of a once numerous race, there may afterwards be an opportunity from his data of making comparisons and reaching definite ethnological conclusions. At present the Eskimos, as a race, are an unexplored and unexploited people, and much of their origin and history is still conjecture, though the proof of the great similarity between the dialects of different tribes would give confirmation to the theory of a common parentage at no remote date. As will be seen in "The People of the Polar North," at least three distinct groups, viz. an American Eskimo group, apparently arriving from South Ellesmere Land or perhaps even from Baffin Land, the Cape York Eskimos, and the so-called West Greenlanders, had little or no difficulty in making themselves mutually understood. And it should not be forgotten that within the memory of man there had been no association between these same groups. The East Greenlanders, whose dialect presents many points of similarity with the rest, might have been mentioned in the list, but I have excluded them, as it is not strictly correct to assert that there has been no association until recent times between them and the West Greenlanders.
In June 1902 the "Danish Literary Expedition"[1] left Copenhagen for South-West Greenland, en route for Cape York, the three principal members of it being Mr. L. Mylius-Erichsen (whose interesting diary has not so far been published in English), Mr. Knud Rasmussen, and Lieutenant Count Harald Moltke, the artist.
Each was responsible for a special section of the work, and all of them had had previous experience in Arctic travelling. Mr. Rasmussen was peculiarly fitted to win the confidence and affection of the Eskimos, and to acquire an intimate knowledge
- ↑ This Expedition was originally a private venture, the only public support it received being a donation from the Carlsberg Fund, Copenhagen; but on its return, the importance of its results both from the geographical and ethnological points of view were regarded as so considerable that the expenses incurred were taken over and defrayed by the State.
