Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/240

* ESKII.IO. 208 ESKIMO. The regions inhabited by the Eskimo extend from Bering Strait over the northern coast of America and its groups of Arctic islands to the east coast oi Greenland. With a habitat spreading over 3000 miles, the Eskimo have a wider geographical range than any other aborigines. In spite, how- ever, of the great distances which have divided the various groups from each other for probably more than 1000 years, the race has preserved the most striking uniformity in language, habits, and mode of life, excepting in so far as certain tribes have been influenced by contact with the white nun. The insignificant differences of language among these isolated groups have been often re- marked. Common to all are the same stem words, the same affixes. The chief characteristic of the language is that it is highly polysynthetic, single words of complex structure expressing ideas that in English would fill out whole sen- tences. Mr. Hugh Lee. who learned the language among the Smith Sound natives of North Green- land. "says that lie had little difficulty in com- municating with the Eskimo of ('ape Prince of Wales. Alaska. A similar condition has been observed among the Eskimo of Labrador, the Antic archipelago, and Greenland. Distribution. The Eskimo may be divided into seven groups. (1) The East Greenlanders, living along the east coast of the island, numbering, when Holm visited them in 1S84, 548 souls. It is not believed that any of them now live farther north than the sixty-eighth parallel of latitude, though Clavering met two families in 1S23 north of 74 3 30'. They are of pure blood, and so arc (2) the most northern inhabitants of the world, the Eskimo of northwest Greenland (the .Smith Sound natives or Arctic Highlanders) who inhabit the west coast between Melville Bay and Port Foulke, 7S 3 IS' N".. numbering, in 1SH7. 234 persons. (3) The natives ,.f Danish West Green- land, wlio live between Upernavik ("3° 24' N.) and Cape Farewell, number nearly lO.OO'i. and are mixed breeds; they have been for a century ami a half under the government and influence of tlie Danes. (4) The Labrador Eskimo, now num- bering only aboui 1500, live along the Atlantic coast. From Hopedale south most of them are of mixed blood; north of Hopedale they are almost wholly pure Eskimo. Moravian missionaries and white fishermen have lived among them for more than a century, however, and no other Eskimo have been SO greatly influenced as these in dress, manners, and customs, by long contact with the white-. (5) The Eskimo of the central region include those of the krtic Archipelago, where probably only a few hundred natives now live, though ruined huts and other remain- are scat- tered far anil wide along the (urinous shores, ami the natives of the American mainland who hunt between the west side of Hudson Bay and Cape rst, This group is the mosi widely spread, it- ten itorie repre enl in- an extent of land, in- ed in everj direction bj the sea, measuring 1 ill- • i -I and west and 800 miles l lid -Olltll. i O 'I lie Mad ell.'ie R I 1 i |' gTOUp dii il.'l I>. I hat river, I heir limit in the south being that of tin- tundra-, while the lut he Indian- w ith v honi. i 1 1 .el ii em., i hey ha e fought • ■re.,1 battle thej i iboui 2000 souls. (7) The esteri Esl imo w andei along th< if Alaska as far ui i im i el, ipelago. They have rapidly diminished in the past half-century, owing to the destruction of marine animals by whalers, and now number only a few hundred. The Siberian reindeer is being introduced among them, and missionary stations were established in 1892. The group includes the reindeer Eskimo of the northeast peninsula of Siberia. It is be- lieved that the entire race now numbers not more than 17.000. The Eskimo are between 62 and 64 inches in height, with broad, round faces and high cheek- bones. They are well built, usually fat, and many of the men have remarkable muscular development , the eyes are narrow, the hair is straight and jet- black, the beard is very thin and often entirely wanting. The skin is light-brown or dark-brown. They are a shortlived people, rarely attaining an age much beyond sixty years. The main cause of death is inflammatory rheumatism. All the groups, excepting those which have long had intercourse with the white race, may be classed in point of development with the prehistoric races of the age of ground-stone tools, though the Smith Sound natives, long before they met the whites, obtained iron from the Cape York meteor- ites, with which they tipped their weapons. This tribe, and indeed all the Greenland Eskimo, have no wood except such fragments of drift- wood from Siberia as they have picked up on the shore, and such pieces as they have obtained from Vhite men. The sustenance of the Eskimo is chiefly de- rived from the capture of seals and cetaceous animals, the pursuit of which has kept them in- habitants of the seashore. The seal is their staple food and their most valuable resource, sup- plying them with dog-food, clothing, boots, tents, harpoon-lines, light, and heat. The walrus, nar- whal, whale, bear, and to a smaller extent the deer, fox, and hare also afford important sup- plies. Thousands of birds are stored for winter use. The natives have no salt or substances of vegetable origin for food except where these sup- plies are derived from the whites. The men are constantly employed in hunting or in the manufacture and care of their hunting contrivances, among which is the kayak, in which they chase their sea prey. The kayak is a swift and seaworthy canoe made of skin, entirely decked over except for the round hole in the middle in which its one occupant sits. It is pro- pelled by a double-bladed paddle. The oomiak, or woman's boat, also built of skin, but open, is large enough to carry several passengers and freight, It is paddled by women. The harpoon is a remarkably ingenious implement whose barb, detaches itself from the handle when the animal is hit, and, being attached to a float or drag. prevents the escape of the game. The dog-sledge is common everywhere excepl among the Eskimo of southwestern Greenland. In regions where iron is obtainable from the white men, iron rnn- ners are now largely substituted for those of ivory or whalebone, formerly used. Eskimo does are admirably adapted for sledge work. The dwellings are always of two kinds — tents for summer and houses or huts for winter u The tents, ,, r tupiks, are made of sealskin: the il or winter houses, are far more varied in structure among the different groups. They are n u.ilh built of -tones, chinked and covered with moss and banked up with snow. The entrance i- a long passage high enough to admit a man