An Anthropogeographicai Study of the Origin of the Eskimo Culture. 63 
recognized as a valid member. In the next place, the method of use, 
seeing that it is taught from generation to generation, is fully as 
much one of the continuous lines which run through the cultural life 
as is the form of the implements — the unbroken transition of which 
archæology has proved empirically — and finally it is by that degree 
of dexterity and efficacy with which the methods of use are carried 
out that the cultural strength and soundness of the tribe is measured. 
One of the first injurious results of primitive folk, especially hunting 
people, coming in contact with Europeans shows itself in neglect of 
the training in economic methods, and a kind of proletariat arises 
which is incapable of procuring its food, and may be said to have 
neither the one culture nor the other. | 
This, however, is only the one side of the entity and ethno- 
graphical significance of the method of use. Besides their sociological 
independence, the methods of procuring a livelihood are intimately 
bound up with the conditions of nature, and an alteration takes 
place when the conditions of nature change. Such alterations do 
not occur spasmodically. But, from old forms of dexterity, confronted 
with new demands, a new method of hunting or fishing is slowly 
and cautiously developed 
According to this view, the use of the implements is, as has been 
stated, the central and fundamental factor in the material culture of 
a tribe, inasmuch as the meaning of the word “implement” is appre- 
hended in a wider sense. And the trained, concentrated Eskimo 
methods, just on account of their sensitiveness to the conditions of 
nature on the one hand, and their value both to the individual and 
the community on the other hand, become very important subjects 
for study. They represent, so to say, dependence on nature, or 
that part of hunting humanity which unites natural surroundings 
with human culture. This view holds good generally, but the methods 
of use are most easily studied with hunting people like the Eskimo, 
with whom they appear in their purest form, and where the greater 
part of the culture is directly expended on the means for sub- 
sistence. 
If one thinks of such a hunting tribe transferred from its native 
soil to a district, which in some respects presents changed conditions 
of nature, one knows that at first it will try to live in the old way, 
and that only little by little will the new conditions assert themselves 
and have an altering influence on their culture. And it is clear 
that it is through the methods of hunting and fishing employed that 
the influence takes place. At first the old known methods are 
employed, but by degrees new possibilities reveal themselves with 
some of the methods, while others, perhaps, die out; and while a 
revaluation and renewed development takes place amongst the methods 
of subsistence the implements follow suit, and shape themselves in 
