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The Polar Eskimos as well as the Eskimos in general are 

 distinctly nature people, in the sense that their direct depen- 

 dence on and adaptation to the natural conditions under which 

 they live, is distinctly apparent everywhere in the hfe of the 

 tribe. The varied hunting equipment and the highly developed 

 cleverness in hunting, however, place the Eskimos not among 

 the lowest but among the most developed hunting peoples the 

 world knows. If we divide the hunters into the two cultural 

 categories, lower and higher, we often find the Eskimos placed 

 in the lower class along with the bushmen, the dwarf negroes, 

 the Australian negroes and the Botocudos; but this is by no 

 means right. The Eskimos' culture-apparatus for the main- 

 tenance and security of life is even specially well-developed 

 and entitles us to place them among the higher hunter peoples. 



The Polar Eskimos belong to the group of Eskimos for 

 whom the summer and the winter bring very distinctly different 

 modes of livelihood, corresponding to the great changes in the 

 natural conditions. In winter the surface of the water is solid 

 ice and snow, in summer it is over the greater part a rolling 

 sea. We might indeed speak of a summer culture and a 

 winter culture. The summer culture is characterized by the 

 kayak, the kayak hunting and the summer tent, whilst the 

 winter culture is characterized by the dog-sledge, hunting on 

 the ice and the winter-house. 



For the Polar Eskimos the summer activity is of very brief 

 duration, that of the winter long. As we go southwards along 

 the west coast of Greenland, the summer mode of life becomes 

 more prolonged and the winter mode more restricted. When 

 we come right down to South Greenland, south of the Polar 

 Circle, the dog-sledges and the hunting on the ice quite dis- 

 appear and during the whole year the product of the hunting 

 must be sought for in kayaks on the open sea. Quite a parallel 

 transition is met with along the west coast of Alaska, where 

 the Point Barrow Eskimos mainly pursue the ice-hunting, whilst 



