480 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1930 



Now ill the northern conditions, one can not go on without clothes, 

 house, and storage for the winter. Even primitive man must take 

 care of his future, otherwise he w^ill die. This is why the culture of 

 the North is not only of a well-developed type, but even has a special 

 development. 



The Eskimo culture, which represents the best developed variation 

 of the culture of the North, abounds in implements and accommoda- 

 tions of amazing fitness. Some of these were imitated not only by 

 their nearest neighbors to the south, but even by the civilized part of 

 humanity, such as the Russians and Americans. The whaling har- 

 poon is an Eslrimo creation, but it was imitated by almost all the 

 tribes which practice whaling. 



In the classification of the cultural types of the North, we find some 

 types of local origin, such as fishing, hunting, reindeer breeding, and 

 other types of a higher culture, Avhich came to the North in later 

 times brought over by immigrants from the South. I will start with 

 the classification of the indigenous cultures. 



As for implements and weapons with some few exceptions, the 

 tools of the North are Neolithic. To be sure in the last hundred years 

 some metal work and the art of weaving has spread among the natives 

 in imitation of the Russians, and, in the far east, of the Chinese. 

 Still, even the shape of the tool or the weapon made of metal, 

 curiously imitates the form of the stone or bone implements. For 

 instance the Reindeer Chuckchee use instead of the axe a small 

 hatchet, an actual tool of the Neolithic period. The local blacksmiths 

 of Russian origin prepare such hatchets especially for Chukchee use. 

 Nevertheless, most of the northern tribes have even some blacksmiths 

 of their ow^n, capable at least of mending the simplest iron imple- 

 ments. Some of these tribes still have an idea that the art of the 

 blacksmith requires skill and knowledge of no common kind. The 

 Chukchee, for instance, in some tales borrowed from Russians 

 describe a young prince, the son of the king, as having a face as 

 intelligent as a blacksmith's. 



According to the chief pursuit bringing the means of life, the 

 northern culture may be divided into several types. I must men- 

 tion that notwithstanding their primitive character, the northern 

 culture created two branches of animal breeding, the breeding of 

 domesticated reindeer and that of driving dogs, peculiar to the north- 

 ern zone. Within that zone, however, it is imitated from the native 

 tribes by the most civilized immigrants of later arrival. The Amer- 

 ican settlers in Alaska imitated Alaskan Eskimo doc: driving and 

 Siberian reindeer breeding, which has prospered and increased at 

 such an amazing rate. 



Also in fishing and hunting, the northern natives have created 

 various implements, afterwards imitated not only by later immi- 



