﻿I50 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



They did not make any visits in the winter, when the Eskimo prefer 

 to journey. They had no sleds, no dogs, no harness, though these 

 promptly attracted Frobisher's x attention in Labrador, and Davis 

 tells of fighting off the Greenland dogs which the Eskimo set on 

 him. Nansen 2 even lays stress on the use of this method of land 

 transportation, as making against the theory of the development of 

 these Innuit from the Indians ; adding, " In this the Eskimo more 

 resembles the races of the Asiatic polar regions." It is true that dogs 

 were not uncommon in many Indian villages as pets or sacrifices, or 

 to aid in hunting or serve for food. But these people came to Hop 

 always by water, apparently from some rather distant point south- 

 ward, and on such excursions the dogs would most likely be left 

 behind. Besides lack of room in the boats, they might interfere with 

 the plans of a war party or even disturb trading. Moreover, early 

 travelers often do not mention them, and presumably they were rare 

 in some tribes. The Indians had no such imperative need for them 

 as the Eskimo, and might be much later in acquiring them along the 

 Atlantic coast. We have no real reason to suppose their presence 

 among the New England Algonquians in the year 1000, but it would 

 be a marvel if they were not then drawing the Eskimo of Labrador, 

 and indeed of all quarters, over the snow. 



There is no hint, either, in the saga of the faithful and spirited 

 bone-carving and other sculpture and artistry, which made Prof. 

 Boyd Dawkins in Cave Hunting conjecturally identify the Innuit with 

 the paleolithic European cave-dwellers. Both had the seeing eye 

 and the cunning hand, also a sense of the picturesque, along with 

 patient industry in embodiment. Our northeastern Indian picture 

 makers were infantile and freakish in comparison. The Norsemen 

 would neither have heeded nor mentioned such " Skrelling" efforts. 



It may be repeated as important that we hear of no kayak, nor 

 of any of the accouterments which ordinarily pertained to the kayaker. 

 Why should Thorfinn be less impressed by this unique Eskimo craft 

 than were Antonio Zeno, Baffin, 3 and Lescarbot? We have seen 

 reason to suppose that one Eskimo and his kayak quite appalled 

 Thorfinn's party in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Surely the reappear- 

 ance of the phenomenon, multiplied, would not have been disregarded 

 — whether in confirmation or explanation. By " boats " we must 



^akluyt's Principal Voyages (1904), vol. 7, pp. 225, 413. 



2 Fr. Nansen: Eskimo Life, p. 8. 



3 C. R. Markham : Voyages of Baffin, p. 14. (Catonle's Relation). See also 

 Olaus Magnus : A Compendious History, p. 20 (transl. pub. by Streater) ; as 

 to Greenland boats "not so much above, as beneath the surface." 



