Baron Nordenskiöld[276] thought that the Eskimo might probably be the true "autochthones" of the polar regions, i. e., that they had inhabited the same previous to the glacial age, at a period when a climate prevailed here equal to that of northern Italy at present, as proved by the fossils found at Spitzbergen and Greenland. As it might be assumed that man had existed even during the Tertiary period, there was a great deal in favor of the assumption that he had lived in those parts which were most favorable to his existence. The question was one of the highest importance, as, if it could be proved that the Eskimo descended from a race which inhabited the polar regions in the very earliest times, we should be obliged to assume that there was a northern (polar) as well as an Asiatic cradle of the human race, which would open up new fields of research, both to the philologist and the ethnologist, and probably remnants of the culture and language of the original race might be traced in the present polar inhabitants of both Europe and Asia.
Keane, 1886:[277] "The Aleutian Islanders, who are treated by Doctor Rink as a branch of the Eskimo family, but whose language diverges profoundly from, or rather shows no perceptible affinity at all to, the Eskimo. The old question respecting the ethnical affinities of the Aleutians is thus again raised, but not further discussed by our author. To say that they must be regarded as 'ein abnormer Seitenzweig,' merely avoids the difficulty, while perhaps obscuring or misstating the true relations altogether. For these islanders should possibly be regarded, not as 'an abnormal offshoot,' but as the original stock from which the Eskimo themselves have diverged."
Quatrefages, 1887:[278] From migrations of Tertiary man: Men originated in Tertiary in northern Asia; spread from here to Europe and over Asia; "D'autres aussi gagnèrent peut-être l'Amérique et ont pu être les ancêtres directs des Esquimaux,... Sans même supposer l'existence passée de la continuité des deux continents, les hommes tertiaires ont bien pu faire ce que font les riverains actuels du détroit de Behring, qui vont chaque jour d'Asie en Amérique et reciproquement."...
"Evidemment la race esquimale est américaine. Au Groënland, au Labrador, dont personne ne lui a disputé les solitudes glacées, elle a conservé sa pureté. Elle est encore restée pure quand elle a rencontré les Peaux-Rouges proprement dits, parce que ceux-ci lui ont fait une guerre d'extermination qui ne respectait ni les femmes ni les enfants. Mais, dans le nord-ouest américain, elle s'est trouvée en rapport avec des populations d'un caractère plus doux et des croisements ont eu lieu. Or, parmi ces populations, il s'en trouve de brachycéphales. Tels sont en particulier certaines tribus, confondues à tort sous un même nom avec les vrais Koluches.... Ces tribus sont de race jaune et leur crâne ressemble si bien à celui des Toungouses que M. Hamy les a rattachées directement à cette famille mongole. Les Esquimaux se sont croisés avec elles; et ainsi ont pris naissance ces tribus, dont l'origine métisse est attestée par le mélange ou la fusion des caractères linguistiques aussi bien qu'anatomiques."
Nansen, 1893:[279] "So much alone can we declare with any assurance, that the Eskimos dwelt in comparatively recent times on the coasts around Bering Strait and Bering Sea—probably on the American side—and have thence, stage by stage, spread eastward over Arctic America to Greenland. * * *
"The likeness between all the different tribes of Eskimos, as well as their secluded position with respect to other peoples, and the perfection of their implements, might be taken to indicate that they are of a very old race, in which everything has stiffened into definite forms, which can now be but slowly altered. Other indications, however, seem to conflict with such a hypothesis, and render it more probable that the race was originally a small one, which did not until a comparatively late period develop to the point at which we now find it, and spread over the countries which it at present inhabits."