The following account of the Central Eskimo contains chiefly the results
of the author’s own observations and collections made during a journey
to Cumberland Sound and Davis Strait, supplemented by extracts from the
reports of other travelers. The geographical results of this journey
have been published in a separate volume.[1] A few traditions which were
considered unsuitable for publication by the Bureau of Ethnology may be
found in the Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie,
Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, 1887. The linguistic material collected
during the journey will be published separately.
Owing to unfortunate circumstances, the larger portion of the author’s
collections could not be brought home, and it has therefore been
necessary, in preparing this paper, to make use of those made by C. F.
Hall, 1860-1862 and 1865-1869; W. Mintzer, 1873-’74, and L. Kumlien,
1877-’78. Through the kindness of Professor Otis T. Mason, I was allowed
to make ample use of the collections of the National Museum and have
attached its numbers to the specimens figured. The author’s collection
is deposited in the Museum für Völkerkunde at Berlin. I am indebted to
the American Museum of Natural History; to Mr. Appleton Sturgis, of New
York; to Captain John O. Spicer, of Groton, Conn.; and to Mrs. Adams,
of Washington, D.C., for several figures drawn from specimens in their
possession.
[Footnote 1: Baffin-Land. Geographische Ergebnisse einer in den
Jahren 1883 und 1884 ausgeführten Forschungsreise. Von Dr. Franz
Boas. (Ergänzungsheft No. 80 zu »Petermanns Mitteilungen«.) Gotha:
1885.]