50 H. P. STEENSBY. 
of the Palæasiatic in the so-called hyperborean group; this applies 
especially to language systematists like FRIEDERICH MÜLLER and 
Е. №. Finck. 
That the cultural development of а tribe must Бе kept sharply 
distinet from its linguistic history and from its anthropological career 
has not always, or more correctly has seldom, been realized. These 
widely different matters have frequently been inquired into as one, 
without distinguishing between them, and on the whole no end of 
theories as to the descent of the Eskimo have arisen. Attempts 
have been made to locate the place of their origin in no less than 
three continents. 
The views as to their origin may conveniently be divided into 
three groups. The first connects the Eskimo with the palæolithic 
tribes in Europe or America during and after the glacial period. The 
second makes them descend from Asia, and endeavours to explain 
their appearance in the Arctic regions in connection with historical 
events amongst the Mongols. Finally, to the last group, fall all the 
attempts to solve the problem by absorption in the ethnographical 
conditions. 
The foundation for the assumption that the Eskimo descend 
from the palæolithic inhabitants of Europe is the discoveries made in 
the river-basins and caves of Northern France of bone implements, 
which call to mind Eskimo fish-spear-heads of bone, together with 
carved bone figures of reindeer for example, which likewise resemble 
Eskimo carvings. Special stress has been laid on the finding of 
indubitable harpoon-heads of bone; but in consequence of this, 
attention must be drawn to the fact that the counterparts of the 
appurtenances of bone spigots and peculiar heads of the essential 
Eskimo harpoon have never been found. The discovered heads of 
bone with barbs on one side or on both sides are made according to 
a principle to be met with all over the world. It is only because 
the material is a common one that they resemble the Eskimo heads 
in particular. To the account of the material and the related natural 
conditions and experiences must be written down the other similarities 
which it was thought would be found between palæolithic remains 
and Eskimo articles. Eagerness to find congruities has gone so far 
that it has led to a wish to find spiritual relationship between the 
Eskimo and palsolithie Western Europeans, in that it has been 
thought possible to substantiate that they both evince the same 
remissness towards the dead. Naturally this is a step forward 
amongst the vague conclusions. For geographical reasons alone, 
this theory seems to present itself as an impossibility, which has 
also been proved; but, nevertheless, it on and off appears on the 
surface. 
The idea that the Eskimo are direct immigrants from Asia 
