﻿360 ESKIMOS. 



well-fed multitudes that frequent the estuary of 

 the Mackenzie. 



The origin of the Eskimos has been much dis- 

 cussed, as being the pivot on which the inquiry 

 into the original peopling of America has been 

 made to turn. The question has been fairly and 

 ably stated by Dr. Latham, in his recent work " On 

 the Varieties of Man," to which I must refer the 

 reader ; and I shall merely remark that the Eskimos 

 differ more in physical aspect from their nearest 

 neighbours, than the red races do from one another. 

 Their lineaments have a decided resemblance to 

 the Tartar or Chinese countenance. On the other 

 hand, their language is admitted by philologists to 

 be similar to the other North American tongues in 

 its grammatical structure ; so that, as Dr. Latham 

 has forcibly stated, the dissociation of the Eskimos 

 from the neighbouring nations, on account of 

 their physical dissimilarity, is met by an ar- 

 gument for their mutual affinity, deduced from 

 philological coincidences. 



The comprehensiveness of the Eskimo language 

 and its artificial structure are curious when we 

 take into our consideration the isolated position of 

 the people, and the few objects that come under 

 their observation. In 1825, I devoted the whole 

 winter to the formation of an Eskimo vocabulary 

 and grammar, with the aid of our very intelhgent 



