8 JOURNAJL OF RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY 



&quot;an intensely cold climate; about six months day and six months night; 

 predominance of ice and snow; immense archipelagos, and no accessible 

 elevations; good stone for lamps and tools; driftwood, but no timber, and 

 little fruit; polar bear, blue fox, aquatic mammals in profusion, migratory 

 birds, and fish, supplying food, clothing, fire, light, and other wants of 

 an exacting climate.&quot; 



In this environment, in the words of Chamberlain : 



&quot;The Eskimo have conquered a severe and thankless climate by the 

 invention and perfection of the snow-house, the dog-sled, the oil-lamps 

 (creating and sustaining social life and making extensive migrations pos 

 sible), the harpoon and the Icayak or skin-boat (the acme of adaptation 

 of individual skill to environmental demands).&quot; (14: 468.) 



Their ability to successfully master such an environment has 

 aroused the wonder and admiration of all who have studied them. 



&quot;We should be wrong&quot; declares Amundsen, &quot;if from the weapons, 

 implements and domestic appliances of these people, we were to argue 

 that they were of low intelligence. Their implements, apparently so 

 very primitive, proved to be as well adapted to their existing requirements 

 and conditions as experience and the careful tests of many centuries 

 could have made them.&quot; (1. 1: 294.) 



And the world will never forget that of the six human beings 

 who first reached the earth s north pole, four were Eskimo, and 

 Peary voices the conviction of explorers of the frozen north when 

 he says that &quot; no more effective instruments for Arctic work 

 could be imagined and their help is one of the elements with 

 out which it is possible that the North Pole might never have 

 been reached.&quot; (48:42, 47.) 



There is good reason for Haberlandt s opinion that 



&quot;When we consider their technical and nautical skill, their peaceful 

 companionship and their works of art, it is impossible to regard the 

 Eskimo as one of the lower types of civilization.&quot; (22: 144.) 



A sympathetic, yet impartial, survey of the life of this people, 

 will, I think, force everyone to agree with Chamberlain that 

 &quot;to the student of America s past, there can be no tribe, ncr 

 nation, so interesting&quot; as the Eskimo. (15:261.) 



3. SOCIAL ORDER 



The conditions of their habitat and the struggle for existence 

 have necessitated, if the Eskimo were to survive, the two most 

 salient features of their social order isolation and solidarity, 



