The origin of the Eskimo as traced by 

 the language. 



-Lhe object of the former volume was, in connection with an 

 abstract of the Grammar and a comparative vocabulary to eluci- 

 date the question of the origin of the Eskimo by some general 

 considerations. The chief result arrived at was a theory, accor- 

 ding to which their ancestors originally inhabited a territory 

 situated somewhere in the interior of the North American Con- 

 tinent, whence they emigrated and following the water courses, 

 were led to a littoral of the arctic or subarctic regions, most 

 probably that of Alaska. Settled on the shores of that country 

 they developed their wonderful art of capturing marine animals 

 which culminated in their marvellous capability of facing even 

 the most terrible experiences of the arctic clime. From Alaska 

 they then should have emigrated, spreading gradually to the 

 East and North over the vast regions since tennanted by them, 

 in bringing forward this explanation of how even the most for- 

 bidding part of our globe could obtain inhabitants, we have, it 

 is true, omitted mentioning the possibility of the Eskimo having 

 inhabited a more southern littoral, and by simply following the 

 coast line reached the higher latitudes. Such a supposition 

 however will, on closer investigation prove to be more impro- 

 bable. Migrations of this kind could only have been effected 

 from three different coastal regions, namely those on the Eastern, 



XI. 2. I 



