Opuscula: Essays chiefly Philological and Ethnographical

by R. G. Latham

ON THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF RUSSIAN AMERICA.

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BEFORE THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY

19TH FEBRUARY 1845.

The paper submitted to the Society is upon the Ethnography of Russian America. For a variety of reasons, the tribes in these parts are of paramount importance. Inhabiting the most north-western extremity of America on the coast of Behring's Straits, they are divided from Asia only by that channel, so that of all the nations of the New World they are most in contact with those of the Old. This circumstance alone puts them prominently forward in ethnology; since the primâ facie theory, as to the population of America, must certainly be in favour of the passage having taken place through Behring's Straits.

The limits of the Russian possessions in America, or of the geographical area which we are considering, are not very definitely determined: at least, the line of demarcation is, in a great degree, a political rather than a natural one. From Mount St Elias to the southernmost extremity of Prince of Wales Island, the territory in question consists of a strip of sea-coast, and islands, with the British possessions of New Norfolk and New Hanover at the back; whilst from Mount St Elias northward, as far as the Arctic Sea, the line of division is imaginary, coinciding with the 141° W. long. It can scarcely be expected, that a frontier so determined can coincide with any important divisions, either in physical or ethnographical geography. Still the area in question is a convenient one.

Considering the remote situation of these extensive and inhospitable tracts, the knowledge we possess of them is creditable to the government of Russia. From the time of Behring downward, the coasts have been accurately described; whilst the communications of the officials of the Russian American Company exhibit far more than an average amount of intelligence. For such portions of the present paper as are not purely philological, the author has drawn upon Baer's Statistische und Ethnographische Nachrichten, &c. Of a Russian settlement in New California, although American, no notice is taken. On the other hand, a nation inhabiting the extreme promontory of Asia (the Tshuktshi) are, for reasons that will make themselves apparent, dealt with as American. On the southern extremity of Russian America, the native tribes are known to their neighbours of New Caledonia, the Oregon country, and to the Hudson's Bay Company, under the names of Colooches, Tunghaases, Atnas, Coltshanies, Ugalentses, Konagis, Cadiacks, Tchugatches, and Kenays. For the north, and the shores of the Arctic Sea, they are dealt with (and that truly) as members of the great Esquimaux family. Further investigation multiplies the names of these tribes, so that we hear of Inkalites, Inkulukhlaites, Kiyataigmutis, Agolegmutes, Pashtolegmutis, Magmutis, &c. &c. To these divisions may be added the different varieties of the natives of the Aleutian islands. In the classification of these numerous tribes, it is considered that much remains to be done.

For the tribes on the shore of the Northern Ocean, and for the parts immediately south of Behring's Straits, the general character, both physical and moral, seems to be Esquimaux. The enormous line of coast over which this nation is extended has long been known. The language and manners of Greenland have been known to us since the times of the earliest Danish missionaries; so that details, both physical and moral, of no savages are better understood than those of the Greenlanders. With this knowledge, it is easy to trace the extension of the race. The shores of Hudson's Bay are inhabited by the same stock. So also is the coast of Labrador. The three forms of speech are but dialects of one language: a fact that has long been known. Hence the Esquimaux and Greenlanders have long been recognised as identical. From Hudson's Bay, northward and westward, the whole line of seacoast, as far as Mackenzie's River, is Esquimaux; and that with but little variety of type; either in physical conformation, manners, or language. The interpreter to Captain Franklin was an Esquimaux from Hudson's Bay, yet he had no difficulty in understanding the dialects west of Mackenzie's River, 137° W. Long. (See Archæologica Americana, ii. 11.) Three degrees westward, however, a change in the Esquimaux characteristics takes place; although the inhabitants of the quarters in question by no means cease to be Esquimaux. The tribes already noticed may be called the Eastern, those about to be mentioned the Western Esquimaux. The dividing line is fixed by Captain Franklin at 140° W. long. The tribes on each side of this line have at first a great difficulty in understanding each other. Now the line between the subdivisions of the Esquimaux language coincides very nearly with the boundary line of Russian America. Hence the ethnography of that territory begins with the Western Esquimaux.

It is no refinement to state, that, with the Western Esquimaux, we find a change in the social and moral type, exhibiting itself in a greater appreciation of the articles of civilized life, both as means of home use, and as instruments of commercial barter. They resort annually to the eastern boundary, and exchange articles of Russian manufacture of seals-skins, oil, and furs. This intercourse is of late date.—Archæologia Americana, ii., 11.

To Kotzebue's Sound and Behring's Straits the same race, with similar characters, is continued. Of Behring's Straits it occupies both sides, the Asiatic as well as the American. From Behring's Straits to the Peninsula of Aliaska, and from thence to Cook's Inlet (or Kenay Bay), every thing is unequivocally Esquimaux, and has long been recognized as such.