IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V /. A V. 1.0 I.I 11.25 Ifrii^ IIM ^ IIM 150 S 1^ IIIIIM 1.8 U IIIIII.6 Va ^ /} 0% v: i9^ o 7 /A PhotogRiphic Sciences Corporation C 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6t6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modification dans la mithode normaie de filmage sont indiqu^s ci-dessous. □ Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur □ Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pelliculde □ Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque □ Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) □ Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur " □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es □ Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaur6es et/ou pelliculdes ~^ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ !:_] Pages d^colordes, tachetdes ou piqu6es I I Pages detached/ Pages d^tach^es Showthrough/ Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Quality indgale de {'impression D Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents □ Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire D D Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr6e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intdrieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ 11 se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout6es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela 6tait possible, ces pages n'ont pas iti filmdes. D D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 filmdes it nouveau de fa9on A obtenir la meilleure image possible. D Additional comments:/ Commentaires supplimentaires; This item is filnied at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmad hare hat baan raproducad thanks to tha ganarosity of - Library Division Provincial Archives of British Columbia L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grAca A la gin^rositi da: Library Division Provincial Archives of British Columbia Tha imagat appaaring hara ara tha batt quality poasibla considaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and m kavping with tha filming contract apacifications. Las imagas suivantas ont AtA raproduitas avac la plus grand soin, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattatA da l'axamplaira film6, it an conformity avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Original copias in printad papar covars ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad impras- sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All othar original copias ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or illustrated impras- sion, and anding on tha last page with a printad or illustrated impression. Les exemplairas originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimAe sont filmAs an commenpant par la premier plat at en terminant soit par la derniAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par la second plat, selon la cas. Tous las autras exemplaires originaux sont filmAs en commenpant par la premiere paga qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la derniire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain tha symbol -^ (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole -^ signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure ara filmad beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmis A des taux de rMuction different*. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmi A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut an bas, an prenant la nombre d'imagas nAcessaire. Les diagrammas suivants illustrant la mAthode. t 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 lU)j> .7-V t 6' 2 1 THE FIEST LANDING ON WEANGEL ISLAND, WITH SOME REMARKS ON THE NORTHERN INHABITANTS. BY IRVING C. R08SE, M.I). On May 4, 1881, through the courtesy of the Chief of Revenue Marine, Mr. E. W. Clark, I was allowed to take passage from San Francisco, Cal., on board the United States Revenue steamer Corwin, whose destination was Alaska and the northv.est Arctic ocean. The object of the cruise was, in addition to revenue duty, to ascer- tain the fate of two missing whalers and, if possible, to communicate with the Arctic exploring yacht Jean- nette. Our well-found craft made good headway for seven or eight uneventful days of exceptionally fine weather, while the ocean, somewhat deserving the adjective that designates it, displayed its prettiest combinations of blue tints and sunset effects as we steamed through miles of medusidse ; and had it not been for the sight of occa- sional whales and the strange marine birds that character- ize a higher latitude, we should scarcely have known of our approach to the north. Soon, however, we were beset by pelting hail and furious storms of snow and all the dis- comforts of sea life, causing apenlhU navigation in every sense of the term. On May 15 we were somewhat dis- oriented while trying to make a landfall in a blinding snowstorm, and groped about for several hours before 164 First Landing on Wrmu/el Island, with some anchoring under one of the Alp-like cliffs of the Aleutinn islands. •.* -X- * * * * Without going into further details of the ci'uise, I will state that on the previous year live unsuccessful attempts were made by the Corioin to reach Herald island, and that AVrangel island was approached to within about twenty miles. This " problenuitical northern land," the existence of which the Russian Admiral AVrangel reported from accounts of Siberian natives, and which he tried unsuc- cessfully to find ; a land that Captain Kellett, of Her Britannic Majesty's ship Herald, in 1849, thought he saw, but which, under more favorable circumstances of weather and position, was not seen by the l^nitel States ship Vinoenncs ; a land, in fact, that from the foregoing statements and from the imperfect accounts of whale- men we liad begun to regard as a myth, was actually seen ; and T shall never forget the tinge of regret I felt when the necessity of the position obliged the withdrawal of the ship and I took a last lingering look at the ice- bound and unexplored coast, fully realizing at the time the joyous satisfaction that must animate the discoverer and explorer of an unknown land. However, better luck was in store; for Captain Kellett' s discovery was afterwards completed by the Corioin. I now purpose to narrate a few circumstances attending this first landing on Wrangel island, which may be best told by further reference to Herald island. Captain Kellett, the only person known to have landed at the latter place previously to this account, reports that the extent he had to walk over was not more than thirty feet, from which space he scrambled up a short distance ; that with the time I l)ei of wif a IK jun 1 Jiemarkfi on the Northi-rn Inhabitants. 165 tinn will npts that enty tence from .iis\ic- ller ? saw, ?atlier J sliip e^oing wlvale- ctually t I felt idrawal he ice- he time ,coverer tCelletfs loin. I iiuf? this told by llett, the [er place Lt he had )Ti\ which the time t he could spare and liis materials *' the island was perfectly inaccessible." He exi)resses gi'eat disappointment, as from its summit much could have been seen, and all doubts set aside reijarding tlie land he su])posed he saw to westward. An extract fi-om one of Captain De Long's letters, making known his intention to retreat upon the Siberian settle- ments in the event of disaster to the .h'annetti\ says, in re- ference to a ship's being sent to obtain intelligence of him : '* If the ship comes up merely foi- tidings of us let her look for them on the east side of Kellett land and on Herald island." Being in a measure guided by this information, the Corwin made the forementioned places objective points in the search. It was not, however, till after the coal bunkers were rej^lenished with bituminous coal from a seam in the cliff above Cape Lisburne, that an effort was made to reach the ishmd. During the run westward — a distance of 245 miles — the tine weather enabled us to witness some curious freaks of refraction and other odd phenomena for which the high latitudes are so remarkable. On July 30, the tine weather continuing, everybody was correspondingly elate and merry when both Herald and Wrangel islands were sighted from the " cro' -nest " and, as they were neared, apparf^nth^ free from ice. This illusion, however, was soon dispelled. On approaching the land strong tide rips were encountered, and finally the ice, the di-ift of which was shown by the drop of a lead-line to be west-noi'thwest. We steamed through about fifteen ndles of this ice before being stopped, less than half a mile from the southeast end of the island by the fixed ice, to which the ship was secured with a kedge. We got off, and after considerable climbing and scrambling up and down immense hummocks, and juni]nng a number of crevices, finally set foot on the land 163321 KiG First LaiidiiKj on WrpitoK(i, L. var. Arclkn. Aloiwcuni.i alpinua. Smith. T made a collection of several spiders and of some larva*. The spider, it appears, is an "undescribed species of Eri- be won- lape of the he latter it rd the Cor- ng the Es- i Professor » because of ving lately ich to base 3ct various n with Dr. il compared the hair of indeer hair J extremity id" whale. \ made but 'e extended [ venture to tnple oppor- 1 the Ethno- ther observe lis belief or ions of the L of noxious habi*^ ''on. Whatever modification the bodily structure of the Eskimo may have undergone under the influence of physical and moral causes, when viewed in the light of transcendental anatomy, we iind that the mode, plan, or model upon which his animal frame and organs are founded is substaullally that of other varieties of men. Some writers go so far, in speaking of the Eskimo's cor- respondence, mental and physical, to his surroundings as to mention the seal as his correlative, which, in my opinion, is about as sensible as speaking of the reciprocal relations of a Cincinnati man and a hog. Unlike the seal, which is preeminently an amphibian and a swimmer, the Eskimo has no physical capability of the latter kind, being unable to swim and having the greatest aversion to water except for purposes of navigation. He wins our admiration from the expert management at sea of his little shuttle-shaped canoe, which is a kind of marine bicycle, but I doubt very much the somersaults he is reported to be able to turn in them. In fact, after offering rewards of that all-powerful incentive, tobacco, on numerous occasions, I have been un- successful in getting any one of them to attempt the feat, and when told that we had heard of their doing it they smiled rather incredulously. The Eskimo are clearly not successes in a cubistic or saltatorial line, as 1 have had amjile opportunities to observe. They seem to be unable to do the simplest gymnastics, and were filled with the greatest delight and ast(mishnient at some exhibitions we gave them on several occasions. Receiving a challenge to run a foot- race with an Eskimo, I came off easy winner, although I was liandicapi)ed by being out of condition at the time ; a challenge to throw stones also resulted in the same kind of \ ictory ; I shouldered and carried some logs of driftwood Hi! / 1 I 178 First Lancling on Wranr/cl Mand, witJi some I : '! ! : . i that none of them coult^ lift, and on another occasion the captain and I demonstrated the physical superiority of the An^lo-Saxon by throwing a walrus lance several lengths farther than any of the Eskimo who had provoked the competition. As a nile they are deficient in biceps, and have not the well-developed muscles of athletic white men. The best muscular development I saw w\as among the natives of Saint Lawrence island, who, bv the wav, showed me a spot in a village where they practiced athletic sports, one of these diversions being lifting and "putting" heavy stones, and I have frankly to acknowledge that a young Eskimo got the better of me in a competition of this kind. It is fair to assume that one reason for this physical supe- riority was the inexorable law of the survival of the fittest, the natives in question being the survivors of a recent pre- vailing epidemic and famine. ESKIMO Al'PETITES. As far as my experience goes the Eskimo have not the enormous appetites with wiiich tliey are iisually accredited. The Eskimo who accompanied Lieutenant May, of the Nares Expedition, on his sledge journey, is reported to have been a small eater, and the only case of scurvv, by the wav: several Eskimo who were employed on board the Carwin as dog-drivers and interpreters were as a rule smaller eaters than our own men, and I have observed on numerous occa- sions among the Eskimo I have visited, that instead of being great gluttons, they are, on the contrary, moderate eaters. It is, perhaps, the revolting character of their food— rancid oil, a tray of hot seal entrails, a bowl of coagulated blood, for example— that causes overestimation of the quantity eaten. Persons in wliom nausea and dis- some liemarks on the NortJiern Inlahitants. 179 :)coasion tLe ority of the ?ra] lengths ovoked the biceps, and white men. among the vay, showed letic sports, ing" heavy at a young f this kind . ysical supe- f the fittest, I recent pre- ave not the ; accredited, of the Nares o have been >y the way ; le Corioin as laller eaters iierous occa- t instead of •y, moderate ter of their a bowl of erestimation sea and dis- gnst are awakened at tripe, putrid game, or moldy and maggotty cheese afl'ected by so-called ei)icures, not to men- tion the bad oysters which George I. preferred to fresh ones, would doubtless be prejudiced and incorrect observers as to the quantity of food an Eskimo might consume. P^rom some acquaintance with the subject I therefore venture to say that the popular notion regarding the great appetite of the Eskimo is one of the current fallacies. The reported cases were probably exceptional ones, happening in subjects who liad been exercising and living on little else than frozen air for j^erhaps a week. Any vigorous man in the prime of life who has been shooting all day in the sharp, crisp air of the Arctic will be surprised at his gastronomic capabilities ; and personal knowledge of some almost in- credible instances amongst civilized men might be related, were it not for fear of being accused of transcending the bounds of veracity. OKIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. There is so much about certain parts of Alaska to remind one of Scotland that we wonder why some of the more southern Eskimo have not the intrepidity and vigor of Scotchmen, since they live under almost the same topo- graphical conditions amid fogs and misty hills. Perhai)s if they were fed on oatmeal, and could be nuide to adopt a few of the Scotch manners and customs, religious and otherwise, they might, after infinite ages of evolution, develop some of the qualities of that excellent race. It is probably not so very many generations ago that our British progenitors were like these original and primitive men as we find them in the vicinity of Bering straits. Here the mind is taken back over centuries, and one is able to ■v« 1 ■ t. 180 First Landing on Wr angel Island, with some study the link of transition between the primitive men of the two continents at the spot where their geograpical rela- tions lead us to susj)e('t it. Indeed, the primitive man nuiy be seen just as he was thousands of years ago by visiting the village perched like the eyry of some wild bird about 200 feet up the side of the cliff at East cape, on the Asiatic side of the straits. This bold, rocky cliff, rising sheer from the sea to the height of 2,100 feet, consists of granite, with lava here and there, and the indications point to the overflow of a vast ice sheet from the north, evidences of which are seen in the trend of the ridges on the top, and the form of the narro'v peninsula joining the cliff to the mainland. From the summit of the cape the Diomedes, Fairway Rock, nnd the American coast are so easily seen that the view on'-e taken would dispel any doubts as to the possibility of the aboriginal denizens of America having crossed over from Asia, and it would require no such state- n\ent to corroborate the opinion as that of an officer of the Hudson Bay Company, then resident in Ungava bay, who relates that in 1839 an Eskimo family crossed to Labrador from the northern tjhore of Hudson's straits on a raft of driftwood. Natives cross and recross Bering straits to-day on the ice and in primitive skin canoes, not unlike Cape Cod dories, which have not been improved in con- struction since the days of pi-ehistoric num. Indeed, the l)rimitive man may be seen at East cape almost as he was thousands of years ago. Evolution and development, with the exception of firearms, seem to have halted at East cape. The place, with its cave-like ilwellings and skin- clad inhabitants, among whom the presence of white men creates the same excitement as the advent of a circus among the colored population of Washington, makes one I i % some iiitive men of i?rapical rela- ive man may by visiting 1 })ii'd about n tlie Asiatic risin<; sheer ts of granite, point to the evidences of the top, and 3 cliif to the e Diomedes, easily seen ibts as to the erica having o sucli state- officer of the va bay, who to Labrador on a raft Bring straits 1, not unlike ved in con- Indeed, the ^t as he was pment, with ted at East s and skin- white men of a circus makes one RemarJiS on the Nortliern, Inlinhliants. 181 fancy that he is in some grand i)rehistoric museum, and that lie has gone backward in time several tliousand years in order to get there. While we m;iy do something towards tracing the eifects of i)hysical agents on the Eskimo back into the darkness that antedates history, yet his geograi)hical origin and his anti([uity are things concerning which we know but little. Being subjects of first-class interest, deserving of grave study and so vast in themselves, the} cannot l)e touched ii])on here except incidentally. Attempting to study tliem is like following the labvrinthal ice mazes of the Arctic in quest of the North Pole. We nuiy, however, venture the assertion that the Eskimo is of autocthouic origin in Asia, but is not autoctlionous in .;_ America. His arrival there and subsecpient migrations are ^ beyond the reach of history or tradition. Others, though, ('(mtend from the analogy of some of the western tribes of Brazil, who are identical in feature to the Chinese, that the Eskimo may have come from South America ; and the ; fashion of wearing labrets, which is common to the indig- enous population both of Chili and Alaska, has been cited as a further proof . Touching the subject of early migrations, Mr. Charles Wolcott Brooks, whose sources of information at comnuind :^ liave been exceptionally good, reports in a paper to tlie "':-: California Academy of Sciences a record of sixty Japanese junks which were blown off the coast and by the influence of the Kuro-Shiwo were drifted or stranded on the coast of ■ North America, or on the Hawaiian or adjacent islands. I As merchant ships and ships of war are known to have been built in Japan prior to the Christian era, a great number of disabled junks containing snuill parties of Japanese must r 182 Fir.st LdiiduKj oit Wranffd Island, with some have been stranded on flie Aleutian islands and on the Alaskan coast in past<'enlni'ies, thereby furnishing evidence of a constant infusion of Japanese blood among the coast tribes. Leaving aside any attempt to show the ethnical relations of these facts, the question natui'ally occurs whether any of tliese waifs ever found their way back from the American coast. On observing the conrse of the great circle of the Kuro-Shiwo and the course of the trade winds, one inclines to the belief that such a thing is not beyond the range of possibility. Indeed, several well-authenticated instances are mentioned by Mr. Brooks ; and in connection with the subject he advances a further liypothesis, namely, the Ame- rican origin of the Chinese race, and shows in a plausil)le way that — 'Jhe ancestry of China may have embarked in large vest-els as emigrants, perhaps from the vicinity of the Cliincha Islands, or proceeded with a large fleet, lilie the early Chinese expedition against .Japan, or that of .Julius Cajsar against Britain, or the Welsh Prince Madog and his party, who sailed from Ireland and landed in America A. D. 1170; and, in like manner, in the dateless anti'cedure of history, crossed from the neighborhood of Peru to the country now known to us as China. If America be the oldest continent, paleontologically spetiking, as Agassiz tells us, there appears to be some reason for looking to it as the spot where etirly traces of the race are to be found, and the fact would seem to war- rant further study and investigation in connec^tion with the indigenous people of our continent, thereby awakening new sources of inquiry among ethnologists. LINtJl ISTIC PECULIAKITIES. The sienite plummet from San Joaquin Valley, Califor- nia, goes back to the distant age of the Drift ; and the 'i .some Jinnnrkx on the Xortlicni Iiih(ihifntologically to be some rly traces of 3em to war- ion with the awakening ley, Califor- ft : and the Calaveras skull, admitting its authenticity, goes back to the Pliocene epoch, and is older than the relics or stone implements from tlie drift gravel and the ?j>iropean caves. It is dou])tful, though, whether these data enable us to make generalizations equal in value to those afforded by the study of vocabidaries. It is alleged that linguistic affinities exist between some of the tribes of the American coast and our Oriental neighbors across the Pacific. Mr. Brooks, whom I have already quoted, reports that in March, 1860, he took an Indian l)oy on board the Japanese steam corvette Ka7iri)i-niaru, where a comparison of Coast- Indian and pure Japanese was made at his request by Funkuzawa Ukitchy, then Admiral's secretary ; the result of which he prepared for the press and published with a view to suggesting further linguistic investigations. He says that quite an infusion of Japanese words is found among some of the Coast tribes of Oregon and California, either pure or clipped, along with some very peculiar Japanese "idioms, constructions, honorific, separative, and agglutinative particles" ; that shipwrecked Japanese are invariably enabled to communicate understandingly with the Coast Indians, although speaking quite a different lan- guage, and that many shipwrecked Japanese have informed him that they were enabled to communicate with and understand the natives of Atka and Adakh islands of the Aleutian group. With a view to finding out whether any linguistic affin- ity existed between Japanese and the Eskimo dialects in the vicinity of Bering straits, I caused several Japanese boys, employed as servants on board the Cor win, to talk on numerous occasions to the natives both of the American a,nd Asiatic coasts ; but in every instance they Avere unable ^ 184 Firfif Ijonff/iif/ on Wntiujii Ishmd, irt'f/t some to muUTstaiid tlu' Ksklnio, nnd nssurod me that they could not detect Ji ,sinlenty, while on the Siberian coast it is "Nuni-kuck-ct>." "Tee-tee-tali" means needles in Siberia, in Alaska it is *'mitkin." In the latter place wlu^r asking for tobacco they say " te-ba-midi," while the Asiatics say "saloi)a." That a number of dudects exists around Bering straits is appai'ent to the most superficial observer. The difference in the language becomes apparent after leaving Norton sound. The interpretei- we took from Saint Michael's could only with difficulty untlerstand the natives at Point Bar- row, while at Saint Lawrence island and on tlie Asiatic side he coidd understand nothing at all. At East cape we saw natives who, thougli ai)]iarently alike, did not understand each other's language. I saw the same thing at (Ja])e Prince of Wales, tlie western extrennty of the New World, whither a nund)er of Eskimo from tlie Wankarem river, Siberia, had come to trade. Doubtless there is a commun- ity of origin in the PiSkimo tongue, and these verbal diverg- encies may be owing to the want of written records to aive fixity to the language, since languages reseml)le living organisms by being in a state of continiud change. Be that as it may, we know that this people has imported a number of woi'ds from coming in contact with another language, just as the French have incorporated into their speech "le steppeur," 'Toutsider," ''le liigh life," "le steeple i'hase." "le jockey club." etc. — words that have no cor- relatives in French — so the Eskimo has ap])ropriated from the whalers words wliich, as verbal expressions of his idea- on, are undoubtedly better than anything in his own 186 Firs/ Landing on Wrangcl Island, with some tongue One of these is "'bv and bv," which he uses with the same frequency that a Spaniard does his favorite manana par la nutnano. In this instance the words ex- press the state of development and habits of thought — one the lazy improvidence of the P]skimo, and the other the *' to-morrow'" of the Spaniard, who has indulged that propensity so far that his nation has become one of yester- day. The change of the Eskimo language brought about by its coming in contact with another forms an important element in its history, and has been mentioned by tlie older writers, also by Gilder, who reports a change in the language of the Iwillik Eskimo to have taken place since the advent among them of the white men. Among other peculiarities of their phraseology occurs the word "tanuk," signifying whiskey, aad it is said to have originated with an. old Eskimo employed by Moore as a guide and dog-driver when he wintered in Plover bay. Every day about noon that per- sonage was in the habit of taking his appetizer and usually said to the Eskimo, "Come, Joe, let's take our tonic." Like most of his coimtrymen, Joe was not slow to learn the meaning of the word, and to this day the tii-m hold " tanuk" has on the language is only equalled by the thirst for the fluid which the name implies. Among the Asiatic Eskimo the word " um-muck" is common for " rum," while " em-mik " means water. Even words brought by whalers from the South Sea islands have obtained a footing, such as "kow-kow" for food, a word in general use, and "pow'* for " no," or "not any." They also call their babies " pick- a-nee-nee," which to many perpons will suggest the Spanish word or the Southern negro idiom for ' ' baby." The phras( " pick-a-nee-nee kowkow" is the usual formula in begging 1 li some he uses with his favorite he words ex- hoiight— one he other the idulged that )ne of yester- Remarkfi on tlie Xortheni Inhabitants. 187 r about by its tant element older writers, nf^uage of the advent among irities of their ying whiskey, I. old Eskimo 'iver when he loon that per- er and usually ie our tonic." ow to learn the the tirm hold ed by the thirst )ng the Asiatic '"rum," while ght by whalers a footing, such se, and^'pow" r babies ''pick- ;est the Spanish ." Thephras( nula in begging food for their children. An Eskimo, having sold us a rein- deer, said it would be "mazinkah kow-kow" (good eating), and one windy day we were hauling the seine, and an Eskimo seeing its empty condition when pulled on to the beach, said, "'Pow' hsh ; binjeby 'pow' wind, plenty fish." The fluency with which some of these fellows speak a mixture of jiigeon English and whaleman's jargon is quite astonishing, and suggests the query whetlier their fluency results from the aggressiveness of the English or is it an evidence of their aptitude •' It seems wonderful how a l)eople we are accustomed to look upon as ignorant, be- nighted and undeveloped, can learn to talk English with a certain degree of fluency and intelligibility from the short intercourse held once a yc;'.r with a few passing ships. How many "hoodlums" in San Francisco, for instance, learn anything of Norwegian or German from frequenting the wharves '. How many * ' wharf rats ' ' or stevedort s in New York learn anything of these languages from similar inter- course 'i Or, for that matter, we may ask. How many New York pilots have acquired even the smallest modicum of Fren'h from boarding the steamers of the Compagnie Clenerale Transatlantique ? F)om a few examples it will be seen that the usage fol- lowed by the Eskimo in its grammatical variations rests on th«* fixity of the radical syllable and upon the agglomeration of vhe dift'erent particles intended to modify the primitive sense of this root, that is to say upon the principle of agghitinative languages. One or two instances may suffice to sliow the agglutinate character of the language. Canoe is "o-ine-uk;" ship " o-me-uk-puk ; " steamer "o-me-uk- puk-ignelik ; " and this composite mechanical structure \\ :l 1 188 Fhst Landinff on Wrcmgel Island, with some reaches its cliiuax in steaiii-ljiiinoli, which they call "o-me- uk-puk-i^nielik-pick-a-nee-nee.''' For snow and ice in their various forms there are also many words which show further the jiolysynthetic structure of the language— a fact contrary to that primitive condition of speech where there are 'no inflections to indicate the rela- tions of the words to each other. It will not do to omit " 0-kee-chuck " from this enumeration—a word signifying trade, barter, or sale, and one most conmionly heard among these people. When they wish to say a thing is bad they use -^ A-shu-ruk," and when disapproval is meant they say "•pe-chuk." The latter word also expresses general nega- tion. For instance, on looking into several unoccupied houses a native informs us "Innuitpechuk," meaning that the people are away oi- not at home; "Allopar" is cold, and "allopar pechnk" is hot. Persons fond of tracing resemblances may And in "Ignik" (fire) a similarity to the Latin 'hju'is or the English "ignite." and from "Un-gi doo- ruk " (big, huge) the transition down to "hunky-dory"' is easy. Those who see a sort of compleniental relation to each other of linguistic affinity and the conformity in piiy- sical characters may infer from "Mikey-doo-rook" (a term of endearment equivalent to "Mavourneen" and used in addressing little children) that the inhabitants within the Polar Circle have something of tlie Emerald Isle aboii.t them. But no, they are not Irish, for when they are about to leave the ship or any othei' place for their houses they say "to hum" ; consequently they are Yankees. I do not wish to be thought frivolous in my notions re- garding the noble science of pliilology ; but when one con- siders the changes that language is constantly undergoing, the inal)ility of the human voice to articulate more than tw in tri de R( P< '/ some Remarks on the Nortliern InJi'^th Hants. 189 call "o-me- ere are also tic structure ve conditioi\ ate the rela- t do to omit d signifyiui;- leard anion*;- is bad they [int they say ?neral nega- unoccupied iieaningthat ir" is cold, of tracing larity to the "Un-gi doo- mky-dory "' 1 relation to lity in phy- 3k" (a term ind used in within the Isle about y are about louses they s. notions re- en (me con- 7i(lergoing, more tliau twenty distinct sounds, and the wonderful amount of Ipngenious learning that has been wasted by philologists on triHing subjects, one is disposed to associate many of their deductions with the savage picture-writing on Dighton Jlock, the Cardiff (riant, and the old wind-mill at New- port. ESKIMO DIKTETICS. Attempts to trace or discover the origin of races through supposed philological analogies do not possess the advan- tage of certainty afforded by the study of the means by which individuals of the race supply the continuous de- mands of the body with the nutriment necessary to main- tain life and health. Everybody has heard of the seal, bear, walrus, and w hale in connection with Eskimo dietetics, and doubtless the stomachs of nu)st persons would revolt at the idea of eating tliese animals, the taste for which, by the way, is merely a matter of early education or individual preference, foi' tliere is no good reason why they should not be just as jtalatable to the northern appetite as pig, sheep, and beef ai-e to the inhabitants of temperate latitudes. As food tliey renew the nitrogenous tissues, reconstruct the parts and restore the functions of the Eskimo frame, prolong his existence, and produce the same animal contentment and joy as the more civilized viands of the white man's table. There are more palatable things than bear or eider duck, yet T know many persons to whom snails, olive oib and pate de fois rjras are more repugnant. A tray full of hot seal entrails, a bowl of coagulated blood, and ])utri(1 fish are not very inviting or lickerish to ordinary mortals, yet rliey have their analogue in the dish of some farmers who eat a jireparation of pig's bowels known as "chitterlings," ;i X f i li»(» First Landinff on Wmuffd Maud, with some and in the blood-puddings and Limburger cheese of the Cxermans. Blubber-oil and whale are not very dainty dishes, yet consider how many families subsist on half- baked saleratus biscuits, suited pork, and oleomargarine. On the mess table of the Fur Company's -establishment at St. Paul island, seal meat is a daily article of consump- tion, and from personal experience I can testify as to its palatability, although it reminded one of indifferent beef rather overdone. Hair seal and bear steaks were on differ- ent occasions tried at the mess on board the Corwin, but everybody voted eider duck and reindeer the preference. It is not so very long since that whale was a favorite article of diet in England and Holland, and Arctic whalemen still, to my personal knowledge, use the freshly tried oil in cooking ; for instance in frying cakes, for which they say it answers the purpose as well as the finest lard, while others breakfast on whale and potatoes prepared after the manner of codfish balls. The whale I have tasted is rather insipid eating, yet it appears to be highly nutritious, judg- ing from the well-nourished look of natives who have lived on it, and the air of greasy abundance and happy content- ment that pervades an Eskimo village just after the capture of a whale. Being ashore one day with our pilot, we met a native woman whom he recognized as a former acquaint- ance, and on remarking to her that she had picked up in ffesh since he last saw her, she replied that she had been living on a whale all the Winter, which explained her l)lumpness. It must not be supposed, however, that the whale, seal and walrus constitute the entire food supply of the Arctic. There is scarcely any more toothsome delicacy than rein- deer, the tongue of which is very dainty and succulent. I some Memarl's on the Northern Inhaliiiants. 191 leese of the very dainty list on half- 'omargarine. ^tablishment of consump- if y as to its ifferent beef 3re on ditfer- Corwin, but ; preference, v'orite article alemen still, tried oil in ich they say lard, while red after the ted is rather itioiis, judg- lo have lived ppy content- r the capture jilot, we met ler ac quaint - picked up in ihe had been >cplained her e whale, seal )f the Arctic. y than rein- id succulent. i'There is one peculiarity about its flesh — in order to have !|it in perfection it must be' eaten very soon after being killed ; the sooner the better, for it deteriorates in flavor the longer it is kept. Indeed, the Eskimo do not wait for the animal heat to leave the carcass, as they eat the brains jind paunch hot and smoking. While our gastronomic enthusiasm did not extend this far, we dined occasionally on fresh trout from a Siberian mountain lake, young wild ducks as fat as squabs, and reindeer, any of which delicacies could not be had in the same perfection at Delmonico's or any similar establish- n'.ent in New York for love or money. There is scarcely any better eating in the way of flsli than cortijonna — a new species discovered at Point Barrow by the Co: win — and ' certainly no more dainty game exists than the young wild geese and ptarmigan to be found in countless numbers in Hotham inlet. At the latter place, doubtless the warmest inside the straits, are found quantities of cranberries about the size of a pea, which not only make a delicious acces- sory to roasted goose, but act as a valuable antiscorbutic. These berries and a kind of kelp, which I have seen Eskimo eating at Tapkan, Siberia, seem to be the only veg- etable food they have. The large quantities of eggs easily procurable, but in most cases doubtful, also constitute a standard article of diet among these people, who have no scruples about eating them partly hatched. They seemed never to comprehend our fastidiousness in the matter and why our tastes differed so much from theirs in this respect. They will break an egg containing an embryonic duck or goose, extract the bii'd by one leg and devour it with all the relish of an epicure. Gull's eggs, however, are in dis- repute among them, for the women — who, by the way, „-!:a i I 192 First Lanfling on Wraiufd Isla>i(7, with some liave the same fi'ailties and weaknesses as tlieir more civil- ized sisters— believe that eatini? ^-idl's eggs causes loss of beauty and brings on early decrepitude. The men, on the other hand, are fond of seal eyes, a tid-bit which the women believe increases their amorousness, and feed to their lords after the manner o'i "Open your mouth and shut yjur eyes." (lame is, as a rule, very tame, and during the moulting season, when the geese are unable to tly, it is quite possi- ble to kill them with a stick. At one place, Cape Thomp- son, Eskimo were seen catching birds from a high clilf with a kind of scoop-net, and I saw birds at Herald island refuse to move when pelted with stones, so unaccustomed were they to the presence of man. In addition to being very tame, game is plentiful, and it is not uncommon, oif the Siberian coast, to see flocks of eider ducks dark- ening the air and occupying several hours in passing over- head. It was novel sport to see the natives throw a pro- jectile known as an "apluketat" into (me of these flocks with astonisliing range and accuracy. l)ringing down the game with the effectiveness of a shotgun. Game keeps so well in the Ai-ctic that an instance is known of its being perfectly sweet and sound on an Kng- lish sliip after two years' keeping, and whalemen kill a number of pigs, which they hang in the rigging and kee]) for use during the cruise. It is also noticeable that leather articles do not nuldew as they generally do at sea, some shoes kept in a locker on board the (Jonoin having retained their polisii during the entire cruise. The food of the Eskimo satisfies tlieir instinctive craving for a hydrocarbon, but they do not allow themselves to be much disturbed or distracted in its preparation, as most of some Remnrl's on the Northeni Inhabitants. 193 more civil- ises loss of len, on the which the nd feed to Tioiith and ; moultinu- [uite possi- pe Thonip- h cliff with ahl island Lccustomed ^n to being mconiiuon, licks dark- ssing over- irow a pro- lese Hocks down the instance is on an Eng- nen kill a and kee]) hat leather sea, some ig retained ive craving elves to be as most of it is eaten raw. They occasionally boil their food, how- [ever, and sv)me of them have learned the use of Hour and [molasses, of which they are very fond. Their aversion to salt is a very marked peculiarity, and [they will not eat either corned beef or pork on this account. [It may be that physiological reasons exist for this dislike. SOCIAL AM) DOMESTIC HELATIOXS. Omitting other ethnograi)hic facts relative to the Eslvimo, which might be treated in a systematic way except for tlieii' triteness, we pass from the means of the renewal of the animal economy to its reproduction. Courtship and mar- riage, which, it is said, are conducted in the most unsenti- mental manner possible, are for that reason not to be dis- [ cussed ; and for obvious reasons many of the prenatal 'conditions cannot here be dwelt upon. Having never wit- nessed the act of parturition in an Eskimo my knowledge of the subject is merely second-hand, and consequently not worth detailing. It appears, though, that parturition is a function easily i)erformed among them, and that it is un- attended by the post-partum accidents common to civiliza- tion. As a i-ule the wf)men are unprolitic, it being uncom- [mon to find a family numbering over three children, and the mortality among the new-born is excessive, owing to [the ignorance and neglect of the ordinary rules of hygiene. JThey seem, however, to be kind to their children, who in respect to crying do not show the same peevishness as seen in our nurseries ; indeed, the so(?ial and demonstrative .good natui'f; of the race seems to crop out even in babyhood, as \\ have often witnessed undei' such circumstances as a baby enveloped in furs in a skin canoe which lay along side the shij) during a snowstorm ; its tiny hands protruding held I'. i i V 194 First LandiiHj on WnDujd Mmtd, with some a piece of blubber, which it sucked with apparent relish, tlie unique pictr v" of happy contentment. It was quick to feel itself an object of attraction, and its chubby face returne(i any number of smiles of recognition. The manner of carryinj,^ the infant is contrary to that of civilized custom. It is borne on the back under the clothes of the mother, which form a pouch, and from which its tiny head is f^enerally visible over one or the other shoulder, but on being observed by strangers it shrinks like a snail or a marsupian into its snug retreat. When the mother wants to remove it she bends forward, at the same time passing her left hand up the back under her garments, and seizing the child by the feet, pulls it downward to the left ; then, passing the right hand under the front of the dress, she again seizes the feet and extracts it by a kind of podalic delivery. Another common way of carrying children is astride the neck. The subject is one that the Chucki artist often carves in ivory. The play impulse manifests itself among these people in various ways. They have such mimetic objects as dolls, miniature boats, etc. I have seen a group of boys, sailing toy boats in a pond, behave under the circumstances just as a similar group has been observed to do at Province- town, Cape Cod, and the same act. as performed in the Frog Pond of the Boston Common, may be called only a differentiated form of the same tendency. Their dolls, of ivory and clothed with fur, seem to answer the same pur- pose that they do in civilized communities— namely, the amusement of little girls— for at one place where we landed a number of Eskimo girls, stopping play on our approach, sat their dolls up in a row, evidently with a view to giving the dolls a better look at the strange visitors. Spinning li some liemarks on the Xoitheni Inh ah Hants. 19r) arent relisli, was quick to cliubby face ry to that of r the clothes )m which its ler sliouldei-. s like a snail I the mother le same time arments, and d to the left ; of the dress, nd of podalic i, children is Chucki artist ese people in icts as dolls, boys, sailing iistances just at Province - rmed in the •ailed only a leir dolls, of he same pur- namely, the re we landed Lir approach, ew to giving Spinning tops, essentially Eskimo and unique in their character, are held in the hand while spinning ; on the Siberian coast foot- mil is played, and among other questionable things icquired from contact with the whalemen, a knowledge of card-playing exists. We were very often asked for cards, iind at one place where we stopped and bartered a number )f small articles with the natives they gave evidence of Itheir aptitude at gaming. The game being started, with |the bartered articles as stakes, one fellow soon scooped in everything, leaving the others to go off dead-broke, amid Ithe ridicule of some of C Fhfit Landifif/ on Wranffd Island, with some, (temian writers, the luntter of tsittoo-injirks has of lute (•laiined the attention of the law courts of Enir tlndin<; that the defenthint Avas not and could not be Ro.ii'er Tichbourne, >vhei"eupon the alleged clainumt was jn-oved to be an inipos- i i; li ! Style of personal ornamentation adopted l)y the women of Saint Lawrence island. 11 Reiiiarks on the Northern fiihat)ltants. 197 tor, found guilty of perjury, iind Mentenced to penal seivi- tude.* Why the ancient habit of tattooing should prevail so ex- tensively among' some of the primitive tribes as it does, for instance, in the Polynesian islands and some parts of .Iai)an, and we nuiy say as a survival of a su])erstitious practice of paganism among sailors and others, is a ])sycliolog- i<'al prol)lem difficult to solve. Whether it l)e owing to perversi(m of the sexual instinct, which is not unlikely, or to other cause, it is not proposed to discuss. Be that as it nuiy, the prevalence of the habit among the Eskimo is con- fined to the female sex, who are tattooed on arriving at the age of puberty. The women of Saint Lawience island, in addition to lines on the nose, forehead and chin, have uni- formly a Kgure of strange design on the cheeks, which is stiggestive of cabalistic import. It could not be ascertaineil, liowever, whether such is the case. The lines drawn on the chin were exactly like the ones I have seen on Moorish women in Morocco. Another outlandish attempt at adorn- ment was witnessed at Cape Blossom in a wcmian who wore a bunch of colored beads suspended from the septum of her nose. These habits, however, hardly seem so revolting as the use of the labret by the ''Mazinka" men on the American (X)ast, of whom it is related that a sailor seeing one of them for the first time, and observing the slit in the lower lip through which the native thrust his tongue, thought he had discovered a man with two mouths. The use of the labret, like many of the attempts at primitive oi-na mentation, is very old, its use having been traced^ l)y Dall along the American coast from the lower part of Chili *Sec! Guy's Hospital Report. XIX, 1874 ; also " llistoiru MhUcuIc (hi Tatou- age," in Ardiives de Mwiecine Navale, Tom. 11 and 12, Paris, lS(i!). OH First LandiiKj on WntiKjrJ Jshnnl. irUli st.nic to Alaska. Persons fond of tijicinii- vt'sriijes of savage ornamentation amid intellectual advancement and aesthetic sensibility far in advance of the i)rimitive man, may observe in the wearers of l)angles and earrings tlie same tendency existing in a differentiated form. oi ai SI DIVKKSIONS. I doubt whether Sliakesi)eare's dictum in regard to music hohls good when a])])]ied to the Eskimo, for they have but little music in their souls, and anumg no ])eoi)le is there such a noticeable absence of " treason, stratagem and spoil." A rude drum and a monotonous chant, consisting onlv of the fundamental note and minor third, are the on^ .lings in the way of music among the more remote se*^ ^ments of which I have any knowledge. Mrs. Ml .^oer's singing has been described as the table-beer of acoustics. Piskimo singing is something more. The beer has become fiat by the addition of ice. One of our engineers, who is quite a tiddler, experimented on his instrument with a view to seeing what effect music would have on the "savage breast," but his best efforts at rendering " Madame Angot " Jind the " (Irande Duchesse " were wasted before an unsym- pathetic audience, who showed as little appreciation of his performance as some people do when listening to Wagner's " Music of the Future." Where they have come in contact with civilization their musical taste is more developed. At Saint Michael's I was told that some of their songs are so characteristic that it is much to be regretted that some of them cannot be bottled up in a phonograph and sent to a musical composer. On the coast of Siberia I heard an Eskimo boy sing correctly a song he had learned while on board a whaling vessel, and B Hi-m(irlk.s on thv Xinil,rni lnhuhHant>i. 199 on .several of the Aleiilian islands the natives phiy the aceordeon quite well ; have nmsic-boxes, and even whistle strains from " Pinafore." From music to dancinj? the transition is obvious, no mat- ter whether the latter be regarded in a Darwinian sense as a device to attract the opjjosite sex or as the expression of joyous excitement. This nuinifestation of feeling in its bodily discharge, which Moses and Miriam and David ind,ulged in, which is ranked with poetry l)y Aristotle, and ^hich old Homer says is the sweetest and most perfect of human enjoyments, is a pastime much in vogue among the Eskimo, and it required but little provocation to start a dance at any time on the Corwlri' s decks when a party happened to be on board. Tlie dancing, however, had not the cadence of "a wave of the sea," nor was there the har- mony of double rotation circling in a series of graceful curves to strains like those of Stranss or (lungl. On the contrary, there was something saltatoriiil and jerky about all the dancing I saw ])oth among the men and women. It is the custom at some of their gatherings, after the liunting season is over, for the men to indulge in a kind of terpsi- chorean performance, at the same time relating in Homeric style the heroic deeds they have done. At other times the \^-onien do all the dancing. Being stripped to the waist they are more d'cvollet'c than our beauties at tlie German, and the men take the part of spectators only in this chore- graphical perfonnance. ART INSTINCT. The aptitude shown by Eskimo in carving and drawing has been noticed by all travellers among them. Some I have met with show a degree of intelligence and apprecia- tion in regard to charts and pictures scarcely to be expected from such a source. Prom walrus ivory they sculpture 200 First Landing on Wrangcl Island, with some figures of birds, quadrupeds, marine animals, and even the human form, which display considerable individuality not- withstanding- their crude delineation and imperfect detail. I have also seen a fair carving of a whale in plumbago. Evidences of decoration are sometimes seen on their canoes, on which are found rude pictures of walruses, etc., and they have a kind of picture-writing, l)y means of which they commemorate certain events in their lives, just as Sitting Bull has done in an autobiography that nuiy be seen at the Army Medical Museum. When we were searching for the missing whalers oif the Sibei'ian coast, some natives were come across with whom we were unable to communicate excej)t by signs, and wish- ing to let them know the object of our visit, a shij) was drawn in a note-book and shown to them, with ac( cmipany- ing gesticulations, which they quickly comprehended, and one fellow, taking the pencil and note-book, drevv correctly a pair of reindeer horns on the ship's jib-boom— a fact which identified, l)evond doubt, the derelict vessel thev • • •^ had seen. At Point Hope an Eskimo, who had allowed us to take sketches of him, desired to sketch one of the party, and taking one of our note-books and a pencil, neither of which he ever had in his hand l)efore, produced the accom- panying likeness of Professor Muii- : «p Remarks mi the Northern. Inhabitants. 201 At Saint Michael's there is an Eskimo boy who draws remarkably well, having taught himself by copying from the Illustrated London News. He made a correct pen- and-ink drawing of the C'oriPm, and another of the group of buildings at Saint Michael's, which, though creditable in many respects, had the defect of many Chinese pictures, being faulty in perspective. As these drawings equal those in Dr. Rink's book, done by Greenland artists, I regret my inability to reproduce them here. As evidences of culture they show more advancement than the carv- ings of English rustics that a clergyman has caused to be placed on exhibition at the Kensington Museum. Sir John Ross speaks highly of his interpretei- as an artist ; Beechy says that the knowledge of the coast obtained by him from Innuit maps was of the greatest value, while Hall apd others show their geographical knowledge to be as perfect as that possible of attainment by civilized men unaided by instruments. I had frequent opportunities to observe these Eskimo ideas of charto- graphy. They not only understood reading a chart of the coast when showed to them, but would make tracings of the unexplored part, as I knew a native to do in the case of an Alaskan river, the mouth only of which was laid down on our chart. Manifestation of the plastic art, which is found among tribes less intelligent, is rare among the Eskimo. In fact, the only thing of the kind seen was some rude pottery at Saint Lawrence inland, the design of which showed but (uude deveiopmeni of ornamental ideas. The same state of advancement was sliov/n in some drinking cups carved from nuimmoth ivory and Ji dipper made from the horn of a mountain sheep. 'ti{ 202 F/'/:sf Landing on Wrangel Mand, icith some w COMHATIVENESS. In one of the acts of Syiakespeare's "Seven Ages" the Kiskimo plays a very unimportant role. Perhaps in no other race is the combative instinct less predominant; in none is quarrelling, fierceness of disposition, and jealousy more conspicuously absent, and in none does the desire for the factitious renoAvn of war exist in a n re rudi- mentary and undeveloped state. Perhaps the constant tight with cold and hunger is a compensation which must account for the absence of such unmitigated evils as war, taxes, complex social organization and hierarchy among the curious people of the icy north. The pursuits of peace and of simple patriarchal lives, notwithstanding the faci of much in connection therewith that is wretched and for- bidding to a civilized man, seem to beget in these people a degree of domestic tranquility and contentment whici; united to their light-hearted and cheery disposition, is an additional reason for believing the sum of human liappi- ness to be constant thioughout the world. v; MENTAL CHAKACTEK AND CAPACITY. The intellectual character of tlie Eskimo, judging from the infonnation which various travellers have furnished, as well as my personal knowledge, produces more than a feeble belief in the possibility of their being equal to any- thing they choose to take an interest in learning. The Eskimo is not "muffled imbecility," as some one has called him, nor is he dull and slow of understanding, as Vitruvius describes the northern nation to be "from breathing a thick air"— which, by the way, is thin, elastic and highly ozon- ized—nor is he, according to Dr. Beke, "degenerated almost to the lowest state compatible with the retention of I ReifiarkH on tin- Northeni InJiabitanis. 203 rational endowments." On the contrary, the old Green- land missionary, Hans Egede, writes : " I have found some of them witty enough and of good capacity ;" Sir Martin Frobisher says they are "in nature very subtle and sharp- witted ;" Sir Edward Parry, while extolling their honesty and good nature, adds, "Indeed, it rec^uired no long acquaintance to convince us that art and education might easily have made them equal or superior to ourselves;" Saner tells of a woman who learned to speak Russian fluently in rather less than twelve months, and Beechy and others have acknowledged the intelligent help they have received from Eskimo in making their explorations. Before going further, it may not be amiss to speak in a general way of the bony covering which protects the organ whose function it is to generate the vibrations known as thought. Of one hundred crania, collected principally at Saint Lawrence island, a number were examined by me at the Army Medical Museum, through the covrtesy of Dr. Huntington, with the result of changing and greatly modi- fying some of the previous notions of the convenMonal Eskimo skull as acquired from books on craniology. Per- haps after the inspection and examination of a large collec- tion of crania, it may be safe to pronounce upon their differential character ; but whether the diiferences in con- figuration are constant or only occasional manifestations, julmits of as much doubt as the exceptions in Professor S'.p"t ocles's Greek gramnuir, which are often coextensive v'■^ 1 the rule.* '!'he typical Eskimo skull, according to popular notion, ! o^^^ ^'xhibiting a low order of intelligence, and character- i/jd by small brain capacity, with great prominence of the •Retzins, Finska Krauicr, Stockholm: 187S. II 204 Mr.'ii Landing on Wrangel Island, icith some superciliary ridges, occipital protuberaace and zygomatic arches, the latter projecting beyond the general contour of the skull like the handles of a jar or a peach basket ; and lines drawn from the most projecting part of the arches and touching the sides of the frontal bone are supposed to meet over the forehead, forming a triangle, for which reason the skull is known as pyramidal. The first specimen, examined from a vertical view, shows something of the typical character as figured in A, and when viewed posteriorly there is noticed a flattening of the parietal walls with an elongated vertex as shown in D ; while a second specimen, r presented by B, shows none of the foregoing characteristics, the foiin being elongated and the ;. ^ii«^tal walls so far overhanging as to conceal the zygomp ches in the vertical view, so that if lines be drawn as ]..,jviously mentioned, instead of foiming a triangle they may, like the asymptotes of a parabola, be extended to infinity and never meet : For purposes of comparison a number of orthographic outlines, showing the contour of civilized crania, from a vertical point of observation, are herewith annexed. No. 1 is that of an eminent mathematician who committed sui- cide ; No. 2, a prominent politician during the civil war ; No. 3, a banker ; and No. 4, a notorious assassin. Nos. f) and 6 are negro skulls. Further comparison may be made with the Jewish skull, as represented in No. 7, in which the nasal bones project so far beyond the general contour as to form a bird-like appendage. A collection of Aleutian heads, as seen from a vertical point of observation, when T looked down from the gallery of the little Greek church at Ounalaska, presented at first \\ ' li I Remarks on the Northern Inhabitants. 205 I 20(5 ^-7;-.s7 Lnndhui on Wmitnd Island with some \ I ■'' --f'"- "^ /-^^^.A/V^ mm nBRRn^nnRR ill Jiemarks on the Northern hilmtntant.s 207 I jvo.or. JVo.4. certain collective characters by which they approach one another. But anatomists know that a careful comparison of any collection will show extremely salient differences. In fact, individual differences, so numerous and so irreg- ular as to prevent methodical enumeration, constitute the stumbling-block of ethnic craniology. Take, for instance, a number of the skulls under consideration : in proportions they will be found to present very considerable variations among themselves. The skulls figured by A and B are respectively brachycephalic and dolichocephalic. The former has an internal capacity of 1,400, the latter 1,214 cubic centimeters ; but the facial angle of each is 80", and in one Eskimo cranium it runs up to 84°. If the facial 208 First Landing on Wrangel Island, with some h^- angle be trustworthy, an a measure of the degree of intelli- gence, we have shown here a development far in excess of the negro, which is j^laced at 70', or of the Mongolian at 75% and exceeding that observed by me in nuiny German skulls, which do not. as a rule, come up to the 'iW of Jupi- ter Tonans or of C/Uvier, in spite of the boasted intelligence of that nationality. In none of the skulls of the collection is there observable the heavy superciliary ridges alleged to be common in lower races, but which exist in many of the best-formed 1 Ol t H <>| a] sa 'j{ n JVo. J. jvo.e. t< Remarks on the Norther n InliaUtantn. 2'X> European crania— shall we say as anomalies or as individ- ual variations *. Nor is the convexity of the squanio- parietal suture such as characterizes the low-typed cranium of the chimpanzee or the Mound Builder. On the contrary, tlie orbits are cleanly made and the suture is well curved. Besides, a low degree of intelligence is not shown by observing the index of the foramen magnum, which is about the same as that found in Phiropean crania ; and the same may be said of the internal capacity of the cranium. To illustrate the latter renuirk is appended a tabular state- ment made up from Welcker, Broca, Aitken and Meigs : Cubic rcntimeterB. Australian 1,328 Polynesian 1,280 Hottentot 1,230 Mexican 1,2J)(( Malay 1,328 Ancient Peruvian 1,301 French 1,403 to 1,4(U German 1,448 Knglish 1,.j72 An average of the Eskimo skull, some of which measure as much as 1,6{")() and 1,715 c. c., will show the brain capaci- ity to be the same as that of the French or of the (lermans. None of them, however, ajjproaches the anonuilous capaci- ties of two Indian skulls on exhibition at the Army Med- ical Museum, one of which shows 1,785 c. c, and the other the unprecedented measurement of 1,920 c. c. If the foregoing means for estimating the mental grasj) and capacity for imi)rovement be correct, then we must accord to the iiu)st northern nation of the globe a fair 210 First Land'nui on Wniitf/rl Tshtiid, with sitnt^' degree of brain energy — potential though it be. Aside from tlie mere i)hysical metliods of detemiining the degree of intelligence, it is urged l)y some w liters, among them the historian Robertson, that tact in commerce and correct ideas of property are evidence of a considerable progress toward civilization. The natural inference from this is that they are tests of intellectual power, since mind is a combin- ation of all the actual and possible states of consciousness of the organism, and an examination of the Eskimo system of trade draws its own conclusion. Their fondness for trade has been known for a long time, as well as the extended range of their commercial intercourse. They trade with the Indians, with the fur companies, the whalers and among themselves across Bering straits. Many of them are veritable Shylocks, having a through comprehen- sion of the axiom in political economy regarding the regu- lation of the price of a thing by the demand. Reiiiarhs on the JS^orthcrn Tih ^bilants. 211 igree hem •reot ;ress that bin- Qess tern for the hey ers of len- igu- TIIK MOUAL SKXSE AND TIIK KELIOroi'S INSTINCT. AVith tlie aptitudes and instincts of our common human- ity Eskimo morals, as manifested in trutli, right and vir- tue, also admit of remark. Except where these people have had the bad example of the white man, whose vices they have imitated, not on account of defective moral nature, but because they saw few or no virtues, they are models of truthfulness and honesty. In fact their virtues in this re- spect are something phenomenal. The same cannot be said, however, for their sexual morals, which, as a rule, are the contrary of good. Even a short stay among the hyperbore- ans causes one to smile at Lord Kames's "frigidity of the North Americans," and at the fallacy of Herder who says, ' ' the blood of man near the pole circulates but slowly, the heart beats but languidly ; consequently the married live chastely, the women almost require compidsion to take upon them the troubles of a married life," etc. Nearly the same idea expressed by Montesquieu, and repeated by Byron in *' happy the nations of the moral North," are statements so at variance with our experience that this fact must alone excuse a reference to the subject. So far are they from applying to the people in question that it is only necessary to mention, without going into detail, that the women are freely offered to strangers by way of hospitality, showing a decided j^reference for white men, whom they believe to beget better offspring than their own men. In this regard one is soon convinced that salacious and prurient tastes are not the exclusive privilege of people living outside of the Arctic Circle ; and observation favors the belief in the existence of pederasty among Eskimo, if one may be allowed to judge from circumstances, which it is not neces- sary to particularize, and from a word in their language signifying the act. 212 First Landinq on Wraiujd Island, tcHh some Since morality is the last virtue acquired by man and the first one he is lil^^ely to lose, it is not so surprising to find (,utrag»\s on morals among the undeveloped inha!)i- tants ol' the north as it is to find them in intelligent Christian conimunities among peojde whose moral sense ought to be tar above that of the average ])rimitive nuin in view of their associations and the variations that have been so frequently repeated and accumulated by heredity; and where there is uo hierarchy nor established nussion- aries it is still more suprising to find any moral sense at all among a people whose vague religious belief does not extend beyond Shamanism or Animism, which to them explains the more strange and striking natural phenomena by the hypothes is of direct spiritual agency. It must not be understood by this, however, that these people have no religion, as numy travellers have erron- eously believed ; that would be al.nost equivalent to stat- ing that races of men exist without speech, memory or knowledge of lire. A purely ethnological view of religion which regards it as "the feeling whi<'h falls upon num in the presence of the unknown," favors the idea that the children of the icy north have many of the same feeling in this respect as those experienced by ourselves under similar conditions, although there is doubtless a change in us jH'oduced by more advanced thought and nicer feeling. On the other hand, how many habits and ideas that are senseless and perfectly unexplainable by rhe light of our present modes of life and thought can be explained by similar customs and ])r«judices existing among these dis- tant tribes. Is there no fragment of ])rimitive superstition or residue of bygone ages in the supi)osed influence of the "Evil Eye" in Ireland, or in the habit of "telling the l)el fol at pel th lb t I ' Iiri)i(irl\f( on Hit' N >rt?H'in Inhahilfini.t. 213 bees" in (irerniany '. Is there not something of intellectual roHsildoiri in the i)opuhir notion about Friday and thirteen at table, aud in tlie aiu'lent rite of exor(^i,sin<;- oppressed pei'sons, ]u)uses and otluu' places su])p{)se(l to ])e haunted by unwelconu' si)irits, the form of whirh is still retained in the Roman ritiud '. And is not our enlightened America "the land of spiritualists, mesuuMlsm, soothsayin^j; and mystical congre«:;ations"' { When the native of Saint Michael's invokes the moon, or the native of Point Harrow his ci'ude images previously to hunting the seal, in ordei- to biing good luck, is not the mental aud emotional imiuilse the same as that which actu- ates more civilized men to look upon "outward signs of an inward and spiritual grace," or not to start ujum any important undertaking without lirst invoking the blessing of Deity i And are not the rites observed by the natives on the Siberian coast, when the first walrus is caught, the counterpart of our Puritan Thanksgiving Day 'i Perhaps the untutored Eskimo has the same fear of tlie dangerous and terrible, the unknown, the infinite, as our- selves, and parts with life just as reluctantly : but it can- not be said that our observation favors the fact of his longevity, although long life seems to prevail among some of the circumpolar tribes, the Laps, for instance, who, according to Scheifer, 'n\ spitt> of hard lives enjoy good health, are long-lived, and still alert at eighty and ninety years. — (Be Medecina Laponum.) Owing to his hard life, the conflict with his circum- stances and his want of foresight, the Eskimo soon becomes a physiological bankrupt, and his stock of vitality being exhausted, his bodily remains are covered with stones, around which are placed wooden masks and articles that \ ifH ; I If I IE i r. i! . « 3