THE ESKIMOS 



sea. Fishing, sealing, and walrus-hunting are their 

 staple pursuits ; their knowledge of the land itself 

 is limited to the few miles they tramp to their fox- 

 traps, and the longer journeys that they make in 

 the spring on the tracks of the reindeer. They 

 tell of a vast rolling wilderness behind the rocky 

 heights that front the sea ; of untold miles of crisp 

 moss upon which no man has ever trodden. Their 

 words bring up an awesome picture of a bare and 

 desolate waste, silent but for the twittering of birds 

 and the dismal howling of the hungry wolf, or the 

 even more dismal howling of the wind. An un- 

 known land ! With nothing to tempt the seeker 

 for wealth, and little to attract the hardy explorer, 

 it remains, year after year, wrapped in its awful 

 solitude. The footsteps of pioneers have already 

 crossed the wilderness, but behind the rocky height 

 of the Eskimo Labrador the solitude remains. 



Here and there along the coast line of this lonely 

 land are little clusters of huts and tents, and in 

 them dwell the people who have made it their home 

 the Innuit race, " the People," as they call them- 

 selves, better known as the Eskimos. 



How they came to the land is a matter for con- 

 jecture. A study of their features and habits and 

 language brings me to the conclusion that they are 

 physically allied to the Mongols of Asia ; they are 

 obviously identical with the Eskimos of Greenland, 

 and closely related to those of Alaska. 



And so it seems likely that in bygone times 

 their forefathers dwelt upon the Siberian coast. 

 Perhaps their adventurous spirit drove them forth, 

 perhaps tribal warfare made them fly for their lives ; 

 however that may have been, it seems that they 



