920 



RjirouT— 188-1. 



I 



If > <* 

 1 



I 'I 



ill 



they eliowed no (liapo.sitioii to intt'iftTe with us, but Sf<'ine(l pi-ciitly piiz/lcil to I(iu)\r 

 what wt! (•(uiu) for. When told tliat we did not wi.«h lo tradf, tlicy gravfly wiitcl.i.l 

 our work of scientific observation, and owini,' to the fact tluit they alwayw found 

 R man writiii;^, they called u.s tin- .Muk-pa-rali, or paiuT men. 



It has been nuide a matter of con^idt'rahlu discussion as to the probable lenf/th 

 of time that tiiis coast hns Ix-en iidiabited by the race of man, and their oriffip. 

 Fnnn their leircnds, the ancient ruins alonu" the coast, and the ;:reat water-course^^ 

 and traces that I found in excavating.', it would ajijiear that they are indi/,''enous to 

 the ice period, that tiicy are contemporary with the polar bear, seal, and fox, tlint 

 tlu'y have followed the ice-cap as it receded to the North, and were never forced t i 

 this inhos])itable rcfiion by the dominant races. 



While excavatiufi' a bhaft fortht^ purpose of taking earth temperatures, we cniii'} 

 upon a pair of wooden snow-jrog;rles, of the same pattern as those worn by th>) 

 ])eo)ile at the present time; showing- conclusively that a people dwelt on Xhtb-j 

 shores many centuries ago, under arctic conditions. 



'I'bat their ancestorsdid not come to this continent from Asia is not so certaii', 

 but many things would go to prove that they did not. 



The language spoken by the people along the whole arctic shore* from Hheriii;: 

 Straits to Greenland is the same, with the tribal dili'ereuces tluit ever occur amoii^ 

 a people Avith an unwritten language, A comparison will show that there is n i 

 similarity between tlm language of the American Inu and the t'hukchee of f^iberia, 

 but that there is a slight sinularity in some words and language of the people livin;r 

 along the shore of tiie Chukcheo peninsula; these ])eople use the dog only, and 

 know nothing about the use of the reindeer, and their language is not that of tlii> 

 Chukcbee. 



Now, if the migration had been from Asia to America, the people would in all 

 probability have carried with them the most useful and valuable of their domestic 

 animals, the reindeer; but there is not a domestic reindeer among the Inu of North 

 America, but we do find a few of the people who use only dogs inhabiting iIih 

 shores of Siberia adjacent to Inhering Straits. They are of a similar physical iy\^i' 

 to the North American Inu, but do not wear the labret, and from their habits it 

 would seem that the migration had been westward instead of eastward. 



The Inu of the western shore is superior to the generally accepted type of 

 Eskimo. Of 1 50 men that we measured and weighed, the tallest was 5 feet 10 inches, 

 the shortest 5 feet 1 inch, and the average weight over 160 lbs. ; and we never saw 

 one that could be called fat : their fur-clad bodies and fiat, round faces give the 

 casual observer the impression that they are short and fat, but, on the contrary, 

 they are all lithe and slender, with remarkably small hands and feet, and possess 

 great powers of endurance. 



There is no form of government known among them — they live in a condition of 

 anarchy. There is no recognised chief and no tribal relations, no punishment 1\ r 

 crimes, no ceremony at marriage, and no belief in future existence. The marrinj;e 

 relations are assumed and severed at the will of the parties interested, and often 

 there is an exchange of wives, all parties agreeing. Wife-whipping is rare. 



They are kind to their children, and such a thing as striking one is unheard of, 

 and the children in return are obedient, and as they attain maturity show thy 

 greatest devotion to their aged parents. 



That the race is rapidly becoming extinct is shown by the fact that in the 

 village of Ooglaamie during our stay there occurred eighteen deaths and only tw* 

 births, and in 1854 Dr. Simpson states that the population of Noowook was nearly 

 400 and Ooglaamie over 300, while we found the population to be 140 and l;]i) 

 respectively. 



9. Customs and Eeligious Rites of the Bladfoet. Bij R. G. Halihurton. 



The author considered the Blackfeet the most remarkable race in America — aa 

 odd combination, thorough savages, possessing singularly distinct vestiges of a 

 very high civili.sation. They had cycles, or great ages, exactly similar to those of 

 the Mexicans and of the itindoos. There are four of these, three of which are 



