498 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 404. 



easy that a particular or peculiar environ- 

 ment is no longer capable of impressing 

 its stamp upon its people and art. 

 Modern culture has to be treated by arti- 

 ficial, not natural, areas, and is becoming 

 so generalized that distinctions of art are 

 disappearing, and we must illustrate it, 

 if we illustrate it at all, in one cosmopoli- 

 tan group. But let us see what these cul- 

 ture areas mean. 



It must have been an untoward chain 

 of circumstances that drove the Eskimo 

 peoples into the frozen zone (areas 1 and 

 2, Fig. 5) occupied by them, for at first 

 glance it would seem that human creatures 

 could not survive even for a year in such 

 an environment; but they found means of 

 living, and withal are a healthy and ener- 

 getic people. But their culture is neces- 

 sarily very circumscribed and exceptional, 

 developed as it was in, or modified by, 

 the peculiar surroundings. These people 

 necessarily have clothing, but as the gar- 

 ments are of skins and furs, the textile 

 art is almost unknovsm. They must also 

 have fire, but their fuel is fat. They ven- 

 ture out in boats to capture the seal, but 

 as they have little wood their boats are 

 made of skins, and are distinct from the 

 boats of other groups. They travel by 

 land also; but their vehicles are on run- 

 ners and made of driftwood and bone. 

 They hunt game, but as this consists largely 

 of marine animals, they have invented pe- 

 culiar weapons and appliances. They 

 build houses, but these are unlike those 

 of any other climate in the world, being 

 often made of whale bones or of frozen 

 snow. They carve curious figures in ivory, 

 bone and wood, but these have no parallel 

 among other peoples. They have no pot- 

 tery, because the climate is not favorable 

 to its development, but also largely be- 

 cause they do not commonly cook their food. 

 Notwithstanding their most dreary and in- 

 hospitable surroundings, they are a clever 



people and invent and use the most cun- 

 ning traps, snares and weapons in the 

 world. They are a cheerful people, and 

 enjoy existence in their way as keenly per- 

 haps as the more favorably situated 

 peoples. 



Can the ciilture phenomena of any other 

 region or climate be as peculiar and re- 

 markable as this? Strange to say, this is 

 not a rare instance of individuality in 

 culture development and characteristics. 

 Take the area marked 4 on the map and 

 note what strange contrasts occur. Area 

 1 has no wood, but in area 4 wood abounds ; 

 there the great cedar and the shapely 

 spruce grow, and the ingenious tribes of 

 Indians have used them extensively. So 

 important a feature of this environment 

 are they that the culture phenomena— the 

 arts— are largely regulated by them. The 

 people go to sea in boats, but they are not 

 boats of skin; they are made of the noble 

 cedar trunk, and the stable craft are well 

 shaped and beautifully carved and painted. 

 The people live in houses, but these are not 

 of snow or whale bones, but of wood of the 

 hemlock. Their houses are also works of 

 art, with carved and painted ornaments, and 

 supplemented by wonderful totem poles 

 sculptured in the most fanciful forms. The 

 hemlock and the spruce have made these 

 peoples a race of builders and sculptors. 

 They do not wear skins exclusively, but 

 have woven garments, because the cedar 

 bark and the wool of the mountain goat 

 make the textile art easy. They do not 

 make pottery, but they carve the yellow 

 spruce into wonderful vessels, spoons and 

 chests, and they have transferred their skill 

 in carving to stone, and now are veritable 

 sculptors, made so because the forest trees 

 of this particular environment dictated the 

 lines in which many features of their cul- 

 ture should grow. 



It is unnecessary to go further into "de- 

 tails, as the reasons are clear for assem- 



