The Washington times., 1910-01-17
ORIGIN OF ESKIHOS
EXPLAINED BY PEARY
North Pole Discoverer Be
lieveS Them Remnants of
Siberian Tribe.

NEW YORK Jan I7.-Commander
Robert F. Peary gives. in the February
Number OF HamptOD-s Magazine. TO be
published tomorrow, his own solution
to a riddle that has puzzled explorers
and scientists for the past few cen
turies-the origin Of the Eskimos.
The commander IN this second INSTALL
ment Of his story Of the discovery Of the
North Pole. reveals the Importance Of
welI-trsined Eskimos in Arctic travel.
and. incidentally, gives a sketch OF the
Greenland tribe that he himself en-
plcyed- He says
The members Of this little tribe in
habHiug the western coast OF Greenland
from cape York 10 Etah are IN many
ways quite different from the Eskimos
Of Danish Greenland. OF those Of any
other Arct De- territory
Savsges, But Not Savages.
There are now between ID and go
in the TRIBE. They are savages, but
they are rot savage, they are without
government, bit they are not Iawless
they arc utterly uncducated according
10 our standard. yet they exhibit re-
rnarkabIe degree Of Intelligence In tenn
permanent like children, with All a
childs delight IN little things, they are
nevertheless enduring as the most ma
tured OF civilized men and women, and
the best Of tfem TO faithful unto
death without religion and having no
idea Of Cod they viii share IA air last
neal with anyone VINO is hungry. while
. ne aged and the helpless among them
course They are healthy and pure
blooied- JHev have no vices. no inJoxi-
csuts- no bad Habirs-not even gam
bling AILogeth ~. they are people
al =
friend Of mine calls them phiiosophic
anarchists of the North.
II have been studying the Eskimos
eighteen years. and no more effective in
strument for Arctic work could be i'm
Eiued than these plump. bronze
skinned keeu-eyed, and biack-maned
children Of nature Their very iimita-
lions were their most valuable pndow-
mentS for the purposes Of my work
There IS theory. first advanced by
Sir Clements Markham. president Of the
Royal GeuEra DhicaI Society or London.
that the EskimOs are the remnants OF
a.. ancient Siberian tribe. the onki'ou.
that the last members Of this tribe We're
driven out in tn Arctic ocean by the
fierce waves Of Tartar inya sion in the
Middle Ages. and that they found their
way 10 the New Siberian Islands. thence
eastward over lands Yet undiscovered
70 Grinnell Land and Greenland. 7 am
inclined TO believe iU the truth of this
theory for the following reasons
OF Monaghan Type.
Some Of the Eskfuos are Of a dis
tinctIy Monaghan type. and they dis
pisv many Oriental characteristics. such
~ mini~rr, ingenuity. and patience in
mechanical duplication There is 2
strong resemblance between their stone
houses and the ruins Of houses found
IN Siberia. The Eskimo Eirl brought
home ov Mr. Fearv iu 1919 was mis-
taken by Cinnamon for one Of their own
people ~ has heeu suggested that their
Invocation OF the spirits Of their dead
may be survival Of Asiatic ancestor
worship.
Other parts or the narrative tell OF
the fora and fauna OF the Arctic
Tn some places says the Comman-
ger IN TINS coast in summer. the grass
IS thick and long as or a New England
farm POppies bloom here with daud,-
hons b-tte-Cuns- and ssNifraEe- though
20 the oCs- ~ nv knowledge the TOW
erS are all devoid Of perfume. I have
seen buugbIebees even north Of Whale
sound there are flies and mosquitoes
and even = few spiders Among tho
fauna or this country are the deer the
Greenland caribou the foX-both blue
and whiteNhe Arctic hare, the polar
bear. and perhaps once IN n generation
a stray WOLF