hrdi.k-ka] OBHHN AXII ANTIQUITY OF THE ESKIMO 355 



American side — arid have thence. stage by stage, spread eastward 

 over Arctic America to Greenland. * * * 



"The likeness between all the different tribes of Eskimos, as well 

 as their secluded position with respect to other peoples, and the 

 perfection of their implements, might be taken to indicate that they 

 are of a very old race, in which everything has stiffened into definite 

 forms, which can now be but slowly altered. Other indications, 

 however, seem to conflict with such a hypothesis, and render it more 

 probable that the race was originally a small one, which did not 

 until a comparatively late period develop to the point at which we 

 now find it. and spread over the countries which it at present 

 inhabits." 



Tarenetzky, 1900 :-' "Die Frage ist bis jetzt nocb nicht entschieden 

 und wird wahrscheinlich audi niemals definitiv entschieden werden 

 ob die gegenwartig die Nordostgrenze Asiens und die Nordwest- 

 grenze Amerikas bewohnenden Polarvolker urspriinglich aus Asien 

 nach Amerika oder in umgekehrter Richtung zu ihren Wohnsitzen 

 wanderten." 



De Xadaillac -- believed that the Eskimo (with some other aborigi- 

 nal Americans), now savage and demoralized, have issued from races 

 more civilized and that they could raise themselves to the old social 

 level were it not for their struggle with inexorable climate, famines, 

 and lately also alcoholism. 



Jenness, 1928 : 23 "We still believe that the Eskimos are funda- 

 mentally a single people: that they had their origin in a homeland 

 not yet determined ; but we have learned that they reached their pres- 

 ent condition through a series of complex changes and migrations, 

 the outlines of which we have hardly begun to decipher." 



DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS INDICATED BY PRESENT DATA 



The maze of thoughts on the origin of the Eskimo shows one fact 

 conclusively, which is that the necessary evidence on the subject has 

 hitherto been insufficient. From whatever side the problem has 

 been approached, whether linguistically, culturally, from the study 

 of myths, or even somatologically. the materials were, it is plain, 

 more or less inadequate and there was not enough for satisfactory 

 comparisons. The best contributions to Eskimo studies, from the 

 oldest to the most recent, all accentuate the need for further research 

 and more ample collections. 



"Tarenetzky, A., Beitrage zur Skelct-uml Schadelkuodi der Aleuten, Konacgen. Eenal 

 uni] Koljuschen. Mem. Acad, imp d. sc. ix. No. 4. p. 7. St. Petersburg, 1000. 



- Nadaillac. M. de, Lea Eskimo. L' Anthropologic, xm, p. 104. 1902. 



^.Icnncss, D„ Ethnological r-roblems of Arctic America. Amer. Geogr. SoC. Special 

 Publ. No. 7. New York, 1928. 



