42 H. P. STEENSBY. 
but, by the Cree-Indians the name is also used for the Eskimo west 
of Hudson Bay. From French and English literature the name passed 
to all other languages. 
Another name used for the Eskimo is innuit (plural of inuk, hu- 
man being), which originates from the Eskimo themselves. In the 
middle ages, except in Scandinavia, there was little use for the old 
Scandinavian term Skreling (plural Skrelinger); nor did the term 
Orarians, or coast inhabitants, as proposed by Ратл, become current. 
The home of the Eskimo is the Arctie north coast of the Ame- 
rican Continent and the Arctic Archipelago situated in front of it, 
together with the large island of Greenland. Consequently, they are 
what Fr. RATZEL has designated a ‘‘border people,” or a people which 
lives along one of the outer edges of the inhabited world. 
Such a people is, as a rule, at a low stage of culture. In the 
literature on the subject the low cultural standpoint of the Eskimo 
is also frequently emphasized. And it cannot be denied that in 
certain directions, for instance as regards social organisation, the 
Eskimo display somewhat inferior development. But it is a question 
whether this inferior social differentiation is due to primitiveness, or 
whether it is not rather a result of the natural conditions under 
which the Eskimo have lived from time immemorial. 
No deep knowledge of the Eskimo culture is needed to see that 
it is a culture which has been obliged to employ an immensely large 
part of its force simply to develop the means wherewith to gain a 
livelihood, or the mode of procedure by which each individual man 
or bread-winner may secure his own and his family’s supply of food 
and clothes, and a dwelling — three things which are equally neces- 
sary in the polar regions. 
When we take into consideration the high development reached 
by the Eskimo hunters as regards skill in the making of a livelihood 
we must, without doubt, rank Eskimo culture high within this class 
of culture — viz., hunting culture — to which it belongs in the 
system of historical culture. The special development of hunting 
ability in the way of enduring fatigue, suffering hardships, showing 
courage, and especially as regards the adroitness in the use of the 
implements, naturally results in the more individual qualities being 
specially brought under cultivation, while the more social side of the 
culture in question has, as a rule, been allowed to lag behind, or 
perhaps, in certain cases, may even be regarded as having fallen into 
decay compared with the more differentiated conditions of former 
times. These are all questions, however, which are not going to be 
investigated here. 
The economic culture of the Eskimo has often awakened the 
admiration of travellers by the cleverness with which it is adapted 
to the natural conditions, and, considering they are a primitive people, 
