sional use of the Plains warclub; greater use of edible roots (camas, etc.) and berries, some use of acorns, as in California; the handled digging-stick; roasting in holes (especially camas), and the pounding of dried salmon; a temporary summer house of bark or rushes; twine basketry prevailed; the sewed rush mat; costume like the central group. The art, social, and ceremonial traits of the North all thin out as we move southward.
5. Eskimo Area. The chief résumés of Eskimo culture have been made by Boas,[1] who divides them into nine or more groups, as follows: the Greenland Eskimo; the Eskimo of southern Baffin Land and Labrador; the Eskimo of Melville Peninsula, North Devon, North Baffin Land, and the northwest shore of Hudson Bay; the Sagdlirmiut of Southampton Island; the Eskimo of Boothia Felix, King William Land, and the neighboring mainland; the Eskimo of Victoria Island and Coronation Gulf; the Eskimo between Cape Bathurst and Herschel Island, including the mouth of the Mackenzie River; the Alaskan Eskimo; and the Yuit of Siberia. When we consider the fact that the Eskimo are confined to the coast line, and stretch from the Aleutian Islands to eastern Greenland, we should expect lack of contact in many parts of this long chain to give rise to many differences. While many differences do exist, the similarities are striking, equal, if not superior, in uniformity to those of any other culture area. However, our knowledge of these people is far from satisfactory, making even this brief survey quite provisional.
The mere fact that they live by the sea, and chiefly upon sea food, will not of itself differentiate them from the tribes of the North Pacific Coast; but the habit of camping in winter upon sea ice and living upon seal, and in the summer, upon land animals, will serve us. Among other traits the kayak and "woman's boat," the lamp, the harpoon, the float, woman's knife, bowdrill, snow goggles, the trussed-bow, and dog traction, with the sled, are almost universal and, taken in their entirety, rather sharply differentiate Eskimo culture from the remainder of the continent. The type of winter shelter varies considerably, but the skin tent is quite universal in summer,
- ↑ Boas, 1907. I.
