None of this has thrown any light on the origin of the Eskimo.
FOOTNOTES:
[202] Hooper, C. L., Cruise of the U. S. revenue steamer Corwin, 1881. Washington, 1884, p. 99.
[203] Brinton, D. C., Myths of the New World, 1868, p. 23. New York.
[204] Chamberlain, A. F., The Eskimo race and language. Proc. Canadian Inst., 3d ser., vol. VI, pp. 267-268. Toronto, 1889.
Opinions By Former and Living Students
Origin in Asia.—Many opinions on the origin of the Eskimo have been expressed by different authors. Among the earliest of these were those of missionaries, such as Crantz (1779), and of the early explorers, such as Steller, v. Wrangell, Lütke and others. They were based on the general aspect of the Eskimo, particularly that of his physiognomy; and seeing that in many features he resembled most the mongoloid peoples of Asia they attached him to these, which meant the conclusion that he was of Asiatic derivation. Quite soon, however, there began to appear also the opinions of students of man. The first of these was that of Blumenbach, as expressed in his Inaugural Thesis of 1781. In this thesis, more particularly its second edition, he classifies the Eskimo expressly as a part of the Caucasian or white race. But after obtaining an Eskimo skull and an Eskimo body he changes his opinion and in 1795-1806 he comes out with a definite classification of the Eskimo as a member of the Mongolians; and a similar conclusion, with its implied or expressed consequence of a migration from Asia to America, has been reached since, mainly on somatological but also in part on linguistic and cultural bases, by a large number of authors, including Lawrence, Morton, Pickering, Latham, Flower, Peschel, Topinard, Brinton, Virchow (1877), Quatrefages and Hamy (1882), Thalbitzer, Bogoras and numerous others. With all of this, the conception of the Asiatic origin of the Eskimo has not passed the status of a strong probability, lacking a final conclusive demonstration.
A chronological list of the more noteworthy individual statements is given at the end of this section.
Origin in America.—Since the earlier parts of the nineteenth century the opinion began to be expressed that the Eskimo is not of Asiatic but of American origin. Already in 1847 Prichard tells us that there are those who "consider them as belonging to the American family," and he plainly favors this conception.