372 MAN : PAST AND PRESENT. [CHAP. 



interior of the continent, whence they moved down the Yukon, 

 and perhaps other rivers, to the coast. Here (in 



Eskimo and 



Aleut Cradle- Alaska) they must have dwelt some considerable 

 time about the lower fluvial reaches and estuaries, 

 developing a "culture home," and gradually adapting themselves 

 to an Arctic environment before a second dispersion took place 

 along the lines of least resistance, over the 5000 miles of sea- 

 board from Bering Strait to Greenland and Labrador. All the 

 conditions accord with the view that the original stock inhabited 

 the interior of Alaska ; that, apart from the true Eskimo, a side 

 branch in the earliest period peopled the Aleutian Islands, while 

 the main stream settled later at the river-mouths, spreading north 

 along Bering Strait, hiving off some colonies to the Asiatic side, 

 passing round to the Mackenzie river, then over the Arctic archi- 

 pelago to Labrador and Greenland. This dispersion may have 

 taken thousands of years, as they can have advanced only in small 

 bands, very much as to this day they are wont to move about 

 during certain seasons. 



This view is supported by many facts drawn from social 

 usages and speech, but not from their physique. Thus " the 

 kayak does not attain its highest perfection except in Greenland." 

 Again the labret or lip ornament, obviously adopted from the 

 Thlinkits in a reduced form due to climatic influence, ranges only 

 to the Mackenzie. Here two smaller labrets under the corners of 

 the mouth replace the large Thlinkit and Aleutian disk, which, as 

 remarked by Dall, "no hunter exposed to the icy blasts and cold 

 waters could have worn " ; it would have exposed " the extended 

 strip of flesh to freezing and been an insufferable annoyance 

 otherwise." Reference is also made to the ruins on the banks 

 of the Yukon, where Lieut. Ray of the Point Barrow Expedition 

 brought to light "a pair of wooden goggles' from a depth of 

 26 feet below the surface. It has also been remarked that the 

 Eskimo could only have followed this line of migration by the help 

 of their stone lamps, without whose light and heat life would be 

 impossible in those high latitudes. " Since it is true that the 

 Eskimo is dependent upon his lamp for his very existence, it 

 seems safe to bring forward as a corollary that his migration 

 into his present home was subsequent to the invention of the 



