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THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Apart from the insular habitat of many of the Eskimo, and the complete separation of those 

 of Greenland from those dwelling on the American mainland, the tribes inhabiting the 

 continental areas are more or less completely isolated from each other. And this separation 

 renders the striking general uniformity in the physical characters of the entire race only the 

 more remarkable. By Dr. Rink the Eskimo have been subdivided into the following sections: 

 (1) those of East Greenland; (2) those of West Greenland, who, as far as lat. 74 N., are the 

 subjects of Denmark, and are comparatively civilised; (3) the Eskimo of Northern Greenland, 

 who are the most uncultured of all; (4) the Labrador Eskimo, for the most part fairly 

 civilised; (5) the Central Eskimo, ranging from Hudson Bay, some 2,000 miles, to beyond the 

 outlet of the Mackenzie Eiver; and (6) the Western Eskimo, from Barter Island to the extreme 

 western limits of Alaska. 



At the time when this classification was 

 made the whole of the Eskimo were sup- 

 posed to be dwellers in tracts situated within 

 a comparatively short distance (fifty miles 

 or so) of the shore, if not on the coast 

 itself, and to subsist entirely by fishing. 

 More recent explorations have, however, 

 brought to light the existence of several 

 inland tribes, who live by hunting, and, 

 unlike the coast people, have more or less 

 intercourse with the Indians, with some of 

 whom they have indeed almost completely 

 amalgamated. To this intermingling is 

 doubtless due the existence of at least three 

 types of Eskimo in Alaska. 



As regards the present number of the 

 Eskimo there are no sufficient data on which 

 to form even an approximate estimate. Some 

 years ago it was indeed roughly estimated 

 that the total number did not exceed 50,000 ; 

 but it is very doubtful if even this can be 

 regarded as a fair approximation to the real 

 state of the case. When a census was 

 made in 1870 of the population of that portion 

 of West Greenland under the Danish Govern- 

 ment, the number of Eskimo was recorded 

 as 9,588; that of the Europeans being 

 237. The population was then distributed 

 among 176 different winter stations, of which only one had more than 300 inhabitants; 

 while in fifty-eight the number did not exceed five-and-twenty. At that time the entire native 

 population of Greenland was considered to be not more than about 10,000. Since the Danish 

 occupation the native population is known to have diminished; and as some years ago its 

 numbers appeared to be nearly stationary, it is unlikely there has been any subsequent 

 increase. In Labrador, where there were six Moravian missionary settlements at the time of 

 writing, Dr. Packard states that the number of Eskimo in 1860 was about 1,400. In a letter 

 to the same writer from London, dated 1887, it is stated that the number of Eskimo on the 

 strip of coast from Hamilton Inlet to Ungava, in Labrador, Avas estimated at 1,500. "The 

 race," says the writer, "is comparatively pure, but there are some half-breeds, for the Hudson 

 Bay Company's employes and other settlers have married Eskimo women. . . . Thirty years ago 

 the number under charge of our missionaries was about 1,200, I expect purely Eskimo; now 

 it is about the same, including settler families." It should be added that in the Danish 



AN ESKIMO MAN. 



