and the snowhouse, as a more or less permanent winter dwelling prevails east of Point Barrow. Intrusive traits are also present: basketry of coil and twine is common in Alaska; pottery also extended eastward to Cape Parry; the Asiatic pipe occurs in Alaska and the Indian pipe on the west side of Hudson Bay; likewise, some costumes beaded in general Indian style have been noted west of Hudson Bay. All Eskimo are rather ingenious workers with tools, in. this respect strikingly like the tribes of the North Pacific Coast. In Alaska, where wood is available, the Eskimo carve masks, small boxes, and bowls with great cleverness.
These variants all tend to disappear between Point Barrow and Hudson Bay, and it may be noted that they are at the same time traits that occur in Asia, the North Pacific Coast, or the Mackenzie Area (6). Hence, we seem justified in looking toward the east for the typical material culture. From our limited knowledge it appears that the great central group from Banks Island on the west to Smith Sound in North Greenland is the home of the purest traits; here are snowhouses; dogs harnessed with single traces; rectangular stone kettles; and the almost entire absence of wooden utensils; a simple order of social and political life in which the unit is the family; a political chief, in the sense known in Indian culture, not recognized; shamanism rather prominent and comparable to that found in Siberia; great elaboration of taboos and a corresponding requirement of confession; almost no ritualistic ceremonies, but at least one yearly gathering in which masked men impersonate gods; temporary exchange of wives at the preceding; mythology simple and centering around the goddess of the sea animals. Between Greenland and Labrador the differences are small, and apparently due more to modern European influences than to prehistoric causes. The limited study of archaeological specimens by Dall,[1] Solberg,[2] and Boas[3] suggests much greater cultural uniformity in the prehistoric period, a conclusion apparently borne out by the collections made by Stefánsson[4] on the north coast. While this is far from conclusive, it is quite consistent with the view that the chief intrusive elements in
