370 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 192 8 



possibilities for pasturage. It is a geographical axiom that the herder- 

 must always give way to the tiller of the soil with his more inten- 

 sive occupation. With the extension of dry farming there seems- 

 little likelihood of any considerable areas of temperate lands in 

 the long run being left to pastoral pursuits. But the Arctic tundras- 

 are entirely unsuited for agriculture by unfitness of soil and shortness^ 

 of summer for ripening the grain. Their advantage as pasture land 

 is that the farmer can never displace the herdsman. As the world's- 

 supply of beef decreases, the supply of venison and musk-ox flesh 

 will come more into demand. 



A further important aspect of Arctic pasturage has been suggested 

 in the supply of leather and wool. The musk-ox wool has been showni 

 to have the qualities of merino and to be softer than cashmere, but 

 it is unlikely that it will be possible to shear flocks that have to resist 

 the rigors of a long Arctic winter or the pestilential irritation of the- 

 mosquito in summer. 



The reindeer industry in Alaska is largely in the hands of Eskimo. 

 It was started to maintain them, and 70 per cent of the flocks now 

 belong to Eskimo. In Siberia, where the reindeer are for native use 

 only, there being no export of meat as from Alaska, all the herds 

 are owned and managed by natives. In Arctic Canada when the 

 industry grows no doubt Eskimo and Indians will be largely em- 

 ployed t-o tend the flocks, but the slaughter of the beasts, the prepara- 

 tion of the meat and its export, as well as the transport arrangements 

 will no doubt be in the hands of Americans, Canadians, and Euro- 

 peans. Eskimo and white will meet even more than they do to-day. 



The experience of the past in every quarter of the globe of the fate- 

 of hunting peoples in contact with more highl}^ organized races 

 gives room for legitimate doubt as to the ultimate survival, still less 

 the increase, of the diiferent peoples of the tundra. The clash of 

 widely divergent cultures, to say nothing of the introduction of new 

 diseases, almost invariably has meant the extinction of the more 

 primitive people. 



The same will probably occur in the Arctic. The latest reports 

 from the Northwest Territories of Canada do not hold out much 

 liope for Eskimo survival. The Eskimo are depending more and 

 more on the police and trading post for supplies and help. Only 

 the remoter tribes seem to preserve their strength and independence. 

 The Hudson's Ba}^ Co. and the Canadian Government, through the 

 mounted police, are doing all they can for the Eskimo in sheltering 

 him from the evil effects of civilization. Yet the fact is admitted by 

 the police themselves that the sturdiest and most attractive Eskimo- 

 are those who are not in contact with outposts of the white man's 



