ESKIMO AND SKRiELING 



Eskimo in the new countries discovered by him, especially along 

 the sound by Axel Heiberg Land. But these people may, for 

 instance, have migrated eastward to Greenland. If we sup- 

 pose the reverse to be the case, that the most northerly Eskimo 

 tribe now known, on Smith Sound, had moved westward to 

 Sverdrup's new islands or to the Parry Islands, then we should 

 have found numerous traces of them in the districts about Smith 

 Sound and Cape York, and might thus have concluded that the 

 Eskimo were formerly more widely distributed towards the 

 north-east. 



How early the Eskimo appeared, and came to the most 

 northern regions, we have as yet no means of determining. 

 All we can say is that, as they are so distinct in physical 

 structure, language, and culture from all other known races 

 of men, with the exception of the Aleutians, we must assume 

 that they have lived for a very long period in the northern 

 regions apart from other peoples. It would be of special in- 

 terest here if we could form any opinion as to the date of their 

 immigration to Greenland. It has become almost a historical 

 dogma that this immigration on a larger scale did not take place 

 until long after the Norwegian Icelanders had settled in the 

 country, and that it was chiefly the hordes of Eskimo coming 

 from the north that put an end, first to the Western Settlement, 

 and then to the Eastern. But this is in every respect mislead- 

 ing, and conflicts with what may be concluded with certainty 

 from several facts; m.oreover, the whole Eskimo way of life 

 and dependence on sealing and fishing forbids their migra- 

 tion in hordes; they must travel in small scattered groups 

 in order to find enough game to support themselves and 

 their families, and are obliged to make frequent halts for 

 sealing. They will, therefore, never be able to undertake any mi- 

 gration on a large scale. 



There can be no doubt that the Eskimo arrived in Green- 

 land ages before the Norwegian Icelanders. The rich finds 

 referred to, among others, by Dr. H. Rink [1875, vol. ii.], 

 of Eskimo whaling and sealing weapons and implements of 



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