342 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [eth. ANN. 46 



history of the Eskimo, the apparently abrupt step by which these 

 people have been changed from probably inland or riverside in- 

 habitants into a decidedly littoral people, depending entirely on the 

 products of the Arctic Sea ; and he arrives at the conclusion that, 

 although the question must still remain doubtful, and dependent 

 chiefly on further investigations into the traditions of the natives 

 occupying adjacent countries, yet, as far as can now be judged, the 

 Eskimo appear to have been the last wave of an aboriginal American 

 race, which has spread over the continent from more genial regions, 

 following principally the rivers and watercourses, and continually 

 yielding to the pressure of the tribes behind them, until at last they 

 have peopled the seacoast. * * * 



" When we consider the existing intercourse between the inhabi- 

 tants on both sides of Bering Strait, we find many circumstances to 

 justify the conclusion that those traditions of the Greenland Eskimo 

 refer to the origin of the Eskimo sledge dog from the training of 

 the Arctic wolf, to the first journeys upon the frozen sea, and to 

 intercourse between the aboriginal Eskimo and the Asiatic coast." 



Rink, 1886 : 76 " Gronland kann ja nur von Westen her seine eski- 

 moische Bevolkerung empfangen haben. Dasselbe liisst sich mit 

 AVahrscheinliehkeit auch von den niichsten Nachbarlandern jenseits 

 der Davisstrasse annehmen, und wenn wir diese Vermutung weiter 

 erstrecken, gelangen wir zum Alaskaterritorium als der wahrschein- 

 lichen Heimat der jetzt so weit zertreuten arktischen Volkes. 

 Zunachst findet diese Annahme eine Bestiitigung darin, dass die 

 Eskimos hier nicht auf die Kiiste beschrankt, sondern auch liings der 

 Fliisse ins Binnenland verbreitet sind, nur dass der ungeheure Fisch- 

 reichtum dieser Fliisse es moglich gemacht haben kann, dass hier 

 urspriinglich eine noch viel grossere Bevolkerung, als jetzt, sich 

 sammelte, welche durch Auswanderung das notwendige Kontingent 

 zur Entstehung der auf die Meereskiiste beschrankten Stiimme 

 geliefert haben kann." 



Wilson, 1876: 77 " Some analogies confirm the probability of a por- 

 tion of the North American stock having entered the continent from 

 Asia by Bering Strait or the Aleutian Islands; and more probably 

 by the latter than the former. * * * 



" In this direction, then, a North American germ of population 

 may have entered the continent from Asia, diffused itself over the 

 Northwest, and ultimately reached the valleys of the Mississippi, and 

 penetrated to southern latitudes by a route to the east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Many centuries may have intervened between the first 



7a Rink, H., Die Ostgr<">nl:inder in ihrem Verhaltnisse zu den Dbrigen Eskimostammen, 

 Deutsch Geographische Blatter, IX, p. 229. Bremen, 18SG. 



"Wilson, Daniel, Prehistoric man, pp. 343-352. London, 1876. 



