278 ETHNOLOGICAL RESULTS 



Institute, copies of a Memorandum which has been prepared upon 

 the subject, and of the papers which were read by Captain Sherard 

 Osborn in 1865 and 1872, advocating a renewal of Arctic explo- 

 ration. 



I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, 



Clements E. Makkham. 



To the Secretary of the Anthropological Institute. 



Keport of the Arctic Commit tee l of the Anthropological Institute. 



The knowledge already acquired of the Arctic Eegions, leads to the 

 conclusion that the discovery of the unknown portion of the Green- 

 land coasts will yield very important results in the science of 

 Anthropology. Although barely one-half of the Arctic Eegions has 

 been explored, yet abundant traces of former inhabitants are found 

 throughout their most desert wastes, where now there is absolute 

 solitude. These wilds have not been inhabited for centuries, yet 

 they are covered with traces of wanderers or of sojourners of a by- 

 gone age. Here and there, in Greenland, in Boothia, on the shores 

 of America, where existence is possible, the descendants of former 

 wanderers are still to be found. The migrations of these people, 

 the scanty notices of their origin and movements that are scattered 

 through history, and the requirements of their existence, are all so 

 many clues which, when carefully gathered together, throw light 

 upon a most interesting subject. The migrations of man within 

 the Arctic zone give rise to questions which are closely connected 

 with the geography of the undiscovered portions of the Arctic 

 Eegions. 



The extreme points which exploration has yet reached on the 

 shore of Greenland, are in about 80° on the west, and in 76° on 

 the eastern side ; and these two points are about 600 miles apart. 

 As there are inhabitants at both these points, and they are separated 

 by an uninhabitable interval from the settlements further south, it 

 may be inferred that the unknown interval further north is or has 

 been inhabited. On the western side of Greenland it was dis- 

 covered, in 1818, that a small tribe inhabited the rugged coast, 

 between 76° and 79° n. ; their range being bounded on the south 

 by the glaciers of Melville Bay, which bar all progress in that 

 direction ; and on the north by the Humboldt glacier ; while the 



1 This Committee consisted of Sir John Lubbock (President), Professor Busk, 

 Captain Sherard Osborn, Captain Bedford Pirn, Col. Lane Fox, Mr. Clements 

 Markhain, Mr. Flower, and Mr. Brabrook. 



