184 B Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-18 



Another point to be remembered is that the Eskimos of different regions 

 have come into much closer contact with one another during the last few genera- 

 tions. In the Mackenzie delta, for example, one may today find representa- 

 tives of Siberian, central Alaskan, north Alaskan, and Coronation gulf Eskimos 

 living alongside of, or married to, Mackenzie natives proper. String figures 

 are very easily passed on from one tribe to another, and their distribution in 

 pre-European times can hardly have been quite the same as it is today. 



Another difficulty to be encountered is the practical impossibility of securing 

 an absolutely complete collection from any one region. I believe that my 

 north Alaskan and Coronation gulf collections are as nearly exhaustive as 

 could well be obtained, and my Mackenzie delta collection only a little less so; 

 but the collections from the eastern Eskimos, as well as those from Central 

 Alaska and from Siberia, are fragmentary only. The mere fact that a certain 

 figure has not been recorded from these latter places is no evidence that it is 

 unknown there. On the other hand, if it appears in Central Alaska, but nowhere 

 between northern Alaska and Coronation gulf, it is almost certain that it is 

 unknown in those regions at the present time; it may, of course, have been 

 forgotten there, and will recur farther east in Hudson bay, but the probabilities 

 are against this supposition. Similarly a figure that occurs in Hudson bay or in 

 Coronation gulf, but has not been found either in the Mackenzie delta or in 

 northern Alaska, is probably absent also in Central Alaska and in Siberia. 

 Exceptions are always liable to occur, but on the whole these principles will be 

 found fairly accxu-ate. 



The table given below does not include all the figures that have been gathered 

 by others from the Chukchee, Central Alaskan and Hudson bay regions, but 

 only those for which I have parallels from the Eskimos between Alaska and 

 Coronation gulf. The column Eastern Eskimos includes the figures obtained 

 by Boas from Hudson bay and Cumberland sound, together with the five recorded 

 by Kroeber from Smith sound. All tricks and figures requiring the co-operation 

 of two people have been omitted, because they have not been recorded outside 

 of the region from North Alaska to Coronation gulf. 



