OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 269 



received as conclusive. This last question is one of great importance in American 

 ethnology. Their system of consanguinity and affinity Avas sought with special 

 interest for the bearing it might have upon the solution of this problem. 



The Eskimo stock are found both in Asia and America. The inhabitants of the 

 islands of Behring's Sea, and Nammollas, or Sedentany Tshuktshi upon the shores of 

 the Gulf of Anadyr, speak dialects of the Eskimo ; and this speech has been traced 

 as far west in Asia as the mouth of the Kolyma River, thus establishing the fact of 

 the spread of this people on both sides of the straits of Behring. Whilst the fact 

 furnishes evidence of an Asiatic connection, irhas no necessary bearing upon the 

 question of the blood connection or non-connection of the Eskimo with the Ameri- 

 can Indian nations. It can be explained as a migration of the same people across 

 the straits of Behring, which interposes no obstacle to such a transit proceeding from 

 either to the other shore ; although it seems much more probable that the Eskimo 

 were originally migrants from Asia, than that the Tshuktshi were migrants from 

 America. Dr. Morton claims that the skulls of the Eskimo exhibit differences of 

 such a marked and decisive character as to justify their separation from the Indian 

 connection, and their transference to the Mongolian. He had reached this conclu- 

 sion from a comparison of physical characteristics before he had examined any 

 Eskimo skulls. " Since writing the chapter on the polar family" (page 50), he 

 remarks : " I have been favored by George Comb, Esq., with the use of four 

 genuine Esquimaux skulls, which are figured in the annexed plate (Plate LXX). 

 The eye at once remarks their narrow elongated form, the projecting upper jaw, 

 the extremely flat nasal bones, the expanded zygomatic arches, the broad and ex- 

 panded cheek bones, and the full and prominent occipital regions." 



" The extreme elongation of the upper jaw contracts the facial angle to a mean 

 of seventy-three degrees, while the mean of three heads of the four gives an 

 internal capacity of eighty-seven cubic inches, a near approach to the Caucasian 

 average." * * * * 



" The great and uniform differences between these heads, and those of the 

 American Indians, will be obvious to any one accustomed to make comparisons of 

 this kind, and serve as corroborative evidence of the opinion that the Esquimaux are 

 the only people possessing Asiatic characteristics on the American continent." 1 



The separation of the Eskimo from the Indian family was one of the striking 

 results of Dr. Morton's original and interesting investigations. Whether his 

 premises are sufficient to sustain this inference, or otherwise, the latter is confirmed 

 by the evidence contained in their system of relationship, which also separates them 

 by a clearly defined line from the Ganowanian family, as well as from the Tura- 

 nian and Malayan. 2 If the American aborigines came originally from Asia, it 



1 Crania Americana, Phila. ed. 1839, p. 247. 



* The specific measurements given by Dr. Morton do not seem to be conclusive, taken alone, in 

 favor of such a separation ; since the differences may be neutralized by comparing the four Eskimo 

 skulls with those of American Indians of the same internal capacity. The whole of the evidence 

 from cranial characteristics is not contained in these specific measurements ; and, therefore, if they 

 are neutralized in this manner, it does not necessarily follow that cranial comparisons are incapable 

 of yielding definite and trustworthy conclusions. For the purpose of illustration we may select from 



