Dkcember 2, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



271 



views were disregarded in Canada. Although the principal object 

 of the expedition has failed, its scientific results are considerable. 

 These consist chiefly of the meteorological and hydrographical ob- 

 servations of two years, from the fall of 1884 to the fall of 1886, 

 and other occasional remarks of the observers. The results of 

 these observations are laid down in a meteorological atlas of Hud- 

 son Bay, but it seems to us that the available material is too scanty 

 for constructing the monthly isothermal lines over so vast a terri- 

 tory. The report is accompanied by a plan of Churchill Harbor 

 and York Roads (at the mouth of Nelson River), from the surveys 

 of Lieutenant Gordon. The general track-chart is not very elabo- 

 rate, and in many parts not up to date. Several changes in the 

 coast-line ajtpear, for which no evidence is given ; e.g., the division 

 of the main island of Southampton into two parts. The publication 

 of several charts and plans based on surveys of the expedition is 

 promised at the end of the report. 



ETHNOLOGY. 



The Eskimo Tribes. 



Dr. Rink, who has for a long time maintained the American 

 ■origin of the Eskimo, has published the results of his long-con- 

 tinued observations and studies in the eleventh volume of the Med- 

 deher an Gronland. Fortunately the volume, the publication of 

 which has long been wished for by all students of Arctic America, 

 is written in English, and thus made accessible to a wide circle 

 of readers. Rink has propounded his views on the origin of the 

 Eskimo in several papers, which were published in various journals. 

 He believes that they descended from the interior of Alaska to the 

 ■coast of the Arctic Ocean, and gradually spread eastward. His 

 arguments, which form the first part of his book, are based on a 

 ■comparison of the implements, dress and ornaments, domestic in- 

 ■dustry and arts, religion and folk-lore, and sociology of the Eskimo 

 of the various parts of Arctic America. The results of this investi- 

 gation are, that the hunting-implements are the more highly devel- 

 oped the farther we proceed eastward, that the style of dress and 

 habitations show a gradual approach to the Greenland style from 

 west to east, and that the western tribes occupy a higher stage of 

 .social organization than the eastern ones. Among the customs 

 which prevail among the western tribes, but gradually disappear 

 •eastward, he mentions the use of the labret, and the religious 

 festivals in which masks are used. 



Conclusions drawn from these facts are necessarily open to dis- 

 cussion, as these phenomena may be explained in different ways. 

 I think attention should be called to the fact that all the peculiari- 

 ties of the western tribes may be derived from an influence of the 

 North-west American culture. We have the extensive use of 

 masks, the peculiar wooden hat of the southern 'Eskimo tribes, the 

 use of the labret, the festivals in which property is given away, the 

 houses built on the same plan as Indian houses, the sweat-bath, 

 the existence of slavery, and the high development of the art 

 of carving. The existence of so many similar or identical phenom- 

 ■ena in two neighboring nations cannot be fortuitous. Besides, I 

 have to mention that the folk-lore of the tribes of British Columbia 

 refers to the Eskimo country and to the Eskimo as plainly as pos- 

 sible. The legends of tribes of Vancouver Island speak of a 

 ■country in the far west, where the sea is always covered with ice, 

 where the nights are very long, and where people live who use skin 

 boats. Considering the great uniformity of Eskimo life all over 

 Arctic America, I cannot but conclude that here an immediate in- 

 fluence of the North-west Americans upon the Eskimo had place, 

 .and that west of the Mackenzie we do not find the latter in their 

 primitive state of culture. It is not impossible, that, in consequence 

 of this influence, inventions and customs which were originally Es- 

 kimo (as the kayak) became more neglected than they are in other 

 regions where foreign influences were not so strong. 



But we have to consider several other points. The use of masks 

 representing mythical beings, which is pecuHar to North-west 

 American tribes, is not entirely wanting in the east. The giving- 

 away of property at certain festivals, and the use of the singing- 

 house, with a central fire and places for the people all around the 

 wall, may also be traced as far as Davis Strait. It may even be 

 that the plan of the stone or snow houje of the central Eskimo, 



with elevated platforms on three sides of a central floor, must be 

 traced back to a square house similar to that of the western tribes. 



I will not enter into a discussion of the similarity between Eski- 

 mo and Indian folk-lore, as we are not sufficiently informed about 

 this subject. The few traces which are common to both are so 

 wide-spread that they cannot be considered proof of an early con- 

 nection between these nations. The story of the dog who was 

 the ancestor of certain tribes, the transformation of chips of 

 wood into salmon, the idea that animals are men clothed in the 

 skins of animals, stories of children who were deserted by their 

 relatives and became rich and powerful by the help of spirits, are 

 common to the folk-lore of North-west America and the Eskimo. 



It seems that the only safe conclusions one can arrive at are the 

 following. The Eskimo reached an ice-covered ocean as one body. 

 At that time their religious ideas and implements were similar to 

 what we observe at the present time. They knew the kayak and 

 the sledge, they lived probably in large square houses, they had 

 domesticated the dog, and it is not improbable that they had cer- 

 tain festivals which referred to the seasons or to the sun. Besides 

 this, we are inclined to suppose that they were fishermen, and were 

 accustomed to the use of boats before they came to the Arctic Sea. 

 These conclusions seem to point out that the Eskimo spread from 

 the great rivers of central Arctic America. 



In order to make satisfactory progress in the puzzling problem of 

 the origin of the Eskimo, the influence of the North-west Americans 

 upon their Arctic neighbors, and the origm of the folk-lore of the 

 Tinne and western Eskimo, must be studied. In our present state 

 of knowledge, we can consider the American origin of the Eskimo 

 only a theory, which is more probable than an immigration from 

 Asia. 



The principal part of Rink's book is an excellent treatise on the 

 Eskimo grammar, and a comparative list of the independent stems of 

 the Eskimo dialects. The stems are arranged in alphabetic order, 

 and to each is added the dialect in which it occurs. As the Green- 

 land dialect is by far the best known, it is made the basis of the 

 list, and all other dialects are referred to it. A discussion on the 

 modes of spelling applied by different writers and the probable 

 differences of dialects precedes the linguistic part. We believe that 

 the material for studying the phonetic laws of the Eskimo language 

 is large enough to allow a more thorough investigation, and we con- 

 sider the latter very desirable. Among the contents of the collection 

 of stems, we have to call particular attention to the Greenland 

 words occurring in traditions and in the sacred language of the 

 priests. These words, as well as those which I collected among 

 the central Eskimos, tend to show that many of the Alaskan stems 

 which are lost in the common language still exist in the sacred 

 language, and thus the most distant branches of the Eskimo stock 

 are linked closer together. Besides, Rink has shown that a number 

 of words that were considered exclusively western occur in certain 

 derivations among the eastern tribes. Among these I mention the 

 word silk (' man ') of Alaska, which is found as siirosek in the east. 

 All recent researches tend to show that foreign influences upon the 

 language are very slight, and the difference of dialect is probably 

 entirely due to evolution. 



The work of Dr. Rink will be highly appreciated by all ethnolo- 

 gists, and we have only to add the wish that the learned author 

 will publish the originals of his large collection of Eskimo tradi- 

 tions, which would be highly welcome to students of American 

 philology. F. BOAS. 



BOOK -REVIEWS. 



The Children of Silence ; or, The Story of the Deaf. By Joseph 

 A. Seiss. Philadelphia, Porter & Coates. 8°. 

 The object of this book is to excite interest in behalf of the deaf and 

 dumb ; and the means by which the author aims to do this is by 

 presenting statistics of the numbers thus afflicted, the sad condition 

 in which the deprivation leaves them, and an account of what has 

 been done for their relief. Judged by the lenient standards which 

 one must apply when considering it as a benevolent enterprise, the 

 work is quite successfully done, and throughout urges the reader to 

 a deeper knowledge of the subject than is here available. Re- 

 garded as a contribution to educational science, a less favorable 



