Rink, 1875:[235] "If we suppose the physical conditions and the climate of the Eskimo regions not to have altered in any remarkable way since they were first inhabited, their inhabitants of course must originally have come from more southern latitudes, * * * it appears evident on many grounds that such a southern tribe has not been a coast people migrating along the seashore, and turning into Eskimo on passing beyond a certain latitude, but that they have more probably emerged from some interior country, following the river banks toward the shores of the polar sea, having reached which they became a coast people, and, moreover, a polar-coast people. The Eskimo most evidently representing the polar-coast people of North America, the first question which arises seems to be whether their development can be conjectured with any probability to have taken place in that part of the world. Other geographical conditions appear greatly to favor such a supposition * * *. The rivers taking their course to the sea between Alaska and the Coppermine River, seem well adapted to lead such a migrating people onward to the polar sea. * * *
"The probable identity of the 'inlanders' with the Indians has already been remarked on. When the new coast people began to spread along the Arctic shores, some bands of them may very probably have crossed Bering Strait and settled on the opposite shore, which is perhaps identical with the fabulous country of Akilinek. On the other hand, there is very little probability that a people can have moved from interior Asia to settle on its polar seashore, at the same time turning Eskimo, and afterwards almost wholly emigrated to America.
"On comparing the Eskimo with the neighboring nations, their physical complexion certainly seems to point at an Asiatic origin; but, as far as we know, the latest investigations have also shown a transitional link to exist between the Eskimo and the other American nations, which would sufficiently indicate the possibility of a common origin from the same continent."
Rink, 1875:[236] "The author, who has traveled and resided in Greenland for 20 years, and has studied the native traditions, of which he has preserved a collection, considers the Eskimo as deserving particular attention in regard to the question how America has been originally peopled. He desires to draw the attention of ethnologists to the necessity of explaining, by means of the mysterious early history of the Eskimo, the apparently abrupt step by which these people have been changed from probably inland or riverside inhabitants into a decidedly littoral people, depending entirely on the products of the Arctic Sea; and he arrives at the conclusion that, although the question must still remain doubtful, and dependent chiefly on further investigations into the traditions of the natives occupying adjacent countries, yet, as far as can now be judged, the Eskimo appear to have been the last wave of an aboriginal American race, which has spread over the continent from more genial regions, following principally the rivers and watercourses, and continually yielding to the pressure of the tribes behind them, until at last they have peopled the seacoast. * * *
"When we consider the existing intercourse between the inhabitants on both sides of Bering Strait, we find many circumstances to justify the conclusion that those traditions of the Greenland Eskimo refer to the origin of the Eskimo sledge dog from the training of the Arctic wolf, to the first journeys upon the frozen sea, and to intercourse between the aboriginal Eskimo and the Asiatic coast."
Rink, 1886:[237] "Grönland kann ja nur von Westen her seine eskimoische Bevölkerung empfangen haben. Dasselbe lässt sich mit Wahrscheinlichkeit auch von den nächsten Nachbarländern jenseits der Davisstrasse annehmen, und wenn wir diese Vermutung weiter erstrecken, gelangen wir zum Alaskaterritorium als der wahrscheinlichen Heimat der jetzt so weit zertreuten arktischen Volkes. Zunächst findet diese Annahme eine Bestätigung darin, dass die Eskimos hier nicht auf die Küste beschränkt, sondern auch längs der Flüsse ins Binnenland verbreitet sind, nur dass der ungeheure Fischreichtum dieser Flüsse es möglich gemacht haben kann, dass hier ursprünglich eine noch viel grössere Bevölkerung, als jetzt, sich sammelte, welche durch Auswanderung das notwendige Kontingent zur Entstehung der auf die Meeresküste beschränkten Stämme geliefert haben kann."
Wilson, 1876:[238] "Some analogies confirm the probability of a portion of the North American stock having entered the continent from Asia by Bering Strait or the Aleutian Islands; and more probably by the latter than the former. * * *