Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/564

Rh 544 ESKIMO remote period. The N.W. American Coast Indians, whose modes of life are much the same as the Eskimo, bear a striking resemblance to them in appearance. The Eskimo may thus have been fishing Indians, who formerly lived on the banks of the great rivers which flow into the Polar Ocean, and were gradually driven seaward by the more southern Indians, against whom they to this day maintain a violent enmity. In the course of their migrations they arrived in Grinuell Land, crossed Smith Sound, not further north than Cape Union, according to Nares, then advanced gradually southward along the west coast of Greenland, doubled Cape Farewell, and spread up the east coast as far north as man has yet reached. They may have rounded, with the musk ox and the lemming, the north end of Greenland, but the probabilities are in the direction indi cated. Even on hunting expeditions they rarely with draw more than 20 miles from the coast, and only in very exceptional cases 30 miles. Save a slight admixture of European settlers, they are the only inhabitants of both sides of Davis Strait and Baffin s Bay. They extend as far south as about 50 N. lat. on the eastern side of America and in the west to 60 on the eastern shore of Behring Strait, while 55 to 60 are their southern limits on the shore of Hudson s Bay. Throughout all this range no other tribes intervene, except in two small spots on the coast of Western America, where the Kennayan and Ugalenze Indians come down to the shore for the purpose of fishing. The Aleutians are closely allied to the Eskimo in habits and language, though their culture is somewhat more highly developed. Rink divides them into the following groups, the most eastern of which would have to travel nearly 5000 miles to reach the most western. 1. The East Greenland Eskimo, few in number, every year advancing further south, and having intercourse with the next section. 2. The West Greenlanders, civilized, living under the Danish crown, and extending from Cape Farewell to 74- N&quot;. lat. 3. The Northernmost Greenlanders the Arctic Highlanders of Ross confined to Smith, Whale, Murchison, and Wolstenholme Sounds, north of the Melville Bay glaciers, not extending to the western shores of the former strait, nor within the memory of man having any intercourse with those south of them. They are very isolated, have greatly decreased of late years, did not until recently possess the kayak or skin-covered canoe, the umiak or open skin boat, or the bow and arrow, are bold hunters, pagans, and are perhaps the most typical of the Es kimo in Greenland ; they have not of recent years greatly decreased, though at present they do not number more than 200. 1 4. The Labrador Eskimo, mostly civilized. 5. The Eskimo of the middle regions, occupying the coasts from Hudson s Bay to Barter Island, beyond Mackenzie River perhaps comparativelya rather heterogeneous group, inhabiting a stretch of country 2000 miles in length and 800 in breadth. 6. The Western Eskimo, from Barter Island to the western limits in America. They differ somewhat from the other groups in various habits, such as the use of the baidar or double-manned skin-coversd canoe, in the clothing of the men, in their labrets, and in the head-dress of the women. They are allied to the Aleutians and the Indians of Alaska. 7. The Asiatic Eskimo or Tuski, who are again nearly allied to the Namollo and Itelmes. None of the Arctic tribes of Europe or Asia have the slightest con nexion with them. Of all the Eskimo those of Greenland and Labrador are the best known ; the others are known but partially. 1 A. party of Eskimo from the western side of Smith Sound, about Cape Isabella, crossed over in an umiak and five kayaks, about five years before the survivors of the crew of the &quot; Polaris &quot; wintered there iu 1872-3. They introduced the use of the bow and arrow, hitherto unknown among the &quot;Arctic Highlanders.&quot; Appearance and Dress. The Eskimo are not so small as they are usually represented, their height 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 10 inches, and in rare cases even 6 feet being quite up to the average of the coast Indians. Their dress, however, gives them a dwarfish appearance. Both men and women are muscular and active, the former often in clining to embonpoint, and both having a pleasing, good- humoured, and not unfrequently, even handsome cast of countenance, apt to break into a &quot; grin &quot; on very small provocation. The face is broadly oval, flat, with fat cheeks ; forehead not high, and rather retreating ; teeth good, though, owing to the character of the food, worn down to the gums in old age; nose very flat ; eyes rather obliquely set, small, black, and bright ; head largish, and covered with coarse black hair, which the women fasten up into a top knot on their crown, and the men clip in front and allow to hang loose and unkempt behind. Their skulls are of the meso- cephalic type, the height being greater than the breadth ; according to Davis, 75 is the index of the latter and 77 of the former. Some of the tribes slightly compress the skulls of their new-born children laterally (Hall), but this practice is a very local one. The men have usually a slight moustache, but no whiskers, and rarely any beard. The skin has generally a &quot; bacony &quot; feel, and when cleaned of the smoke, grease, and other dirt the accumulation of which varies according to the age of the individual is only so slightly brown that red shows in the cheeks of the children and young women. The people soon age, how ever. Their hands and feet are small and well formed, and, as a rule, they have a more pleasing appearance than all except the best-looking Indian tribes. The women and children dress entirely in skins of the seal, reindeer, bear, dog, or even fox, the first two being, however, the most common. The men and women s dress is much the same. The jacket of the men has a hood, which in cold weather is used to cover the head, leaving only the face exposed ; it must be drawn over the head, as it has no opening in front or behind. The w r omen s jacket has a fur-lined &quot;amowt&quot; or large hood for carrying a child, and an absurd looking tail behind, which is, however, usually tucked up. The trousers are either tight or loose, and are fastened into boots made of prepared seal skin, very ingeniously and neatly made. The women s trousers are usually ornamented with eider duck necks, or embroidery of native dyed leather; their boots, which are of white leather, or (in Greenland) dyed of various colours, reach over the knees, and in some tribes are very wide at the top, thus giving them an awkward appearance and a clumsy waddling walk. In winter there are two suits of clothes of this description, one with the hair inside, the other with it outside. They also sometimes wear shirts of bird-skins, and stockings of dog or young reindeer skins. The boots require to be changed when wet, otherwise they would freeze hard in cold weather. Their clothes are, like all the Eskimo articles of dress or tools, very neatly made, fit beautifully, and are sewn with &quot; sinew-thread,&quot; with a bone needle if a steel one cannot be had. In person the Eskimo are usually filthy, water not often coming in contact with them unless acci dentally. The children when very young are, however, sometimes cleaned by being licked with their mother s tongue before being put into the bag of leathers which serves as their bed, cradle, and blankets. Dwellings, Occupations, Characteristic Implements, and Food. In summer the Eskimo live in conical skin tents, and in winter usually in half-underground huts (igloos) built of stone, turf, earth, and bones, entered by a long tunnel-like passage, which can only be traversed on all fours. Sometimes, if residing temporarily at a place, they will erect neat round huts of blocks of snow with a sheet of ice for a window. These, however, though comfortable