362 ANTHROPOLOGICAL SURVEY IN ALASKA [ETH.iNs.46 



no more diminishes; children and young people are now much in 

 evidence, hygienic and economic conditions have improved, and the 

 people in general are well advanced in civilization. Their condition 

 and morale are rather superior, in places very perceptibly so, to 

 those of the majority of the Alaska Indians. 



3. Except where there has been more contact with whites, a 

 large percentage of these Eskimo are still full bloods. They are a 

 sturdy, cheerful, and liberal yet shrewd lot. They intermarry and 

 mix not inconsiderably among themselves (between villages). Some 

 of the white traders have married Eskimo women and raised prom- 

 ising families. Where larger numbers of whites were or are in prox- 

 imity clandestine mixture is apparent. The better educated show 

 often decidedly good mental, mechanical, business, and artistic abil- 

 ities. In the isolated localities, such as St. Lawrence Island, the 

 people have apparently escaped the period of demoralization that so 

 often attends the passing from the old to new conditions. 



Tuberculosis and venereal diseases are present but not prevalent; 

 rachitis seems absent. The people show much endurance, but lon- 

 gevity as yet is not much in evidence. Alcoholism is almost non- 

 existent except on occasions when drink is provided by whites. 



4. The region of the western Eskimo shows a former larger popu- 

 lation of the same people. This is attested by many " dead " villages 

 and old sites. And this population evidently goes back some cen- 

 turies at least, for some of the remains are extensive and both their 

 depth and their contents give the impression of prolonged duration ; 

 (hough seemingly all thus far seen could be comprised within the 

 Christian era. 



5. No habitations or remains belonging to a distinct people (In- 

 dians) have thus far come to light anywhere within the territory 

 of the western Eskimo; and no trace has as yet been found of 

 anything human that could be attributed to greater antiquity than 

 that of the Eskimo. But the older beaches and banks where such 

 remains might have existed have either been covered with storm - 

 driven sands and are now perpetually frozen, or they have been 

 "cut" away and lost; and there seems no hope for finding such re- 

 mains in the interior away from the sea or streams, for such parts 

 were never under recent geological conditions favorable for human 

 habitation. 



6. The now known remains consist of the ruins of dwellings and 

 of accumulated refuse, the two together forming occasionally marked 

 elevated heaps or ridges. Some of these ridges are over 18 feet deep. 

 They contain many archeological specimens of stone, ivory, wood, and 

 bone. The ivory in the older layers is more or less " fossilized." The 

 upper layers of such remains usually contain some articles of white 



