ON ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 
443 
ON AECTIC EXPLORATION. 
ABSTRACT OF MR. F. E. FOX's PAPER. 
(Read October 21st, 1875.) 
Our historical knowledge of the Arctic Regions dates from the 
narrative of the early Norse colonists, who, led by the report of 
Elokko, the pirate, followed Ingulf to Iceland in 874 a.d. In 982 
Eric the Red discovered Greenland. His adventurous son Leif 
introduced Christianity in the year 999, and two years later pushed 
forward the Norse discoveries to the shores of America, when the 
colony of Yinland was soon afterwards established by Thorwald. 
This settlement was visited by a bishop of Greenland in 1121. The 
chief Norse colony retained its connection with Norway till about 
the fourteenth century, when, contemporaneously with the decay 
of Norse power in Europe, the Greenland settlers were eventually 
driven out by the Eskimos. A gap of two hundred years follows, 
during which we have no records of the Arctic Regions. 
The question may now be asked, Who were the Eskimos ? They 
are first spoken of by Thorwald, on the American coast. He called 
them contemptuously Skrsellings — chips or parings. The theory 
brought forward by C. Markham, Esq., c.r., seeks to fix their 
origin in Northern Asia. When Tugrul Beg went forth " to the 
conquest of the whole earth," Shaibani Khan, and 15,000 families 
passing north, became the founders of the tribe of the Iakhuts, 
still existing at the mouths of the Polar rivers. This tribe drove 
out the Omoki (a people of fishermen), the Chelaki (having rein- 
deer), the Tungusi, and the lakhirs. The Oukilon, once numerous, 
are also gone. The ruined remains on Cape Chelagskoi have been 
found identical with those on the shores of the Parry group of 
islands. 1140 miles of unknown sea, or land, or ice intervene; but 
land has been repeatedly seen in this space, since its first observa- 
tion there by Admiral Wrangel. The Eskimos can be traced by 
their relics from Bank's Land to Baffin's Bay, 540 miles. Mr. 
