CULTURE OF CIRCUMPOL\R ZONE — BOGORAS 479 



Chukcliee langiia«re, which is ulso the transfer of the Eskimo 

 m()rpholo<ry into some unknown lin<;uistic elements of aneient Asia. 



Tlie second example refers to the spiritual culture. It deals with 

 the folklore. Xoithern people of whatever race or culture stage, 

 havin*^ little else to do throujjhout the endless ni<i;hts of winter, fill 

 their leisure with workin*^ out the elaborate schemes of stories 

 adorned with the finest embroidery of imagination. That accounts 

 for tlie development of folklore among the northern tribes and even 

 for the develoi>ment of Scandinavian epics among the Norsemen 

 in Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 



With the Maritime Chukchee and Asiatic Eskimo the folklore 

 develops in conditions of a tlitferent kind. These two tribes often 

 even in the midst of winter, being short of stored provisions, must 

 get their sustenance from the continuous search for seals. A fierce 

 winter storm, keeping them at home sometimes for several days, may 

 put them on the brink of starvation and what is still worse, deprive 

 their lamps of the light-giving oil necessary for dispelling the 

 ojipressive darkness. And sometimes the best hunters will come out 

 through the storm alwaj^s in pairs, joined together with a long 

 thong in order to feel always sure of the mutual touch. The folk- 

 tales are full of such desperate attempts when the people begin 

 " to get lean in their marrow bones." These stories are usually 

 repeated at night, when the inmates are pent up within the sleeping 

 room, and they are considered as the best incantations against the 

 storm. The close of the tales is also an incantation of its own, 

 " Waho, yoochin tinmugan," "Oho, I killed the tempest! " By the 

 way, stories related during the winter storms must refer chiefly to 

 storms, to work against them the more efficiently. The connection 

 of meteorological conditions with the evolution of folklore is quite 

 clear. 



Some of the old women know so many tales that they are able for 

 a month or more to present a new tale every day, intertwining to- 

 gether the subjects and plots with great art. 



Out of these natural conditions the culture of the North has 

 developed. Though we call it primitive, we must not compare it with 

 the most primitive culture of some tropical tribes, such as the Boto- 

 cudo or the Bushmen. These last tribes go around quite naked, have 

 no house to speak of, and feed on anything that comes their way and 

 which they can gather without much effort in the wood or on the 

 prairie. Their economics belong to the earlier stage of the so-called 

 collector type. They store no provisions, and notwithstanding the 

 abundance and even the lavishness of natural supplies in the South, 

 they pass from one spell of hunger to another, interspread with a 

 much shorter period of reveling in plenty. 



