28 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Eskimo, 1 both alike members of the Leiotrichi. The Eskimo 

 occupy the Arctic coast from Greenland to Alaska, and even 

 beyond, extending into the Aleutian Islands and the extreme 

 north-east of Asia, as far as Kolyuchin Bay. 2 They number, all 

 told, according to Kurl Hassert's estimate made in 1891, about 

 40,000 individuals. The Chukchi and Kamchadals, character- 

 ised by similar habits and mode of life, but belonging to a 

 different race, are found in Kamtchatka and the north-east 

 extremity of Siberia. 



Wherever they occur the Eskimo are distinguished by a 

 remarkable uniformity in bodily characters, habits, implements, 

 language, and mode of life. Yet they have no national unity, 

 and completely realise the anarchic ideal of government ; they 

 are without chiefs, and even the " angakok " or medicine-man 

 possesses far less authority or influence than his nearest 

 homologue, the Asiatic shaman. The only differentiation of 

 labour is that between men's work and women's work. 



Some fifty dialects have been distinguished in their language, 

 but the most unlike of these, i.e. the dialect spoken on the 

 •east coast of Greenland and that on the Asiatic side of Behring 

 Strait, do not differ more than, say, English and German. 

 Thalbitzer, 3 the latest writer on the subject, remarks that the 

 Eskimo language, so far as it is known, stands apart from all 

 others. No one has yet succeeded in discovering any language, 

 either in Asia or among the American Indians, which might 

 possibly have been originally related to it. 



Their physical characters bear the same testimony, and 

 stamp them as a race apart ; their resemblance to the Mongolians, 

 though marked in many respects, is no greater than might be 

 expected to exist between two races which are both included 

 within the Leiotrichi. 



The Eskimo are of short stature, the mean height of the 

 Greenlanders being 1,621 mm. Their hair is absolutely black, 

 coarse, and straight like a horse's mane. Their skin is reddish 

 brown in colour ; smooth and full to the touch, like a Negro's. 



1 As in the case of many a Scottish clan, the Eskimo owe their name to their 

 •enemies, the adjacent Indians: it means "eaters of raw flesh," though as a 

 matter of fact the Eskimo generally cook their food, unless prevented by necessity. 

 Their own name for themselves is Innuit — i.e. men. 



2 W. H. Da\\,Jonrn. R. Geogr. Soc. vol. iii. p. 568, 1881. 



3 W. Thalbitzer, A Phonetic Study of the Eskimo Language, Meddelelser om 

 Gro'nland, Hefte 31, Copenhagen, 1904. 



