X.] THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 373 



lamp. Further, the lamp seems to have determined the distribu- 

 tion of the Eskimo race 1 ." 



Although there are no "gentes" in the strict sense, as amongst 

 the Indians, the social organization being on the 

 whole but feebly developed, and although the exist- organization. 

 ence of a tribal system has been denied because 

 the final syllable inut (iniut, mute) of the group-names means 

 " inhabitants " of such districts or stations, nevertheless "the term 

 tribe is undoubtedly the most correct in this case." Recent 

 investigation shows that " each larger household comprising 

 several families has a chief as conscientiously venerated and 

 obeyed as heads of communities or magistrates elsewhere 2 ." 



It is also a mistake to suppose that all the Eskimos dwell on 

 or near the coast, within 50 miles of the shore, and 

 are seafarers. There are several inland tribes who 1 ' 



live by hunting, and have largely intermingled with 

 the Indians, the fusion with the Thlinkits and Athapascans being 

 complete in some districts. The Nushegagmuts of the Nushegak 

 basin "are hunters of considerable skill on both land and water. 

 The natives inhabiting the head-waters of the river and the lake 

 region of the interior are in constant communication with the 

 Athapascan tribes," while others "have been strangely mixed by 

 immigration from the westward and the northward 3 ." To this 

 intermingling must partly be attributed the physical variability 

 in Alaska, where Rink recognises three distinct types: (i) the 

 tall, cadaverous natives of Kotzebue Sound, who live on fish, 

 ptarmigan and marmots, and always have a hungry look ; (2) the 

 tall, strongly-knit, gigantic Nualoks of splendid physique, who 

 occupy the inland uplands, and feed on the reindeer, mountain 

 sheep, birds and fish ; (3) the short, stumpy people, who pro- 

 bably represent the old Eskimos before contact with southern 



1 Walter Hough, The Origin and Range of the Eskimo La/tip, in Amer. 

 Ant /tropology, April, 1898, p. 118. 



- Rink, i. p. 24. Hence we cannot accept as applicable to the whole 

 nation Ivan Petroff's statement that "there seems to be no recognised chief- 

 tainship, each isolated settlement generally containing one man who makes 

 himself prominent by superintending all intercourse and traffic with visitors" 

 (Report on the Population etc. of Alaska, Washington, 1884, p. 125). 



3 Petroff, p. 135. 



