I04 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 9, 1875 



Anything like national or tribal union, however, seems 

 untraceable, although at various periods, no doubt, 

 the small communities of particular districts have 

 united against a common enemy. The only communities 

 which Dr. Rink can trace as anything like permanent 

 are — i. The Family, the tie which unites the various 

 members of which seems to be very strong ; 2. The 

 Housemates, or inhabitants of a house ; for generally, ex- 

 cept recently in some parts of Danish 

 Greenland, one house sheltered two or 

 more families which necessarily had 

 many things in common, and many 

 mutual duties and obligations ; and 

 3. Place-fellows, or the inhabitants of 

 the same hamlet or wintering-place, 

 among whom communism in certain 

 matters was distinctly recognised. 

 Dr. Rink describes with some fulness 

 the principal laws with regard to pro- 

 perty and gain which are recognised 

 as regulating the life of these three 

 divisions of the various Eskimo groups. 



Dr. Rink is strongly of opinion that 

 the Eskimo are an indigenous Ame- 

 rican people, who have been pushed 

 northwards by the intrusive Indian 

 tribes, who are frequently referred to 

 in the Tales contained in the volume, 

 under the name of " Inlanders." In 

 the frequent reference to conflicts and 

 other dealings wiih the Inlanders Dr. 

 Rink finds a confirmation of his 

 theory, but we think it would equally 

 well support a theory which main- 

 tained that the Eskimo themselves 

 are the intruders. We are inclined 

 to think that the theory broached by 

 Mr. C. R. Markham in the R.G.S. 

 " Papers on Arctic Geography and 

 Ethnology" (1875) is quite as con- 

 sistent with all the facts as Dr. 

 Rink's, if not more so. Mr. Markham 

 adduces very cogent reasons for be- 

 lieving that at no very remote period 

 the Eskimo entered America from 

 Asia by Behring Straits, driven to do 

 so by the pushing northwards of the 

 hordes from Central Asia. We doubt 

 if these Tales and Traditions will help 

 us much towards a knowledge of the 

 origin and early history of the Es- 

 kimo. Indeed we doubt very much 

 if we have yet data sufficient to 

 authorise us to pronounce with any- 

 thing like confidence on the subject. 



The volume contains in all 150 Eskimo tales and tradi- 

 tions, some of which, however, are only fragments. They 

 have been taken down from the recital of natives of South 

 and North and East Greenland and of Labrador. A vast 

 amount of material was thus collected, many of the tales 

 being evidently variants of one original. This material 

 Dr. Rink has redacted, "all the variations being most 

 carefully examined and compared for the purpose^ of com- 



posing a text such as might agree best with the supposed 

 original and most popular mode of telling the same story." 

 For general purposes this method is, no doubt, quite 

 satisfactory, but if these tales and traditions are to be of 

 any service in enabling us to trace the origin of the 

 Eskimo, the investigator should have before him all the 

 supposed variations of the same original. By comparing 

 these with each other, and with similar materials obtained 



Womaa with a Child in the amowt or hood (after present fashion). Godthaab. 



from the Western and Asiatic Eskimo, and with the 

 neighbouring Siberian and Indian tribes, we should think 

 it not unlikely that some valuable hints might be obtained 

 as to the Eskimo migrations. No one is more competent 

 than Dr. Rink for such a task, if undertaken without pre- 

 possession in favour of any hypothesis. 



The tales are roughly divided into ancient and recent 

 The former may be regarded as the property of the whole 



