920 report— 1884. 



they showed no disposition to interfere with us, hut seemed greatly puzzled to know 

 what we came for. When told that we did not wish to trade, they gravely watched 

 our work of scientific observation, and owing to the fact that they always found 

 a man writing', they called us the Muk-pa-rah, or paper men. 



It has been made a matter of considerable discussion as to the probable length, 

 of time that this coast has been inhabited by the race of man, and their origin. 

 From their legends, the ancient ruins alon<r the coast, and the great water-courses 

 and traces that I found in excavating, it would appear that they are indigenous tc> 

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

 they have followed the ice-cap as it receded to the North, and were never forced to 

 this inhospitable region by the dominant races. 



While excavating a shaft for the purpose of taking earth temperatures, we came- 

 upon a pair of wooden snow-goggles, of the same pattern as those worn by the 

 people at the present time ; showing conclusively that a people dwelt on these 

 shores many centuries ago, under arctic conditions. 



That their ancestors did not come to this continent from Asia is not so certain, 

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



The language spoken by the people along the whole arctic shore from Bhering 

 Straits to Greenland is the same, with the tribal differences that ever occur among 

 a people with an unwritten language. A comparison will show that there is no- 

 similarity between the language of the American Inu and the Chukchee of Siberia, 

 but that there is a slight similarity in some words and language of the people living 

 along the shore of the Chukchee peninsula ; these people use the dog only, and 

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

 Chukchee. 



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 the 

 shores of Siberia adjacent to Bhering Straits. They are of a similar physical type 

 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 150 men that we measured and weighed, the tallest was 5 feet 10 inches, 

 the shortest 5 feet 1 inch, and the average weight over 150 lbs. ; and we never saw 

 one that could be called fat: their fur-clad bodies and flat, 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 for 

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

 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 the 

 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 twi 

 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 130- 

 respectively. 



9. Customs and Religious Bites of the Blaclcfeet. By R. G. Haliburton. 



The author considered the Blackfeet the most remarkable race in America — an' 

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

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

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



