formity — or perhaps rather an inclination to develop according to certain uniform lines — is vital to profitable intercourse.[1]
Now the development of the Eskimo culture is marked by an increasing adaptation to the sea. It culminates in southern Alaska in the west, at Angmagssalik in the east. There live those "sea centaurs" — as the Russians call the Aleut — whose hunting of aquatic mammals forms the material foundation of a refined ornamentation, an impressive poetry, and a peculiarly drawn-up religion. The Eskimos have never, however, taken the "continental" side of their culture to any considerable height. What the peoples by the Northwest Passage and Hudson Bay possess in the form of higher culture is for the most part so closely connected with aquatic mammal culture that for this reason alone it was impossible that it could be absorbed by the inland tribes. With this the question is not entirely exhausted, however. There is also the consideration of purely historic facts concerning the mutual relationship of the Caribou Eskimos and the other Central tribes, the direction of their wanderings, and so on, all matters which can better be discussed in conjunction with the problem of their cultural position as a whole. What interests us at present is merely that the situation has also played a part in this connection and, what is more, it is a different part to that which might be expected after a casual observation.
From the point of view of culture the sub-arctic Indians have more points of contact with the Caribou Eskimos than with any other Eskimos, first and foremost because the forms of culture of both are independent of the sea and based upon caribou hunting on a large scale. From a geographical point of view, however, there is a fundamental difference between them, the former being adapted to the sub-arctic forests with loose, deep winter snow, whereas the latter belongs to the open Barren Grounds, where as a rule the snow is as firm as a floor. Some Indian culture elements have found their way to the Caribou Eskimos, but they are so few that their number more nearly causes surprise. Many more might very well have been absorbed without this being prohibited by the geography of the country. We are therefore hardly in error in seeking the explanation of this not so much in geography but in history. Only at a very late date. did the group of Chipewyan with which the Caribou Eskimos are in contact, the so-called Etthen-eldeli or "Caribou Eaters". penetrate from the Mackenzie area to their present hunting grounds. One of the principal causes of their being allured so far east as Churchill River was the building of Fort Prince of Wales.[2] For this reason the
