Gallatin, 1836:[270] "Whatever may have been the origin of the Eskimo,
it would seem probable that the small tribe of the present sedentary
Tchuktchi on the eastern extremity of Asia is a colony of western
American Eskimo. The language does not extend in Asia beyond that
tribe. That of their immediate neighbors, the "Reindeer," or "Wandering
Tchuktchi," is totally different and belongs to the Kouriak family.
"There does not seem to be any solid foundation for the opinion of
those who would ascribe to the Eskimaux an origin different from that
of the other Indians of North America. The color and features are
essentially the same; and the differences which may exist, particularly
that in stature, may be easily accounted for by the rigor of the
climate and partly, perhaps, by the nature of their food. The entire
similarity of the structure and grammatical forms of their language
with those of various Indian tribes, however different in their
vocabularies, which will hereafter be adverted to, affords an almost
conclusive proof of their belonging to the same family of mankind."
* * * * *
Richardson, 1852:[271] "The origin of the Eskimos has been much
discussed as being the pivot on which the inquiry into the original
peopling of America has been made to turn. The question has been fairly
and ably stated by Doctor Latham in his recent work On the Varieties of
Man, to which I must refer the reader; and I shall merely remark that
the Eskimos differ more in physical aspect from their nearest neighbors
than the red races do from one another. The lineaments have a decided
resemblance to the Tartar or Chinese countenance. On the other hand,
their language is admitted by philologists to be similar to the other
North American tongues in its grammatical structure; so that, as Doctor
Latham has forcibly stated, the dissociation of the Eskimos from their
neighboring nations on account of their physical dissimilarity is met
by an argument for their mutual affinity, deduced from philological
coincidences."
Meigs, 1857:[272] "A connected series of facts and arguments which
seem to indicate that the Eskimo are an exceedingly ancient people,
whose dawn was probably ushered in by a temperate climate, but whose
dissolution now approaches, amidst eternal ice and snow; that the early
migrations of these people have been from the north southwards, from
the islands of the Polar Sea to the continent and not from the mainland
to the islands; and that the present geographical area of the Eskimo
may be regarded as a primary center of human distribution for the
entire polar zone."
* * * * *
Abbott, 1876:[273] "It is fair to presume that the first human beings
that dwelt along the shores of the Delaware were really the same people
as the present inhabitants of Arctic America."
* * * * *
Grote, 1875:[274] Basing himself on certain biological reasonings, the
author concludes "that the Eskimos are the existing representatives
of the man of the American glacial epoch, just as the White Mountain
butterfly (_Oeneis semidea_) is the living representative of a colony
of the genus planted on the retiring of the ice from the valley of the
White Mountains."
In a later communication[275] the author expresses the opinion that
the peopling of America "was effected during the Tertiary; that the
ice modified races of Pliocene man, existing in the north of Asia and
America, forced them southward, and then drew them back to the locality
where they had undergone their original modification. * * *
"During the process, then, which resulted in the race modification
of the Eskimos, their original numbers must have been decreased by
the slowly but ever increasing cold of the northern regions, until
experience and physical adaptation combined brought them to a state of
comparative stability as a race."
* * * * *
Baron Nordenskiöld[276] thought that the Eskimo might probably be
the true "autochthones" of the polar regions, i. e., that they had
inhabited the same previous to the glacial age, at a period when a
climate prevailed here equal to that of northern Italy at present,
as proved by the fossils found at Spitzbergen and Greenland. As it
might be assumed that man had existed even during the Tertiary period,
there was a great deal in favor of the assumption that he had lived in
those parts which were most favorable to his existence. The question
was one of the highest importance, as, if it could be proved that the
Eskimo descended from a race which inhabited the polar regions in the
very earliest times, we should be obliged to assume that there was a
northern (polar) as well as an Asiatic cradle of the human race, which
would open up new fields of research, both to the philologist and the
ethnologist, and probably remnants of the culture and language of the
original race might be traced in the present polar inhabitants of both
Europe and Asia.
* * * * *
Keane, 1886:[277] "The Aleutian Islanders, who are treated by Doctor
Rink as a branch of the Eskimo family, but whose language diverges
profoundly from, or rather shows no perceptible affinity at all to,
the Eskimo. The old question respecting the ethnical affinities
of the Aleutians is thus again raised, but not further discussed
by our author. To say that they must be regarded as 'ein abnormer
Seitenzweig,' merely avoids the difficulty, while perhaps obscuring
or misstating the true relations altogether. For these islanders
should possibly be regarded, not as 'an abnormal offshoot,' but as the
original stock from which the Eskimo themselves have diverged."
* * * * *
Quatrefages, 1887:[278] From migrations of Tertiary man: Men originated
in Tertiary in northern Asia; spread from here to Europe and over
Asia; "D'autres aussi gagnèrent peut-être l'Amérique et ont pu être
les ancêtres directs des Esquimaux,... Sans même supposer l'existence
passée de la continuité des deux continents, les hommes tertiaires ont
bien pu faire ce que font les riverains actuels du détroit de Behring,
qui vont chaque jour d'Asie en Amérique et reciproquement."...
"Evidemment la race esquimale est américaine. Au Groënland, au
Labrador, dont personne ne lui a disputé les solitudes glacées, elle a
conservé sa pureté. Elle est encore restée pure quand elle a rencontré
les Peaux-Rouges proprement dits, parce que ceux-ci lui ont fait une
guerre d'extermination qui ne respectait ni les femmes ni les enfants.
Mais, dans le nord-ouest américain, elle s'est trouvée en rapport
avec des populations d'un caractère plus doux et des croisements ont
eu lieu. Or, parmi ces populations, il s'en trouve de brachycéphales.
Tels sont en particulier certaines tribus, confondues à tort sous un
même nom avec les vrais Koluches.... Ces tribus sont de race jaune
et leur crâne ressemble si bien à celui des Toungouses que M. Hamy
les a rattachées directement à cette famille mongole. Les Esquimaux
se sont croisés avec elles; et ainsi ont pris naissance ces tribus,
dont l'origine métisse est attestée par le mélange ou la fusion des
caractères linguistiques aussi bien qu'anatomiques."
* * * * *
Nansen, 1893:[279] "So much alone can we declare with any assurance,
that the Eskimos dwelt in comparatively recent times on the coasts
around Bering Strait and Bering Sea--probably on the American
side--and have thence, stage by stage, spread eastward over Arctic
America to Greenland. * * *
"The likeness between all the different tribes of Eskimos, as well
as their secluded position with respect to other peoples, and the
perfection of their implements, might be taken to indicate that they
are of a very old race, in which everything has stiffened into definite
forms, which can now be but slowly altered. Other indications, however,
seem to conflict with such a hypothesis, and render it more probable
that the race was originally a small one, which did not until a
comparatively late period develop to the point at which we now find it,
and spread over the countries which it at present inhabits."
* * * * *
Tarenetzky, 1900:[280] "Die Frage ist bis jetzt noch nicht entschieden
und wird wahrscheinlich auch niemals definitiv entschieden werden
ob die gegenwärtig die Nordostgrenze Asiens und die Nordwestgrenze
Amerikas bewohnenden Polarvölker ursprünglich aus Asien nach Amerika
oder in umgekehrter Richtung zu ihren Wohnsitzen wanderten."
* * * * *
De Nadaillac[281] believed that the Eskimo (with some other aboriginal
Americans), now savage and demoralized, have issued from races more
civilized and that they could raise themselves to the old social level
were it not for their struggle with inexorable climate, famines, and
lately also alcoholism.
* * * * *
Jenness, 1928:[282] "We still believe that the Eskimos are
fundamentally a single people; that they had their origin in a homeland
not yet determined; but we have learned that they reached their present
condition through a series of complex changes and migrations, the
outlines of which we have hardly begun to decipher."