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Pe A 
1884. ] The Northernmost Inhabitants of the Earth, 863 
Kane estimated their number at 150, Hayes at 100, and our 
own census led to a result closely comparing with the latter. We 
personally saw 102 individuals, but the entire tribe did not exceed 
this number by more than eight or ten. 
For the sake of brevity we will name these ‘‘ésyato: avdpay"’ 
Itanese, the name being derived from Ita, their most northerly 
settlement at the head of Foulke fjord. It remains to be said, 
however, that the entire tribe is not permanently established 
there, a part of them scattering over several other localities. 
Their extreme northern migrations approximate the 79th par-. 
allel; southward not farther than Cape York. Hedged in from 
the north by the huge Humboldt glacier, from the south by the 
long continued precipitous edges of other ice streams, which up 
to the present time have not received any names, it is evident that 
the field of their rambles must necessarily be of very circum- 
scribed area. Eastward they cannot move because from that 
direction they are barred by the inland ice. In addition to this, 
Superstition as regards evil spirits prevents their venturing far in- 
land. Occasionally, it seems that they cross Smith sound and 
Visit the coast of Ellesmere land. Such expeditions, however, 
are not frequently undertaken, because the ice is exceedingly 
hummocky and scarcely passable on sledges, even should the cur- 
tents and the high winds in this narrow sound permit the forma- 
tion of a continuous ice-covering. 
Doubtless their ancestors inhabited this barren coast for many 
centuries before them. It is hardly possible to determine the 
time at which the latter settled there ; any attempt to do so 
Would lead to useless speculations. It has been believed that not 
only the century but very nearly the year might be determined 
during which the Inuit first set foot upon Greenland ; but in the 
absence of all reliable data we must mistrust such assertions. 
This much we may say, however, with certainty, that the Inuit 
at the time they reached Greenland were typical Eskimos, and 
that since that time, where the influence of the white men has 
not reached them, they have scarcely changed their <u and 
habits, So trifling indeed is the progress which this people has 
made in the course of centuries, that the implements of tribes 
which have been separated from each other for many ss iene 
_ ‘Similar that discrimination between them is almost impossible. 
On the other hand we find a remarkable resemblance between the 
