352 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [etu. an.\. 46 



sedentary Tchuktchi on the eastern extremity of Asia is a colony of 

 western American Eskimo. The language does not extend in Asia 

 beyond that tribe. That of their immediate neighbors, the "Rein- 

 deer," or " Wandering Tchuktchi," is totally different and belongs 

 to the Kouriak family. 



" There does not seem to be any solid foundation for the opinion 

 of those who would ascribe to the Eskimaux an origin different from 

 that of the other Indians of North America. The color and features 

 are essentially the same; and the differences which may exist, par- 

 ticularly that in stature, may be easily accounted for by the rigor 

 of the climate and partly, perhaps, by the nature of their food. The 

 entire similarity of the structure and grammatical forms of their 

 language with those of various Indian tribes, however different in 

 their vocabularies, which will hereafter be adverted to, affords an 

 almost conclusive proof of their belonging to the same family of 

 mankind." 



Richardson, 1852 : 12 "The origin of the Eskimos has been much 

 discussed as being the pivot on which the inquiry into the original 

 peopling of America has been made to turn. The question has been 

 fairly and ably stated by Doctor Latham in his recent work On 

 the Varieties of Man. to which I must refer the reader; and I shall 

 merely remark that the Eskimos differ more in physical aspect from 

 their nearest neighbors than the red races do from one another. The 

 lineaments have a decided resemblance to the Tartar or Chinese coun- 

 tenance. On the other hand, their language is admitted by phi- 

 lologists to be similar to the other North American tongues in it-, 

 grammatical structure; so that, as Doctor Latham has forcibly stated, 

 the dissociation of the Eskimos from their neighboring nations on 

 account of their physical dissimilarity is met by an argument for 

 their mutual affinity, deduced from philological coincidences." 



Meigs, 1857 : 13 "A connected series of facts and arguments which 

 seem to indicate that the Eskimo are an exceedingly ancient people, 

 whose dawn was probably ushered in by a temperate climate, but 

 whose dissolution now approaches, amidst eternal ice and snow; that 

 the early migrations of these people have been from the north south- 

 wards, from the islands of the Polar Sea to the continent and not 

 from the mainland to the islands; and that the present geographical 

 area of the Eskimo may be regarded as a primary center of human 

 distribution for the entire polar zone." 



12 Richardson, Sir John. Orisin of the Eskimos. The Edinburgh New Philosophical 

 Journal, I. II, p. .".U.". Edinburgh, 1852. 



13 Meigs, J. Aitkin, The cranial characteristics of the races of men. In Indigenous 

 Races of the Earth, by Nott, J. C., and Gliddon, George R., Philadelphia, p. 206. London, 



1807. 



