It is not so with the Eskimos of Russian America, and the parts that look upon the Pacific. These are so far from being separated by any broad and trenchant line of demarcation from the proper Indians or the so-called Red Race, that they pass gradually into it; and that in respect to their habits, manner, and appearance, equally. So far is this the case that he would be a bold man who should venture, in speaking of the southern tribes of Russian America, to say here the Eskimo area ends, and here a different area begins.
Whenever this has been done, it has been done on the strength of an undue extension of the phenomena of the Eskimo area on the Atlantic; it being supposed that as the Eskimo and Indians differ unequivocally on one side of the continent, they must needs do so on the other also—a natural, but a hasty and incorrect assumption.
Beginning with the Eskimo of the parts between Asia and America, the first we meet with are—
The Aleutians.—The inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, properly so-called (i.e., of Behring's and Copper Islands), of the Rat-Islands, of the Andreanowsky Islands, of the Prebülowüni-Islands, of Unalashka, and of Kadiak, are all Eskimo; a fact which numerous vocabularies give us full means of ascertaining. In respect to the difference of speech between particular islands, there is external evidence that it is considerable. The people of Atcha have a difficulty in understanding the Unalashkans, and vice versâ. Again, the Kadiak vocabulary, as found in Lisiansky, differs very notably from the Unalashkan of the same author; indeed, I doubt whether the two languages are mutually intelligible.
The Namollos.—These are the Asiatic Eskimo of the Continent. The distribution is along the coast from Tshuktshi-Noss to the mouth of the Anadyr; from each of which we have vocabularies in Klaproth's Asia Polyglotta. In respect to their position in Asia, two views may be taken.
1. That they are the aborigines of the country which they inhabit, and, consequently, that they are an older stock than those of America.—This is favoured by the fact, that habitations of a Namollo character have been found in the country of Tshuktshi, and even in that of the Yukahiri.
2. That they are of comparatively recent date as Asiatics, and, as such, but offsets from the parent stock in America.—This is favoured by the similarity of language; since the differences between the Namollo and the American Eskimo are not such as indicate a very long separation.
The Konægi.—Occupants of the Island of Kadiak, and of the Peninsula of Aliaska.
The Tshugatsi.—These are the natives of Prince William's Sound, closely allied to the Kadiaks. According to tradition, they came from the North.
This is the proper place for noticing an element in the traditions, or rather in the mythology, of the Eskimo of these parts. All or most of them agree in deriving their origin from one or two animals—the raven or dog. Now the Tshugatsi take their descent from the dog.