The paper submitted to the Society is upon the Ethnography of Russian
America. For a variety of reasons, the tribes in these parts are of
paramount importance. Inhabiting the most north-western extremity of
America on the coast of Behring's Straits, they are divided from Asia
only by that channel, so that of all the nations of the New World they
are most in contact with those of the Old. This circumstance alone puts
them prominently forward in ethnology; since the _primâ facie_ theory,
as to the population of America, must certainly be in favour of the
passage having taken place through Behring's Straits.
The limits of the Russian possessions in America, or of the
geographical area which we are considering, are not very definitely
determined: at least, the line of demarcation is, in a great degree,
a political rather than a natural one. From Mount St Elias to the
southernmost extremity of Prince of Wales Island, the territory in
question consists of a strip of sea-coast, and islands, with the
British possessions of New Norfolk and New Hanover at the back;
whilst from Mount St Elias northward, as far as the Arctic Sea, the
line of division is imaginary, coinciding with the 141° W. long. It
can scarcely be expected, that a frontier so determined can coincide
with any important divisions, either in physical or ethnographical
geography. Still the area in question is a convenient one.
Considering the remote situation of these extensive and inhospitable
tracts, the knowledge we possess of them is creditable to the
government of Russia. From the time of Behring downward, the coasts
have been accurately described; whilst the communications of the
officials of the Russian American Company exhibit far more than an
average amount of intelligence. For such portions of the present paper
as are not purely philological, the author has drawn upon Baer's
_Statistische und Ethnographische Nachrichten_, &c. Of a Russian
settlement in New California, although American, no notice is taken.
On the other hand, a nation inhabiting the extreme promontory of Asia
(the Tshuktshi) are, for reasons that will make themselves apparent,
dealt with as American. On the southern extremity of Russian America,
the native tribes are known to their neighbours of New Caledonia,
the Oregon country, and to the Hudson's Bay Company, under the names
of Colooches, Tunghaases, Atnas, Coltshanies, Ugalentses, Konagis,
Cadiacks, Tchugatches, and Kenays. For the north, and the shores of
the Arctic Sea, they are dealt with (and that truly) as members of
the great Esquimaux family. Further investigation multiplies the
names of these tribes, so that we hear of Inkalites, Inkulukhlaites,
Kiyataigmutis, Agolegmutes, Pashtolegmutis, Magmutis, &c. &c. To these
divisions may be added the different varieties of the natives of the
Aleutian islands. In the classification of these numerous tribes, it is
considered that much remains to be done.
For the tribes on the shore of the Northern Ocean, and for the parts
immediately south of Behring's Straits, the general character, both
physical and moral, seems to be Esquimaux. The enormous line of coast
over which this nation is extended has long been known. The language
and manners of Greenland have been known to us since the times of the
earliest Danish missionaries; so that details, both physical and moral,
of no savages are better understood than those of the Greenlanders.
With this knowledge, it is easy to trace the extension of the race.
The shores of Hudson's Bay are inhabited by the same stock. So also
is the coast of Labrador. The three forms of speech are but dialects
of one language: a fact that has long been known. Hence the Esquimaux
and Greenlanders have long been recognised as identical. From Hudson's
Bay, northward and westward, the whole line of seacoast, as far as
Mackenzie's River, is Esquimaux; and that with but little variety
of type; either in physical conformation, manners, or language. The
interpreter to Captain Franklin was an Esquimaux from Hudson's Bay, yet
he had no difficulty in understanding the dialects west of Mackenzie's
River, 137° W. Long. (See _Archœologica Americana_, ii. 11.) Three
degrees westward, however, a change in the Esquimaux characteristics
takes place; although the inhabitants of the quarters in question
by no means cease to be Esquimaux. The tribes already noticed may be
called the Eastern, those about to be mentioned the Western Esquimaux.
The dividing line is fixed by Captain Franklin at 140° W. long. The
tribes on each side of this line have _at first a great difficulty in
understanding each other_. Now the line between the subdivisions of
the Esquimaux language coincides very nearly with the boundary line of
Russian America. Hence the ethnography of that territory begins with
the Western Esquimaux.
It is no refinement to state, that, with the Western Esquimaux, we
find a change in the social and moral type, exhibiting itself in a
greater appreciation of the articles of civilized life, both as means
of home use, and as instruments of commercial barter. They resort
annually to the eastern boundary, and exchange articles of Russian
manufacture of seals-skins, oil, and furs. This intercourse is of late
date.--_Archæologia Americana_, ii., 11.
To Kotzebue's Sound and Behring's Straits the same race, with similar
characters, is continued. Of Behring's Straits it occupies _both_
sides, the Asiatic as well as the American. From Behring's Straits
to the Peninsula of Aliaska, and from thence to Cook's Inlet (or
Kenay Bay), every thing is unequivocally Esquimaux, and has long been
recognized as such.
That a statement lately made was no refinement, may be proved from the
third chapter of Baer's work, where he determines the character of the
Esquimaux trade, and gives it as a measure of the intercourse between
Asia and America. It seems referable to two centres, viz., the parts
about Behring's Straits, and the parts about Cook's Inlet. For the
first, the market extends from Icy Cape to the Promontory of Aliaska,
and has for its stations the islands of Behring's Straits. The second
district comprises the Aleutian islands, Cadiack, and the line of the
sea-coast as far south as Queen Charlotte's Island. Now, whatever may
be the amount of Russian civilization, in determining some of the
characteristics of the Western Esquimaux, it is certain that the tribes
of that race now inhabiting Asia, were occupants of their present
localities, anterior to the Russian Conquest of Kamshatka.
A second deviation from the Esquimaux type, we find in the island
Cadiack, and the coast of the continent opposite. The early Russian
discoverers speak of a continual warfare between opposing tribes of
the same stock; whilst another tribe, the Inkalite, is said to uphold
itself bravely against the more numerous nation of the Kuskokwims.
As a general rule, warfare, except as a defence against tribes of a
different race, is as foreign to the typical Esquimaux of Greenland as
to the Laplander of Europe.
Measured by another test, and that of the psychological sort (viz., the
capacity for religious instruction), the Western Esquimaux coincides
with the Esquimaux of Greenland. With the exception, perhaps, of the
Negro, the race, in general, is the most docile in respect to the
influences of Christianity. The religious history of extreme points of
the Aleutian Islands and Greenland verifies this statement.
The extent to which a mixed breed has been propagated under the
government of Russia, may be collected from the following tables. In
New Archangel the population is as follows:--
Europeans, 406
Creoles or half-breeds, 307
Aleutians, 134