The American Museum Journal 



Vol. XII OCTOBER, 1912 No. 6 



THE ESKIMO AND CIVILIZATION 



DISEASE AND DEATH FOR THE NEW ESKIMO TRIBES WITH PAUPERIZATION 

 OF THOSE THAT CHANCE TO SURVIVE CAN BE PREVENTED ONLY BY A 

 QUARANTINE WHICH WILL ALLOW THE CONDITIONS OF CIVILISA- 

 TION BUT SLOW ENTRANCE TO THEIR TERRITORY 



By J^ilhjdlmur Stefdnssoyi 



Introductory Note: The liistory to date of the Stefansson-Aiiderson expedition 

 financed by tlie American Museum of Natural History and just returned from four years' 

 work in Arctic Nortli America, lias been fully reported in previous numbers of the Journal^ 

 witii especially long and accurate articles in the issues for November, 1910, and January, 1912. 

 The reports contain an account of the discovery of Eskimo tribes in the Victoria Land regioa 

 [marked " LTninhabited " on modern maps], Stefdnsson's own descriptions of incidents con- 

 nected with a many months' intimate acquaintance with Eskimo who had never before 

 known a white man, his descriptions of those tribes of Victoria Island which show traces of 

 adniixtm-e of European blood, and finally the explorer's opinion tentatively stated as to some 

 of the theories which possil)ly explain the admixture. The character of these discoveries 

 makes the Stefdnsson-Anderson expedition one of the most important in recent years, in fact 

 the discoveries are of such importance and extent that for the first time in liistory there 

 promises to be data on whicli to build a comparative study of Eskimo tribes tliroughout the 

 breadth of the American continent. 



The series of preliminary reports in the Journal on the ethnological work of the expedi- 

 tion is completed in this number with an article by the explorer himself on the disastrous 

 effect that civilization is likely to have on the newly located people. The opinion of IMr. 

 Stefansson is of value as that of an ethnologist who has planned to do serious research on the 

 civilized and uncivilized Eskimo of America, despite the hardships and perils of the task, and 

 who has just finished four years of the field work of that research on tlie Eskimo of Alaska, 

 the Mackenzie River and the Coppermine. It is with interest that tlie world listens to any 

 .suggestion he may have concerning the welfare of the people wliich he has discovered. — - 



The Editor. 



IT is now forever too late to make even a reasonable guess as to what 

 may have been the Eskimo population of Arctic Alaska at the time of 

 the Russian discoveries, but it seems certain that the present inhabi- 

 tants cannot be even ten per cent of the original number. Since 188-4 the 

 villages of Cape Smythe and Point Barrow have maintainetl approximately 

 a constant population. For this reason the figures of the United States 

 census give a deceptive appearance of permanence to the population of that 

 district. The fact is that while in 1884 most of the individuals in those 

 villages were born in or near them and descended from people of that 

 locality, to-day there are living at Cape Smythe, in a population of about 

 four hun<lred Eskimo, only three individuals who are considered hy the 

 Eskimo as belonging to the Cape Smythe tribe. Two others are known to 



Article and pictures copyrighted by V. StbpXnsson. All rights reserved. 



195 



