ESKIMO WANDERINGS INTO GREENLAND 



Arctic coasts, and here they accommodated themselves to an existence which, 

 at the outset, permitted an adaptation of their experiences from lakes and 

 rivers to the sea-hunting which subsequently through the centuries developed 

 them into a people whose purely technical culture and ability to support them- 

 selves within their own territories is unique among men. 



Since they arrived at the sea the Eskimos, according to Steensby's theories, 

 have spread both towards the west and the east, so that, as we have already 

 mentioned, we find their western border on the Aleutic Isles and East Cape 

 in Siberia, whilst to the east we meet them on the east coast of Greenland. In 

 the survey which we will here give to illustrate the ethnographical results of 

 the expedition, we will, however, consider merely their wanderings towards 

 the east. 



Now, what was the reason for all these wanderings? 



Why have the Eskimos never been able to gather in larger colonies, similarly 

 to other people, and seek aid in the fight for existence in the security 

 attendant on great numbers herding together? Where a whole people is con- 

 cerned it is not a sufficient explanation to point to the native restlessness of the 

 hunter, which forces him to exajnine the coasts of the lands and work his 

 way towards unknown hunting-grounds. When the Eskimos spread out so 

 widely across the world it was simply because their means of existence, and 

 the number of animals to be caught, demanded that they must fly away from 

 each other. It took a large stretch of ground to provide the single individual 

 with the necessaries of life ; the fewer the hunters the better were the 

 chances, so they migrated eastward and westward along the coasts in little 

 flocks, as long as they were not stopped by purely geographical conditions. 



It is generally stated and insisted upon that the Eskimos on their wander- 

 ings towards Greenland have followed the tracks of the musk-ox and reindeer. 

 I wish to emphasize that it may be taken for granted that, after the Eskimos 

 discovered the ocean and its great sources of riches, they were only interested 

 in the coasts where the movements of the aquatic animals gave rise to conditions 

 preferable to those offered by the fish of the lakes and the game of the land. 

 For this reason they have for many generations concentrated on inventions 

 which facilitated the catching of food from the sea. The land game often 

 gave an opportunity for great hunting expeditions which resulted in consider- 

 able amounts of supplementary provisions, but they were always looked upon 

 as a subsidiary means of existence. If on their way the Eskimos happened to 

 come across large herds of musk-ox and reindeer, these might occasionally be 

 the deciding factor for the wintering camps, but otherwise the sea route, and 

 the advantages or the difficulties which it offered, must have been the sole 

 determinant for their journeys. In the following we will show more clearly 

 what is the cause of the seals being so closely bound up with the Eskimos' life. 



The high Arctic coasts demand to a greater degree than any other regions 

 a highly developed winter culture. Cold and darkness must be overcome 

 through long and pinched months when there is often no possibility of hunt- 

 ing, and for this period food must be put aside during the more favourable 

 times ; with the food — seal meat — follows blubber, which makes the huts as 

 warm as summer for women and children. Cold houses are regarded as being 

 more dreadful than anything else. 



To begin with the food, it is necessary to point out at once the way in 



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