NO.    I  ARCHEOLOGY   OF   ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND — COLLINS  3 
the  region  lying  south  of  Hudson's  Bay  instead  of  the  interior  of  Alaska.  Here 
one  stream  should  have  branched  ofiF  to  populate  the  peninsula  of  Labrador, 
while  the  main  body  pushed  north  along  the  western  shore  of  Hudson's  Bay  to 
settle  in  the  Arctic  Archipelago  and  finally  reach  Greenland  (as  Dr.  Rink  be- 
lieves) by  way  of  Smith  Sound,  leaving  the  traces  of  their  journey  in  the  ruined 
iglus  and  other  relics  now  found  far  north  of  the  present  range  of  any  Eskimos  on 
the  west  of  Baffin's  Bay. 
Leaving  their  original  home — apparently  before  the  Labradorians  branched 
off — another  large  body  should  have  continued  on  to  the  north,  in  the  network 
of  lakes  and  rivers,  always  keeping  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  until  they 
were  able  to  pass  to  the  west  by  way  of  the  basin  of  the  Yukon.  Here  they 
would  again  divide,  one  body  going  down  the  Mackenzie  to  spread  east  to 
Cape  Bathurst  and  west  past  Point  Barrow  to  Bering  Strait  and  on  into  Asia. 
The  other  body  should  have  passed  down  the  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  and 
spread  along  the  coast,  growing  more  and  more  modified  in  the  south  by  their 
new  and  peculiar  environment.  It  will  be  seen  that  from  my  point  of  view  the 
Southern  Alaskans  are  not  primitive,  but  highly  specialized  Eskimos,  who  have 
brought  with  them  into  a  comparatively  fertile  and  temperate  region  the  arts 
which  originated  under  far  different  surroundings.    [Murdoch,  1888,  pp.  129,  130.] 
Boas  likewise  thought  that  the  original  home  of  the  Eskimos  was 
in  the  Central  regions,  west  of  Hudson  Bay.  He  was  led  to  this  belief 
principally  by  the  evidence  of  folklore : 
....  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  more  ancient  forms  of  customs 
and  traditions  are  found  west  of  Baffin  Bay.  In  this  way  we  are  led  to  conclude 
further  that  the  Eskimo  migrated  by  way  of  Baffin  Land  to  Greenland  and 
Labrador.  The  natives  of  Labrador  and  the  south  coast  of  Baffin  Land,  believe 
that  the  events  told  in  their  traditions  occurred  in  the  far  north.  Those  of  Fury 
and  Hecla  Strait  point  south  and  south-west  to  the  American  continent.  The 
Western  Eskimo  refer  to  the  east  as  the  place  where  their  heroes  performed 
their  exploits.  Therefore,  it  seems  probable  that  the  lake  region  west  of 
Hudson  Bay  was  the  home  of  the  Eskimo.    [Boas,  1888  b,  p.  39.] 
Confirmatory  evidence  of  the  central  origin  of  the  Eskimos  seemed 
also  to  have  been  provided  by  the  findings  of  the  Jesup  North  Pacific 
Expedition  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  carried  out 
under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Boas.  The  reports  of  the  expedition  in- 
cluded a  number  of  valuable  studies  on  the  languages,  material  culture, 
and  social  organization  of  the  tribes  of  the  North  Pacific  coast  of 
America  and  of  eastern  Siberia  by  Boas,  Swanton,  Bogoras,  Jochelson, 
Laufer,  and  Teit;  and  on  the  archeology  of  British  Columbia  and 
Washington  by  Harlan  I.  Smith.  An  outstanding  accomplishment  of 
the  Jesup  expedition  was  the  clear  demonstration  of  cultural  affinities 
existing  between  these  now  separated  tribes.  Some  of  the  resem- 
blances, particularly  in  the  field  of  folklore,  were  remarkably  close 
and  led  to  the  formulation  of  the  theory  that  there  had  been  in  the 
