house, the most characteristic form of dwelling of the
Eskimo culture, must in its origin, however, be apprehended as being
brother to the winter-tent. Even Murpocu® expressed the opinion that
in all probability the bee-hive-shaped snow house must be regarded as
succeeding the tent. In 1905* I tried to show that the snow house
must have developed from the dome-shaped tent, as for winter use this
was covered with snow, as it still is with the northern Indian tribes.
But besides the dome-shaped tent there is still one form of house which
possibly may have played a réle as a precursor, and at any rate is a
kind of parallel to the snow house. It is the round house which is dug
into the earth and is partly built of turf, and which occurs in North

1M. o. G., Vol. 53, pp. 9 sqq.
2 FREDERIKSEN, pp. 391 sqq.
® Murvocg, II, p. 127.

4 Steenssy, I, p. 191.

200 H. P. STEENSBY.

America: on the prairie for example. It has not been possible to transfer
such an earth-house to the tundra and the coasts of the Archipelago
without more ado, and this for several reasons, of which the most im-
portant is the loose consistency of the soil compared with the solid sods
of the prairie’. Added to this is the great scarcity of wood, and, also,
the fact that the ground is almost always frozen and impenetrable. On
the prairie it is possible to raise a mound of turf, but this cannot be
done on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. There the soil can only be used
to cover a sloping surface, where it can lie firmly. If one wishes to have
a firmer mound, or wall, it must be of stone, or at any rate must have
a firm core of stone.

But then, on the other hand, there is the snow, which on the tundra

can take the place of the firm sod of the prairie. In reality the snow -

is an ideal material to use. One can easily dig out a round hollow in
the snow, and with the snow build a wall round the hollow, in a similar
way as one sets up a wall of turf round the hollow of the house on the
prairie®. Nowadays the opening above is closed with a vault. Origin-
ally, of course, there must have been times when this was not known, so
the snow house was covered with skins in a similar way as it still is
towards spring, when there is a risk of the snow-vault melting and
collapsing, a practica still in common not on the Alaskan coast south
of Point Barrow through the winter.

I have tried also to correlate the snow house with the North Ameri-
can round earth-house, because, inter alia, a round earth-house and,
besides this, the dome-shaped tent evidently represent a couple of the
oldest forms of dwellings, not only in these districts, but also in Northern
Asia. Probably they must both be reckoned as typical adjuncts to the
oldest Palzasiatic-American culture in the northern regions with the cold
winter.

In its oldest form, such as it must be supposed to have been here,
the snow house; therefore, must be apprehended as a snow-tent — or
a parallel with the earth-tent. Not until later — perhaps even relatively
late — was the art of making an arch acquired. But, when this was
acquired, the snow house gradually became so greatly improved that
finally it was able almost entirely to supersede other forms of winter
houses from the central districts.

How the art of building an arch was acquired is a difficult question.
There are two possible explanations: either the Eskimo did not learn

* Cf. Steransson, I, p. 846.

* A geographical condition must also be emphasized, which stipulates that it

is on the tundra and the sea ice that the snow house has arisen, and not
in the forest. The fact of the matter is that in the forest the snow falls
evenly like a homogeneous but comparatively thin and loose layer. In the
open districts north of the forest boundary, however, large masses of snow
collect in places which is a contingency with the building of snow houses.

-

—————eeEeEEEeEeeeeEeEeE—E—Eo rrr

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 201

to build the arch until towards Bering Strait they came in contact with
people with a higher and richer culture — the vault then would first
be Neoeskimo — or else they themselves thought of closing their snow-
tents at the top with an arch, whereby they could save themselves the
trouble of carrying tent-skins on their sledges during rainy weather.

Which explanation is correct I shall not endeavour to decide with
certainty. Personally I believe in the first explanation, viz., that the
Eskimo have through long periods used snow houses closed at the top
with skins, and that only relatively lately have they learnt to close it
with an arch. If, however, contrary to expectation, the second explana-
tion should prove to be the correct one, it is perhaps possible that those
authors may be right who have advanced the theory “that the Eskimo
might possibly have borrowed the idea of their dome-shaped snow houses
from the snow-burrows of the seals on the ice.”?

Quite apart from this problem, it ought to be evident from the
preceding description that the three last mentioned forms of dwellings
—the summer-tent, the earth-tent, and also the snow house
— are Paleeskimo in their origin.

From the American Arctic Archipelago and with the Paleeskimo
culture, which was purely Arctic in its character, they have spread as
far eastward and westward as this culture was able to advance. This
probably means right up to the north coast of Bering Sea in the west,
and to Labrador and the Arctic parts of Greenland in the east.

Summer-tent and snow house have been able to hold their own;
but instead of the earth-tent improved forms have appeared in most
places, the so-called Neoeskimo group of houses, the origin of which
is due to Asiatic influence.

How these two groups have influenced each other is a problem in
itself. Thus when houses of the Point Barrow type get their window
moved down from the side of the roof so that it begins immediately
above the lowermost end of the house passage, while a little air hole in
the side of the roof remains as a kind of rudimentary window, this is
without doubt borrowed direct from the Eskimo “winter-tent” or Eskimo
“earth-tent.”

The idea of a house sunk in a hollow and covered with earth is older
than the origin of the Paleeskimo culture. The same applies, no doubt,
to the employment of a simple, earth covered house passage. On the
other hand the arrangement of the house passage which is now mostly
used, and whereby one enters the house from below, is no doubt of
later origin.

It probably originates from Asia, and has then passed from the
Neoeskimo group of houses into the Palzeskimo form. As an example

1 TuaLpitzErR, M. 0. G., Vol. 39. p. 363; the idea, however, has also been
advanced by other authors.

202 H. P. STeENsBy.

I shall mention that according to Knup Rasmussen' it was from the
Pond-Inlet Eskimo who immigrated in the early sixties that the Polar
Eskimo at Smith Sound first learnt to build snow houses with a long
passage and an entrance from below. Before then snow houses were
built, but the passage was shorter, and it was not understood how to
give the house an entrance from below, and this in spite of the fact that
such an entrance was used even in the pear-shaped winter houses.

One might also ask what the conditions were with other features.
/ common to the different types of Eskimo houses, as, for instance the
platform and the blubber lamp. As concerns the latter, there can be no
doubt that Hoven is right in saying that from the very beginning it
was a necessity for the Eskimo directly they left the forest. The lamp
must, no doubt, be Palezeskimo; still it is scarcely an Eskimo invention,
but lamps were no doubt used even as early as the days of the Pale-
asiatie-American earth-houses. And very likely something similar applies
to the platforms, even if there may naturally be reason to assume that,
owing to the Neoeskimo adopting Asiatic culture elements, both the
lamp and the arrangement of the platform have been subjected to es-
sential improvements.

Still one more result must be emphasized as being evident from
this description of the types of Eskimo dwellings, and that is that one
cannot imagine this distribution of the rectangular houses of the Neo-
eskimo group from West Alaska to the shores of the Atlantic east-
' wards, without a spreading, or if one prefers it a migration, of people
having taken place. For us, one of the most important results of this
investigation of house types is the fact that Neoeskimo migrations.
from west to east must have taken place. —

Whether these took place at one time and wholly, or at broken inter-
vals, is at present a minor question. But on the other hand I must at
once draw attention to the essential difference which exists between
the nature of these Neoeskimo migrations and the nature of that older
migration undertaken by the Palweskimo when they dispersed from the
Archipelago. The migration of the Paleeskimo must have been of
rather slow growth, and over regions unknown, the habitable advantages
of which could be understood only by degrees. The Neoeskimo, on
the other hand, migrated backwards so to speak, along trodden paths;
they represent, originally, a surplus Alaskan population which, with its
higher technical culture, was able to turn the old regions to account in
a more intensive manner. Probably the Neoeskimo migration does
not represent one wave of immigrants but more, some of which
must have reached the remotest districts of Greenland and Labrador.
Another problem is if these migrations as a rule resulted in a close
amalgamation of the Paleeskimo and the Neoeskimo before new advan-

* Knup Rasmussen, Nye Mennesker, p. 31.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 203

ces took place, or if the Neoeskimo waves generally rolled onwards
depending only on the geographical conditions.
’ With regard to the types of Eskimo houses the result of this examina-
on is then, that a Palweskimo and a Neoeskimo group of dwellings
(ean be pointed out. ‘

The Paleeskimo group is the summer-tent, the so called earth-
tent and the snow house. Of this the summer-tent and the snow
house have kept their position, while the earth-tent is on the point
of disappearing.

The Neoesk mo group consists of the forms of rectangular houses
including the pear-shaped house derived from this; and further
the so called Mackenzie-type; and lastly the pile-building and
some few other, in this connection more insignificant, house forms
from Alaska.

Theory on the Development of the
Eskimo Culture.

have now given in the preceding chapters firstly a more extensive an-.

thropogeographical study of the various nuances of the Eskimo cul-
ture, nextly a smaller anthropogeographical summary of the adjacent
forms of economic culture, and finally an ethnographical synopsis of the
forms of Eskimo dwellings.

Amongst the results of these investigations may be emphasized the
demonstration of the point that two principal groups of elements occur
in the economic culture of the Eskimo — an older group — the Pale-
eskimo — which may be explained as a geographical product of adap-
tation, which in all probability issued from the regions between the
Arctic Archipelago and the coast of the mainland — and a younger
group, which is due to influence and borrowings from without, and must
especially have been adopted and fashioned in the regions at Bering
Strait — this is mentioned as the Neoeskimo.

The investigation of the forms of dwellings plainly confirmed this
distinction between the two layers of culture, and furthermore bore
testimony to the fact that there must have been extensive Eskimo
wanderings corresponding with each of these layers.

For safety’s sake I wish to emphasize that with these sections |
consider that I have finished the essential scientific investigations which
I wish to advance. On the basis of the results attained, I intend in the
following pages to try to outline a more elaborate theory of how, in my
opinion, one must regard the probable process of the origin and devel-
opment of the Eskimo culture on a large scale (compare the map).

The Continental Area of the Pre-Eskimo.

The oldest native seat to which with any probability at all one
can trace back the Eskimo is the region between Barren Grounds and
the northern part of the prairie. One must assume that at a certain
period the Eskimo must have lived here, and have utilized the natural

resources of the country by hunting and fishing in a like manner as the
later Indian inhabitants did.

————R——— St

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 205

Over how large an area these pre-Eskimo have lived — whether
they have also occupied the northern parts of the prairie, and to how
great an extent they originally, in addition, extended on to the
tundra — nothing can be decided: not on an anthropogeographical
basis at any rate.

These original Eskimo spoke a language which was the mother-
tongue of the present Eskimo language; but for the rest they have
been more “Indian” than “Eskimo” in culture. By this is only meant.
North American, i.e., continental; because one cannot assume that,
from an ethnographical point of view, their previous history has been
extensively American; even at this early stage one is obliged to reckon
with Asiatic influences, probably Asiatic immigrations, which have
brought certain fundamental Palzasiatic-American possessions of cul-
ture, such as, probably, bark-boats, snow-shoes, earth-house, oldest
tight fitting skin clothes, etc. But to what extent the mentioned pre-
Eskimo inland culture has been American, and to what extent Asiatic
elements have been present cannot be inquired into in this connection.

The Rise of the Palzeskimo Culture in the Archipelago
by New Adaptation.

In the preceding pages the Paleeskimo culture is explained as an
originally North Indian form of culture of which the winter
side has been specially developed by adaptation to the win-
ter ice of the Arctic Ocean.

It must be assumed that the above mentioned pre-Eskimo inhabi-
tants of the interior gradually moved beyond the tundra, and especially
onto the Barren Ground! area, in that they exchanged their forest
hunting and bison hunting for the hunting of the reindeer and musk ox
of the tundra. The original wintering in the forest had by degrees to
be abandoned — by some of the groups at any rate — on account of the
distances. Wood as fuel had then to be replaced by fat and tallow,
and bark as a covering for boats by skin. Here one must not think
of new inventions. The things which circumstances forced into pro-
minence were well known matters. In the northern part of the prairie
the boats have up to present times been covered with bison skin, and
fish-oil Vas occasionally employed as fuel by Indian tribes.

The essential impulse to the development of the Eskimo culture did
not come until the Eskimo accustomed themselves to stay at or on the
sea ice in the winter and hunt seals. To a hunting people, which lived
by following the migrations of the herds of animals, this transition had

1 Tt must be noticed that by Barren Grounds I here in a particular sense mean
the peninsula-resembling domain northwest of Hudson Bay and east of
the Coppermine River.

206 H. P. STeENsBy.

to be a necessary result of the mode of living and the anthropogeogra-
phical conditions. The following of the migrations of the herds of ani-
nials had necessarily to lead the Eskimo to the sea coast and out
across the sea ice.

As was pointed out in the preceding pages, one must presume that this,
the rise of the Paleeskimo culture through geographical new adaptation,
took place in the Arctic Archipelago or, more correctly, at the coasts
and indentations between the continent and the islands, which means, |
firstly, along the district from Coronation Gulf to the Melville Peninsula.
It is reasonable to suppose that again, among these areas, on account
of its position, it was Coronation Gulf, or rather the regions between the
continent and Victoria Land which were first reached by the Eskimo
and which played a principal réle in the new adaptation.

It might be asked whether the pre-Eskimo advance towards the
north, to the tundra and the Archipelago, took place voluntarily or
was due to pressure from southern neighbours. One will probably never
be able to decide the question. But here it is to be strongly emphasized
that life at the Arctic sea coast, far from indicating a step backwards,
in reality indicated a step forward as regards economy, inasmuch as,
in addition to the hunting of terrestrial mammals and summer fishing
in the fresh waters which was already known, the practice of hunting
aquatic mammals was acquired as compensation for the ice fishing on
lakes and streams. The contrast between this fishing on the ice of lakes,
which was only resorted to in times of need, and the sea ice hunting of
seals gives a kind of standard of progress. One can then very well ima-
gine that no pressure has been necessary, but that the pre-Eskimo have
been tempted out to the coasts of the Arctic Ocean by natural condi-
tions.

When the Palweskimo culture had once been formed it naturally
spread spontaneously west, east and north along coasts and coast waters,
across the districts which offered the geographical conditions which it
required, and to which especially pertained smooth winter ice with
seals and the occurrence of musk ox and reindeer, or at any rate one
of these two hunting animals in abundance.

This Paleweskimo distribution must have taken place evenly, or
must have developed by degrees as a slow growth across the countries.
Only small groups of a few families have by degrees ventured. further
and further away. As regards their nature even these Palweskimo mi-
grations must correspond with the later wanderings which I have men-
tioned elsewhere, and with regard to which I pointed out that they,
must specially have been connected with the domains where the musk
ox has or had its distribution.

It must be assumed that even the Paleeskimo must have made

'M. 0. G., Vol. 34,

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 207

use of the “musk ox route” to Greenland. It is naturally difficult to
express any opinion as to whether they have reached out along the
coasts of Greenland and along the Arctic coasts of North America both
in the direction of Labrador and in the direction of Alaska. Anthropo-
geographically considered, however, it is most natural to assume that
the Paleeskimo have to all sides reached as far out as the Arctic Eskimo
culture occurs at the present date. i

With regard to the migration routes in the Archipelago itself, I
must state that I am inclined to believe that the main route from the
coast of the continent to the islands at the northwest coast of Greenland
(Ellesmere Land and others) has not gone from Boothia Felix Peninsula
direct towards the north, but that the route has more frequently
gone from Coronation Gulf along the south-west coast of Victoria Land
to Prince of Wales Strait; further through this and across Banks Strait
to the south coast of Melville Island, and thence along the south coast
of Parry Islands and between these islands to Ellesmere Land. The
present apportionment of the population, the position of the deserted
settlements, and the anthropogeographical conditions (the occurrence of
winter ice and of musk oxen) speak in favour of this route as being parti-
cularly attractive and accessible (compare the map).

The Neoeskimo Culture a Result of Foreign Influence
(acculturation).

The Palzeskimo must be assumed to have been the first people
to move into the here mentioned Arctic regions and to adapt their cul-
ture to an Arctic mode of living after these regions had been freed from
the ice covering of diluvial times.

Like other northern cultures the Paleeskimo culture, has, however,
also later been the subject of influence from more southern regions and
cultures. But what especially happened with the Eskimo culture was
that this influence quite particularly took place on the flank of the Eski-
mo territory of distribution, viz., in Alaska. While other northern do-
mains of culture, of somewhat greater extent, received influence in
places which were geographically different, this was not, or rather only
in an inferior degree, the case with the Eskimo domain. Here the in-
fluence set in at one fixed part of the domain, namely in the districts
at Bering Strait.

The character of the influence was indicated earlier and in the
same way I also tried to decide its sources, a task which, however, offer-
ed special difficulties on account of our inferior knowledge of the ethno-
graphical and the historical conditions in North-Eastern Asia. In the
preceding pages I have endeavoured to give a summary of the sources
for influence which necessarily must have been in activity.

208 H, P. Sreenspy.

Here, however, I will venture to educe one of these sources, which
in my opinion must have been active in a special degree, without,
however, my being able to state certain ethnographical, or even
certain historical, proofs of such influence.

This particular and specially important influence which I suppose
to have taken place is a direct influence from Japan through the Japa-
nese navigation. Whether in ancient Japanese literature evidence is
found of voyages so far north as the districts round Bering Strait I do
not know. But I consider it most improbable that a highly seafaring
people such as the Japanese were, right from the older middle ages to
the beginning of the 17th century, should not also have extended their
voyages to Bering Strait, where they could carry on fishing, whale hun- —
ting and hunting of walrus, and trade such important products as blubber,
ivory, and furs.

One sees that the Japanese extended their sea voyages still further
in a southern direction . On account of their nautical skill the Japanese
were known in the waters of the East as “Kings of the Sea” as F. Brink-
LEy! expresses himself. But between the years 1614 and 1641 this
navigation was destroyed, especially by the Shogun Iyeyasu. “He
ordered that all vessels of sea-going capacity should be destroyed, and
that no craft should thenceforth be built of sufficient size to venture
beyond home waters.”

In 1641 Japan was deprived of all craft which could go trading or
whale hunting to the regions at Bering Strait. “Not a ship large enough
to pass beyond the shadow of the coast may be built.”

The Russian expeditions to the Pacific coast only occurred about
a century after this period. According to Steller, with the inhabitants
of the coast, the Kamchadales for example, they found knowledge of the
Japanese, but naturally no direct evidence of this Japanese navigation
which had ceased long before and had not been allowed to revive.

Of course the stated argumentation that the Japanese navigation
reached the districts at Bering Strait is no proof that the Eskimo cul-
ture really was subjected to Japanese influence. Such proof might, I
presume, be found in comparing the economic culture of the Eskimo
with the economic possession of culture of the old fishermen and sailor
population of Japan. It is only this class of the population which may —
be assumed to have influenced the Eskimo — on the other hand not
the higher classes of Japan. But for this, material is still lacking, at
any rate I have not access to such.

Meanwhile I can in one respect mention testimony which in a rather
obvious and striking manner speaks in favour of the Eskimo having
had connection with the Japanese, and that is the anthropological fact
that the specially Japanese form of Mongol type so unmistakably occurs

1 F. Brinkiey. Vol. 8, p. 128.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 209

with the Eskimo. Possibly it shows itself in the way in which certain
Eskimo populations are stamped by it to a special degree. Thus, I
myself have had the opportunity to observe this with the most unmixed
Greenlanders on the middlemost part of the west coast (the extreme
islands in the districts of Egedesminde and Godhavn).

The fact, however, was long ago observed by several others from
different districts, and on the basis of anthropological investigations in
Greenland it was first pointed out by the Danish anthropologist, SoREN
HansEent.

My intention is, then, to heed that the most pure Eskimo in
Greenland south of Melville Bay, or rather, perhaps, south of the di-
strict of Upernivik have a somewhat more “Mongolian” and particularly
a more “Japanese” stamp than the Polar Eskimo. These latter made
a more “Indian” impression on mé, and seemed to remind me strongly
of the Eskimo from the Netchillik domain, illustrated by Amundsen.
Further west, in Alaska, the Mongolian stamp again seems to be more
strongly predominant.

It was by studying the outer structure of the body and specially
the proportions of the body that Sor—EN Hansen arrived at the men-
tioned result that the Eskimo were connected with the Japanese. It
must be mentioned, however, that Cart M. Fiirst and Fr. C. C. HaAnsEN
in their great work “Crania Groenlandica’’ have not been able, on the
basis of their craniological material, to demonstrate such a_ specific
connection. On the other hand they have arrived at the result which
is not uninteresting to us, “that the Greenland Eskimo cranium is not
a cranium of a primitive race, but rather that a part of its marked an-
thropological characters are secondary, developed as adaptational phe-
nomena in a definite specific functional direction.” ?

I have adduced an historical and an anthropological argument for
the fact that Japanese navigation must have reached the Eskimo regions
at Bering Strait. Whether absolutely certain proofs can be produced
at all, especially at the present moment, is, I think, doubtful. Linguistic
proofs can hardly be expected; but one must set one’s hope on the eth-
nographical ones, as previously mentioned, and also on the archeolo-
gical ones 3,

At the present moment my theory as to the influence of Japanese
navigation on the Eskimo is, therefore, only a hypothesis. But yet
I regard the probability as being so great that I do not hesitate to ad-
vance it.

I assume, then, that the Paleeskimo culture in the regions at Bering

1 Soren Hansen, I, p. 194.

* First and Hansen, p. 226.

2 It may be mentioned that the idea of Japanese blood being present in the
Eskimo is very strongly advocated by A. Hampere in his mentioned work.

LITL,. 14

210 H. P. SrEENSBY.

Strait has been exposed to various cultural influences from without,
but*that perhaps the most important source of these influences has been
the Japanese navigation which probably first reached the mentioned
regions well within the centuries of our era, and probably lasted until
the beginning of the 17th century. Here, or probably along practically
the entire west coast of Alaska — possibly right up to Point Barrow —
the Japanese are thought to have carried on whale hunting and
trading, they have set up their booths ashore, and have taken the
Eskimo coast inhabitants into their service, collaterally with carrying
on trade with them.

The result was a mixed race-and the Neoeskimo hybrid culture.
Hereby must be understood an economic hybrid culture. The Japanese

who went to the coast of Alaska have hardly imparted, or have hardly —

been able to impart, cultural elements of a higher nature. If linguistic
matter has been adopted it has certainly taken place in an extremely
small degree. The conditions have probably been to some extent parallel
to those which we know of in Danish Greenland. In spite of 200 years of
missionary work the influence of the Danish language is extremely slight,
and the spiritual influence hardly goes beyond purely religious condi-
tions and ideas. If one imagines the Danes to have carried on trade
and navigation in Greenland without their being missionaries, one has
a parallel to how, as I think, Japanese navigation has influenced
the Paleeskimo round Bering Strait, and refashioned them into what.
I have called Neoeskimo, but which might also, perhaps, be called Mon-
gol-Eskimo, (By the way, the relations between these and the Pale-
eskimo no doubt correspond somewhat as regards anthropology to the
relations between the tribes in North East Asia, for example the Tun-
gooses, who are so strongly stamped by the distinctive Mongol type,
and the so called Paleasiatics). :

In the mentioned case we would in Danish Greenland have had a
Danish-Eskimo hybrid race with an economic culture which had not
adopted any great number of essentially Danish or European imple-
ments and methods of use, but which, on the other hand, had in several
respects allowed itself to be influenced by, or to adopt, some elements
for the improvement of their own culture and technique. But if the
connection ceased one would at once hardly be able to trace the former
presence of Danish influence on language and thought, and after a few
generations the memory of this influence would also have disappeared
or have been enveloped in obscure legends.

Likewise in Alaska with the Japanese. These can be supposed tos
have left behind distinct evidence only in the race-character and in the
economic culture. On the economic side of the culture the whale hunting
and what pertains to it is probably especially in question. Regarding
the house structure, it is possible that the rectangular house (the Point
Barrow type) arose direct as a borrowing from the Japanese, in that

—

—

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 211

these erected their booths in a rectangular form like buildings in Japan
— but of course this whole idea is only a conjecture. For the rest it is
the Eskimo language and way of thinking, the Eskimo dress, and also
the Eskimo mode of living in its entirety which has maintained itself
in the face of the foreign culture and stamped the new culture with a
decidedly Eskimo character.

For the rest I wish to emphasize the fact that I do not assume the
Eskimo to have adopted any great number of essential Japanese im-
plements and methods of use. As regards culture, the influence has had
more of an inciting character, collaterally with the taking place of inter-
breeding. Possibly, however, the traces of relatively high technique
which one encounters with the western Eskimo, i. e., weaving and
pottery, are possibly to be apprehended as originating from the Japanese +.
The Eskimo metal technique has possibly the same origin. The most com-
mon conception is certainly that the Eskimo, when from the North
they had reached down to the regions south of the mouth of the Yukon,
learnt both weaving and pottery from the North-West Indians; but I
am inclined to believe that both Eskimo and North-West Indians have
adopted these accomplishments from Asia; that is directly or indirectly
from Japan, or perhaps other East Asiatic culture lands.

I have already expressed the view that several possessions of cul-
ture of Palzeskimo origin first received their final fashioning in the
regions round Bering Strait and under Neoeskimo conditions of culture.
Amongst other things I have mentioned that possibly only here in this
region has the kayak attained the double paddle and that here, also,
an improved form of the dog sledge probably was adopted. None of
these improvements, and especially not the last mentioned, can, however,
be supposed to have originated from the Japanese, and I state the point
in order to emphasize the fact that it must not be supposed that it was
only the Japanese sailors who influenced the Eskimo in the Bering terri-
tory.

What I suppose to be the case is, that the so-called Neoeskimo
culture and population originated around Bering Strait
through the influence of various neighbouring peoples,
especially of the so-called Pacific Asiatics, and that amongst
these latter it is the Japanese seafarers and fishermen who
have played the most inciting and refashioning réle, even
if, perhaps, they have not yielded the greatest direct con-
tribution to the improvement of the Neoeskimo technique.

Naturally it ought not to be forgotten that the Eskimo have received
some influence from American neighbours, but the really essential in-

1 With regard to weaving at Point Barrow the reader is referred to Murpocu
I, p. 316. Sreransson has lately found most peculiar traces of an old Eskimo
pottery as far east as Langton Bay, east of the mouth of the Mackenzie.
Sreransson, I, pp. 827 sqq.

14*

212 H. P. STeensBy.

fluence has come from Asia. How great an extent the supposed accul-
turation territory, or the domain of direct influence, has had is a great
question in itself, which at the present moment cannot possibly be solved.

From this domain the Eskimo culture in its improved and enriched
form then extended partly to South Alaska as Subarctic Eskimo culture
and partly in a northerly and easterly direction along the coast of the
Arctic Ocean along the old Paleweskimo paths of distribution, where it
had to emphasize the Arctic sides of the economic culture, whereby it
had occasion to improve and enrich the Palzeskimo culture. In a Sub-
arctic direction, to be sure, an increased impetus together with occupation
of new land has taken place on this occasion, but apart from this the

Neoeskimo have no doubt only followed old roads, inasmuch as the —

Paleeskimo probably already had occupied, or at any rate visited, all
the districts which might harbour an Arctic Eskimo culture. As already
stated, the Neoeskimo had easier conditions for their migrations, be-
cause they wandered back along known routes. Added to this is, that
they had a richer and better economic culture, and also that they no
doubt were considerably more numerous. For these reasons one dare
assume that their advance took place somewhat quicker than that of
the Palzeskimo}.

When these migrations of the Neoeskimo commenced, how long they
lasted, and how many surges started from Alaska, are all questions
which cannot be answered with any certainty. A little consideration,
however, seems to show us that the Neoeskimo migrations can only
have taken place within a fixed and rather limited period. When
these migrations began the weak Paleeskimo populations along the
north-coast of America and the Archipelago could scarcely have
formed any barrier to them. Such a barrier was formed, however, as
soon as more powerful and numerous Neoeskimo populations arose
which were able to preserve their hunting-districts against invaders.
Then there was again equilibrium amongst the Eskimo groups, and

* Possibly there are some domains round which the Neoeskimo surge of people
has passed. I could imagine this being the case at Southampton Island in
Hudson Bay. The peculiar, old fashioned Eskimo culture of this island
should therefore be of relatively uninfluenced Paleeskimo origin. On the other
hand there are matters which indicate that the neighbouring Melville Eskimo
are more influenced from the Bering regions than is the case with most of
the other central Eskimo; possibly this has some connection with the walrus
and whale hunting at the Melville Peninsula. For the rest the Neoeskimo in-
fluence in the central districts of the Archipelago seems to have been relatively*
smaller both as regards culture and anthropology, probably because the
Neoeskimo form of economic culture was badly suited to this region. The
Neoeskimo from Alaska were whale hunters besides being seal hunters, and
the access to whale hunting which is lacking in the central Archipelago pro-
bably brought about their wandering, for preference, to more eastern regions,
to which they were allured by the access to whale hunting.

a

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 213

the big migrations had to cease, in any case, for a time. This con-
sideration, however, is quite theoretical; we have no definite observa-
tions or facts to support it.

Some day, however, a more exact knowledge of the history of East
Asia and of Eskimo ethnology and archeology may possibly enable us
to decide the moment when the Neoeskimo migrations began. For
the present I must assume that Japanese navigation can only have
reached Bering Strait about some centuries within our era. The
expeditions to Korea which were so inciting for the development of
Japan’s own culture took place about two centuries after the birth of
Christ, and it is probable, I think, that, furthermore, long periods —
possibly centuries — passed without Japanese ships reaching Bering
Strait and the west coast of Alaska, and some time again before the
Neoeskimo culture and population became developed under the effect
of this and other influences. We then easily arrive in the second half
of the first millenium.

Palzeskimo and Neoeskimo Immigration in Greenland.

One of the few ways in which at the present moment one is able
to form any idea as to the period when the Neoeskimo migrations came
from Alaska is by trying whether, perhaps, one can draw some con-
clusions from the history of the old Scandinavians in Greenland,
and from their concurrence with the Eskimo.

It is well known that the Scandinavians, as early as the end of the
10th century, found that Eskimo had been travelling along the south-
west coast of Greenland. They did not find human beings however,
but only remains of their houses and implements. It appears, however,
that after this the Scandinavians occasionally met small groups of Eskimo
on the south-east coast of Greenland’.

In 1266 the Scandinavians met Eskimo on the west coast, north
of the “Vesterbygd,” and in the following century first the “Vester-
bygd”’ and then the “Eysterbygd”’ were destroyed by obtruding Eskimo.

Thus it was most natural to assume, as also was generally done,
that the Eskimo had come from the north along the west coast of Green-
land. Schultz Lorentzen was the first, however, to propound the
view that the Eskimo in the southern part of the west coast of Greenland
had come from the east coast, south round Cape Farewell. Now Tuat-
BITZER? has lately subjected the Eskimo myth material containing
reminiscences of the old Scandinavians to a methodical investigation,
and, as it seems to me, in a convincing way proved that the old Scandi-
navian “Vesterbygd” in the present district of Godthaab must have

1 Compare the description of THaLsirzer in M.o.G. Vol. 39, p. 691.
2 M.0.G. Vol. 39, pp. 691 sqq.

214 H. P. Steenssy.

been destroyed by Eskimo crowds coming from the north, while the
“Eysterbygd” in the present district of Julianehaab was overwhelmed
by crowds which came from the east coast.

Admitting the correctness of this as well as of my stated views,
there can be no doubt that these Eskimo crowds which advanced both
from the north and from the east represent Neoeskimo. The previously
found traces of small Eskimo groups might perhaps, on the other hand,
be ascribed to Paleeskimo; or they might possibly even be due to Neo-
eskimo hordes of pioneers.

Yet it seems to me most doubtful whether Paleeskimo can have
penetrated down into the Subarctic regions in South Greenland. On
the other hand they have no doubt existed on the northern part of the
west coast in the district of the present Polar Eskimo and from Melville

‘Bay some further south; the old settlements from the stone age in the

interior parts of Disco Bay probably also go back to Palzeskimo times.
Likewise it occurs to-me that the conditions found in the northern part
of the east coast of Greenland by the Danmark Expedition bear witness
to the fact that the north east coast was first inhabited by Palzeskimo,
and that later, and after a good while had elapsed since the first settle-
ment which was probably extinct, a new settlement of immigrating crowds
of Neoeskimo grew up.

The observations made by the ethnographer of the Danmark Ex-
pedition, Cur. Benprx THostrup?, on the basis of the condition of the
objects of culture and specially on the basis of the condition of the re-
mains of houses speak decidedly in favour of this view. I will quote
his observations. “We can distinguish between three different peri-
ods of settlement. Between the oldest and the second period, to
judge from the ruins, there has been a long stretch of time —several
hundred years! But between the second-last and the latest period the
difference in age has not been nearly so great.” Later he declares that
the Eskimo of the third settlement (or third immigration) “can hardly be
said to represent an independent, new immigration, because they only
include a couple of families.”

We have therefore — it seems — in reality two different immigra-
tions to the north-east coast of Greenland. They are distinctive in
time, and they appear with a different stamp as regards economic cul-
ture. On land the oldest immigrants carried on musk-ox hunting on
an extensive scale. The later immigrants have hunted the reindeer,
and on the sea, besides seal hunting, they have also carried on whale
hunting, which one can conclude partly from Thostrup’s observations
that they possessed umiaks and partly from the bones of whales and
whalebone, and also from their apparatus being made ot whalebone.
The later immigrants built the small rectangular houses, whereas the

* THostRup, pp. 335 sqq.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 215

‘remains of the houses of the oldest immigrants were evidently so old
and decayed that it does not seem as if it has been possible to make
sure observations as to their manner and form of building.

One sees that the observations fit in with my theory of a distinc-
tion between Paleeskimo and Neoeskimo. I assume the first immi-
gration to have consisted of Paleeskimo people with their Arctic
economic culture still bearing a strong impress of the continent. The
later immigration has consisted of Neoeskimo who have brought with
them their whale hunting technique. The Paleeskimo have gone north
of Greenland to the east coast. The Neoeskimo have probably gone
both to the north and the south of the country. With their great mobility
both at sea and on the ice they have not been so strongly tied to certain
geographical localities as the Paleeskimo. Their wanderings have taken
place more quickly, and they have resorted to places where there was
good whale hunting. For this reason they have probably preferred the
east coast to the west coast, and the northern part of the east coast to
the southern part.

As to the point of time when this or these Neoeskimo immigrations
took place — the immigration may have happened in several divisions
though within a definite period — Thostrup was evidently inclined to
fix the date too near to the present day. I do not think that — either
on account of the condition of the ruins, or by taking into regard the
former occurrence of the whales so far north — anything can prevent
our assuming that C. Tuostrup’s so called second immigration (i. e.,
the Neoeskimo) may date from the time before and during the 10th—,
13th centuries A. D., or from the middle ages, to which period O. Sox-
BERG, for archeological reasons, dates the settlement on the north-
east coast.

In this way we can see a connection between this settlement on the
north-east coast of Greenland and the final immigration of the Eskimo
to South Greenland and the subsequent annihilation of the “Eyster-
bygd.”’ It is an idea already expressed by Soupere in his foremen-
tioned work!. “In einer oder anderer Weise muss die Besiedelung der
entlegenen und fiir die Eskimo nicht sehr produktiven nordéstlichen
Kiiste in Verbindung stehen mit den Vélkerverschiebungen, die den
Untergang der isliindischen Kolonien verursachten.”

It is of interest that THALBITZER? is opposed to this assumption
and says that he “does not understand why Sorsere is of opinion that
the Eskimo colonization on the north-eastern coast of Greenland must
necessarily stand in indirect connection with the destruction of the
Scandinavian colony on the west coast, ....”’ THALBITzER naturally
thinks of the colonization on the north-east coast of Greenland in its

1 SoLBere, p. 56.
2 M.o0.G., Vol. 39, p. 698. Note 3.

216 H. P. Sreenssy.

entirety since its inception; but Sotsere, who forms his opinion on the
archeological material which he has had at his disposal, really only
speaks about what I call the Neoeskimo colonization. The fact of the
matter is, no doubt, what THosrrup? asserts, viz., that for various
reasons “the objects brought home to museums by expeditions were al-
most exclusively of recent date.” For this reason SoLBERG had to come
to the conclusion that the settlement in North-east Greenland was of
comparatively recent date, and to a certain extent was right in this,
if one only remembers that a somewhat older colonization of a Paleeskimo
nature preceded the colonization which he investigated and spoke about.

The Paleweskimo had a pure stone age culture. On the other hand
the Neoeskimo hybrid culture had an East-Asiatic metal culture to
build upon, and as the migrations took place comparatively quickly,
the knowledge of the metals (copper and iron) carried along from the
point of origin in West Alaska did not lapse from memory, so that it
was possible to manufacture new implements of metal as soon as some
happy opportunity gave access to such material.

This was the case with the native copper from the Coppermine
River at Coronation Gulf, and likewise it was the case with the naturally
occurring iron in Greenland, and also with the iron which possibly, even
in the middle ages, was occasionally obtained from the wrecks of Eu-
ropean ships on the east coast of Greenland. So~Bere has proved that
it is inconceivable that the Eskimo should have resorted to the em-
ployment of natural iron of bad quality if it were not that they had
previously become acquainted with the qualities of wrought iron. But
SoLBeERG could not explain where the Eskimo had learnt the use of iron,
or whence they could have had the form of their implements which they
had to express in stone or bone influenced by a metal technique. It
seems, however, that he was mostly inclined to assume that the know-
ledge was a borrowing from the old Scandinavians in Greenland. Ac-
cording to my theory the matter has another and more natural expla-
nation.

Thus it seems that Greenland, even in a remote past — which
probably means some few millenniums back — has through immigra-
tion from the Archipelago had an ancient population, viz., the, here, so
called Paleeskimo. These people of the stone age with the pronounced
Arctic Eskimo culture probably did not reach further south than, at
the farthest, the innermost parts of Disco Bay on the west coast.
How far south they went along the east coast, it is also difficult to
decide. Here the Arctic conditions of nature extend somewhat further
south, yet one can hardly imagine that the Paleweskimo reached south
of the great indentations (Franz Joseph Land and Scoresby Sound).
On the other hand according to Tuosrrup the house-ruins of the men-

1 Tuostrup, p. 338.

An Anthropogeographical Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 217

tioned group have not yet been observed further south than 75° N. Lat.
on the east coast. The traces of Eskimo which were found on the south-
west coast in the time of Eric the Red ought, then, to be accounted to
the Neoeskimo! who went south round Greenland to the east coast,
whither they were allured by the whale hunting, or where they possibly
retired under the influence of the immigrating Scandinavians in South-
western Greenland.

To this must be added the question of the consequential change
in the climate. On the basis of investigations, the correctness of which
I shall not try to decide, O. Perrerson has recently propounded the
view that Greenland, about 1000 A. D., for a period enjoyed better
climatic conditions with a somewhat higher total temperature, without
the masses of “Storis” along the east and south coasts such as are
now known. This more favourable climate, then, benefited South
Greenland; and the district round the Eysterbygd ought, then, parti-
cularly to have had a temperate climate. This mild period should have
brought about the retirement of the Eskimo to more northern districts ;
but when in the 13th—14th centuries, the climate again deteriorated,
the Eskimo advanced once more.

Whatever may have been the conditions of this, possibly, milder
period and of the supposed cessation of the “Storis” during the first
centuries of the Scandinavian colonization, I believe, in any case, that
the Eskimo advances into South Greenland, and especially the great

1 One is tempted to ask whether they were Palezeskimo or Neoeskimo, whom
the Scandinavians met with on the American coast on their Vineland journey.
The whole of this coincidence is so obscure, however, that one is wise in not
dragging it into the investigation. To this must be added that, from a lite-
rary point of view, the report has possibly been garbled by the admixture
of irrelevant details, in that European incentive has possibly intermingled
with the Saga poetry. As aresult of America having been confounded with
Western Europe such an admixture is supposed, for example, to be contained
in Erik’s Saga, where there is a report of the two Skrelings captured in Mark-
land: ‘‘They*declared, further, that another land lay on the other side right
opposite their own where the people were dressed in white clothes and carried
poles, with small pieces of skin (?) attached to them, and shouted loudly.”
(The translation is from W. Tua.pirzerR, Four Skreling words from Mark-
land (Newfoundland) in the Saga of Erik the Red; Proceedings of the XVIIIth
Internat. Congress of Americanists). I shall not express an opinion about
what must really be understood by Markland, or whether — provided the
mentioned Skrelings really were Eskimo — one can find people within the
sphere of contact with the Eskimo to whom the strange description of the
white clothes and the laps of skin on poles might possibly apply. The
information from the Saga that the Skrelings came in a great quantity of
boats — “trow after row while from all the boats poles were swung,” gives
one the impression that they must have been Neoeskimo, as the description
seems to fit in with kayak paddlers with double paddles, but, as stated,
the problems are here too many and too difficult to allow of my doing
more than to call attention to one or two of them.

218 H. P. Sreenspy.

advances in the 14th century, must be explained with a backward view
to the special development in the economic culture of the Eskimo which
had taken place in the districts round Bering Strait, and had gradually
extended to more eastern regions. Several crowds of these Neoeskimo
have possibly reached Greenland from the Archipelago. Some of them
have gone round the northern point of Greenland and down along the
east coast, while others have gone south across Melville Bay. Some
even seem to have come right down to the southern point, and further
north along the east coast, even before the Scandinavian colonization
began. That there must have been a certain connection between the
west and east coasts of Greenland seems to be evident from certain
cultural congruities which, here, however, I shall not enter upon.

As, then, the Vesterbygd and Eysterbygd were colonized by the Scan- |
dinavians, the presence of these has surely at one time had the effect
of restraining and stopping the Eskimo wanderings. But later on a
certain connection was, possibly, established between the two peoples;
at any rate the wanderings were reassumed. It seems to have happened
as in the case of water which has been dammed up, in that it broke
forth with renewed strength. The Eskimo advanced from north to
south along both the west and the east coasts. Originally this advance
was, no doubt, peaceful; but, as is well known, it led to hostilities, and,
finally, to the destruction of the colonization of the Scandinavians.
It is very difficult to say anything definite about what has been the
real driving factor in the advances. One is probably correct in assuming
that fresh Neoeskimo crowds immigrating into North-east and North-
west Greenland started the movement.

From this presentment of the immigration of the Eskimo into
Greenland one gets, in addition, an explanation of why the Eskimo
type in the more southern districts of Greenland seems to be the most
Mongolian. The explanation of the matter is, I think, that these Eskimo
represent Alaskan Neoeskimo. But as the source of the Neoeskimo
people in Alaska ceased to flow, or at least ceased to be the overwhelming
influence, then it was again the Arctic Archipelago, or the region north
of the Barren Ground Peninsula, which proved to be the most, important
- eentre for Eskimo culture, from where new cultural elements spread
towards the east, the west, and the north-east, and whence new small
groups of Eskimo wandered northwards to Greenland, along the musk-
ox route. Some of these left the stamp of a more Indian type on the
Polar Eskimo and the most northern West Greenlanders. Others went
down along the east coast, and to them may probably be accounted
the “third immigration” of the Danmark Expedition, as also the small~
group which in 1823 was met with on Clavering Island. Probably
some of these groups have reached right down to Angmagsalik,

LIST OF LITERATURE

(In the present list of literature only such works are given as have been directly consulted while writing
this paper. But as regards Greenland all such works are not mentioned. Concerning Greenland the reader is
referred to the previous works of the author; reference can also be made to different bibliographies in M: o.
G., for example to THALBITZER’s in M. 0. G., Vol. 39, pp. 733—741. A Comprehensive bibliography is also
found in Cart M. First and Fr. C. C, HANSEN’S Crania Groenlandica, pp. 27—39 and pp. 233—234).

Aldrich, H. L.: Arctic Alaska and Siberia. Chicago and New York, 1889.
/ Allen, H.T.: Report of an Expedition in the territory of Alaska. Wash., 1887.
Allen, J. A.: History of North American Pinnipeds. Wash., 1880.
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15*

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ee

CONTENTS.

: Page
MIPOMUCIOLY -SECHONS Myce ash Sonn Societe wean vet FGA itl SB EeS Se
' The Eskimo Culture and Theories on its Origin .......................- ( wv )
Mews: Of Inveseatons Bofore-US.2.....c secs cc ccca vies cv evbeuesvneees
Some Geographical Observations on the Eskimo Domain ..............- 64
The Representative Types of the Economic Culture of the Eskimo........ 76
eet EERO Broad SPOS ete SUMO ST a ss acetate Sie LE cap Omer a te Sines 76
Sees SME RT ae I nese a fot. Fc"d e ciaiele ee neaia Vis aininta: PaO auc 81
PO MEE ESET OBL oe Tipe to. oSehis < v S7 owe os Os so lad pa eke aE he 84
Greenland South of Melville Bay........... Sf PR MOA St sot ce Saree Cy Beall
The Eskimo of the Melville Peninsula....................0ccecceeeeevee 99
LSTAELOOTS "5, 4 el oo Reka ecco A a PP eae 106
TMG BrMOTALOUNG: INOUCIELNNC 45 10s ce a ca cos csc ened ole nasbenoeeeeeah « 108
iO ORG. Be GOPONEtION MOSUL 25 (5 < cam ieeehiac cds wale sag ndilv's wlelarcass #6 117
TOS ETE ToS) RUSE UE Ss Sek ae er Re 123
TEE Pe OR ESOLT OUT MODERN rence is Ges 5. eaee SiS 's "os 6 Gish de barnes odd a vier et ote 128
Pe ate EMR NNE ME ANE SL crite onthe fe ia glk "ase wis lacce vad Sawa vs ste car's 132
The Islanders in Bering Strait .. -...........5......006.. Soret oo ek 137
ee ADE Sa eS ae a 3 a ee ea 138
ie ean ane RNR RET EAS SUIS Fe. PR eed ate talabais oS)? o aabhvc Pandas daameeed ee aus 143
aaa IT Ie Foe he 8 Saye sci fe sia sighe'e rete o> aces o> vcarn ! svalamlann vCpainreve ete 146
A Comparison of the different Types of Eskimo Culture ................. GRE
The Eskimo Territory a Unity as regards Communication .............. 152 —
Geographical Adaptation and Pacific-Asiatic Influence................+. 153
Eskimo Summer and Winter Culture.............. 0. ccc ccc teeter ence 156
Is the Arctic or the Subarctic form of Culture the older................ 159

The Home of the Eskimo Culture from an Anthropogeographical point

VOW IMMER E ties tice «ich Sr tier civd vies +s o's aloha v eSeteup eben t Solee ae

From Continental Culture to Coast. Culture.................. cee eee eee 169

A Paleeskimo and a Neoeskimo Layer of Culture................-.-++- 169
The Economic Cultures Adjoining the Eskimo Culture..................... 1y? oe
EPCS OR MAKINO MPOMIN Sy coe ca. hay vice cic ries 4 os se.cs bine axa andiebls + + eee 187
Theory on the Development of Eskimo Culture ........................... 204).

The Continental Area of the Pre-Eskimo..................0- sees eeeee 204

The rise of the Paleeskimo Culture in the Archipelago by new-adaptation 205~

The Neoeskimo Culture a result of foreign influence (acculturation) ..... Q07>

Paleeskimo and Neoeskimo Immigration in Greenland.................. 2138
MADERORNIIREEALUL Ctr Strats big) oaa 7 18, 6'=!6 Sis his Het o0.2 vs seve date way ate eRe ROSS 219

EXPLANATION OF TABLE.

. Ground plan and vertical section of winter _h house from Point

Barrow (after Murpoca).
Ground plan and vertical section of winter house of the Polar
Eskimo (M. 0. G., Vol. 34, pp. 312—13).

Ground plan and vertical section of reconstructed winter house
inter hous

from Scoresby Sound (after RypEr).

Vertical section of winter house from Angmagsalik (after
G. Hom). Si

Ground plan of winter house-in the Mackenzie region (after
Murpocr).

Ground plan of house of the Gilyaks (after ScHRENK).

a pillar; 6 entrance; ¢ house passage; d door; e platform; f corner
innermost in the house, without platform; g fire place.

Medd. om Grénk. LIM. (H.P. Steensby).

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Steensby, Hans Peder
An anthropogeographical

E7S737 study

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