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On the Ethnography of Bussian America. By R. G. Latham, 

 M.D. Communicated for the Edinburgh New Philosophi- 

 cal Journal by the Ethnological Society.* 



The paper submitted to the Society is upon the Ethnogra- 

 phy of Russian America. For a variety of reasons, the tribes 

 in these parts are of paramount importance. Inhabiting the 

 most north-western extremity of America on the coast of 

 Rehring's Straits, they are divided from Asia only by that 

 channel, so that of all the nations of the New World they 

 are most in contact with those of the Old. This circum- 

 stance alone puts them prominently forward in ethnology ; since 

 the primd facie theory, as to the population of America, must 

 certainly be in favour of the passage having taken place through 

 Behring's Straits. 



The limits of the Russian possessions in America, or of the 

 geographical area which we are considering, are not very defi- 

 nitely determined : at least, the line of demarcation is, in a 

 great degree, a political rather than a natural one. From 

 Mount St Elias to the southernmost extremity of Prince of 

 Wales Island, the territory in question consists of a strip of 

 sea-coast, and islands, with the British possessions of New 

 Norfolk and New Hanover at the back ; whilst from Mount 

 St Elias northward, as far as the Arctic Sea, the line of divi- 

 sion is imaginary, coinciding with the 141° W. long. It can 

 scarcely be expected, that a frontier so determined can coin- 

 cide with any important divisions, either in physical or ethno- 

 graphical geography. Still the area in question is a conve- 

 nient one. 



Considering the remote situation of these extensive and in- 

 hospitable tractS; the knowledge we possess of them is credit- 

 able to the government of Russia. From the time of Behring 

 downward, the coasts have been accurately described ; whilst 

 the communications of the officials of the Russian American 

 Company exhibit far more than an average amount of intelli- 

 gence. For such portions of the present paper as are not 



* Read February 19. 1845. 



