HUDSON HONORED IN NEW YORK 427 



proportion to the whole of that vast unexplored region. There are wilds 

 within the Arctic region that have not been inhabited for centuries, yet they are 

 covered with traces of wanderers or of sojourners of a bygone age. 



"Here and there," says Sir Clements R. Alarkham, "in Greenland, in 

 Boothia, on the shores of America, where existence is possible, the descend- 

 ants of former wanderers are still to be found. The migrations of these peo- 

 ple, the scanty notices of their origin and movements that are scattered through 

 history and the requirements of their existence are all so many clews which, 

 when carefully gathered together, throw light upon a most interesting sub- 

 ject." 



The Eskimos of Upernavik knew nothing of natives north of Melville bay 

 until the first voyage of Sir John Ross in 1818. It was found that a small 

 tribe inhabited the rugged coast between 76 and 79 degrees north, 



WHERE ABORIGINES MAY BE FOUND. 



What has international law to say on the possession of land where abor- 

 iginal natives are found? 



No strict rules seem to have been laid down for guidance. It has been 

 said that a nation may lawfully possess some part of a large country in which 

 there are none but earlier nations, whose scanty population is incapable of 

 occupying the whole; unsettled habitation cannot be accounted a true and 

 legal possession. History has shown us that discoverers have not been very 

 particular about the rights of aborigines, especially when the country is rich 

 in minerals or well placed for commerce. 



The right of discovery is usually stretched as far as it will go. Yet many 

 of the islands discovered by Capt. Cook in the South sea were never annexed. 

 This intrepid explorer was not authorized by his sovereign to do so ; moreover, 

 it is not clear that the sovereign would have had the right of appropriation. 

 The islands contained natives who were not very ready to admit the superior 

 rights of strangers who came to them from Europe. Capt. Cook suffered a 

 violent death at their hands, and in the case of New Zealand, England had 

 endless fights with the aborigines. In Australia, however, the blacks were few 

 in number and very unready to show themselves. 



