142 H. P. STEENSBY. 
and the observations of a social kind which one has from the Delta inhabitants 
show that they are in possession of a specialized Eskimo culture, which already, 
as regards all South-West Alaskan-Eskimo, is so strongly maintained by Mur- 
DOCH in his criticism of Rınk’s theory about the origin of the Eskimo. 
It cannot be said, either, that at the Yukon the Eskimo have a transitional 
form between Eskimo and Indian culture. On the other hand, the Eskimo cul- 
ture from the Yukon and southward has adopted some Indian and also Asiatic 
traits, so that, as opposed to the northern forms, it has in many respects had 
a new and heterogeneous stamp impressed on it. Amongst such heterogeneous 
features may be mentioned the dress, in that the fur jacket is distinguished 
by its length, and by frequently being without a hood, as also by being made 
from the skins of martens, ground-squirrels or birds. Instead of the hood, the 
North-west Indian hat of platted vegetable fibres and roots is now met with 
in the southern Yukon region, Kadiak and the Aleutian Islands. A North-east 
Asiatic influence manifests itself in the building of the houses, in that here one 
finds the Palæasiatic earth-house, which is still employed in Kamchatka. Indian 
influence, no doubt, especially appears in social and religious matters, inasmuch 
as, partly, and after the plan of the North-west Indians, a real tribe-formation 
begins and partly a down-right adoption of Indian customs takes place, such 
as their way of burying the dead in common burying places, with the corpse 
in a wooden coffint, and also the great distribution of gifts at the festivals?. 
Of late there has also been occasion to observe this influence from the south. 
When the Russians came to Yukon only the kayak for one man was known, 
but the kayak for two men customary at Kadiak and the Aleutian Islands gra- 
dually gained ground. That the single-bladed and double-bladed paddle was 
used with the kayak indiscriminately can probably also be referred to the greater 
contact with the Indians, but what RINK assumed, that the single-bladed paddle 
is predominant here, is by no means correct. On the contrary, everything points 
to the fact that it plays a subordinate rôle. Finally it must be mentioned that 
a kind of fish-trap*, which during summer and especially during winter 
is of great importance in the Delta, must probably originate from Asia. It is 
not found further north than Norton Sound, and at the Yukon not above the 
mouth of the Koyukuk4 This distribution, together with the fact that it is 
not known in the interior of Alaska or in the Hudson regions, indicates that 
the fishing apparatus has come to the Yukon Eskimo along the coast, and from 
them to the nearest living Indians on the Lower Yukon from the Delta to Nulato 
at the mouth of Koyukuk. The same group of Indians has been influenced in 
the same way as regards house building, in that they use the same form of house 
as in the Delta, and, as there, collect the houses in settlements. A further descrip- 
tion of these matters is not to be given here, however. It will only be mentioned 
1 Cf. Baunson, II. 
? SAGOSKIN, p. 552. 
3 OGILVIE, pp. 171 sqq. 
SN OCIA 16. 
