, 1912-09-14

EApeulllOn 10 the Arctlc seas, who CLAIMS
to have discovered a long-lost European
tribe III Far Northern Canada. The expe-
dition set out in 1905. The first letter re-
ceiyed by Professor Mavor is dated from
Single Point, April %, 1906, the last from
the Mouth of the Dease River, january u,
1911.
\ FAIR RACE OF ESKIMO.
In the course of Il letter dated from
Langton Bay, S%tetansson writes
We have in four Years travelled bv Sled
more miles than amy other travellers in the
Arctic who have tried to live on the conn
try. We have discovered a dense popula-
ton CAS- Eskimos go) in districts labelled
"uuinhabited" IN the "Aburigines of Cana
da,' map issued by the Government. We
have found IA thousand people. and through
them know of another thousand Tin Veto
ria Landl, who never saw a white man, II
rifle, or Il sulphur match. We have lived
with a group ~ these people five months
and know their speech, habits, and condi
tlons. \ point Of some interest is our dis
covery of some people III South Western
Victoria Land who are strikinglv non rs
kimo in type-iu fact. look more like
North-Europeans than Eskimos. Their
speech and culture is Esyimo, though
found one or two words that might reason
ably be thought to be from old Morse.
The most European.looking group (f
which ! saw only II out of 40), the Haucr-
agmut opposite Cape BiNlev, is not isolated
IL the sense that there are fam boards and
eyebrows in many other groups; and there
IS hardly a man west of the Coppcrmine
Mouth who is quite as dark in skin, eve
broWs, and beard as are the Mackenzie Es-
kimos, or the Alaskons.
| have heard stories which lead me to be
Jieye that one or more survivors of Frank
Inns expedition lived for some years
amongst the Eskimos in Victoria Land;
but be that SO, it viii explain nothing. so
far as the South West Victoria Land phNsi-
cal type is concerned If You date the on
gin of the fair type less than Il century
back and assume that the type springs
from the marriage Of white men with rs
kimo women, then a thousand whites mar
ried among the Eskimo would be an insult
ficient number to produce the condition
found 1t seems to me that if admiXturc
Of white blood is the explanation Of the
origin Of the fair type in Western and
South-W Western Victoria Land, then the
only historical event that can explain it is
the disappearance from Greenland between
1872 and the 18th C) century (Hans
Egede's Noyages) of the Icelandic (Scandi-
navian) colony OF 5000 people.
In the same letter Stcfansson SAYS that
he and his party discovered that the rivers
La RonciGrc and MacEarlaue are pure crca-
tons of the imagination, and that they
traced the Horton River, which is larger
than the Coppcrmine, for 400 miles.
THE PosIrIoN or WOMEN.
In a letter dated from Shingle Point.
Arctic Ocean approximately lat go N.
long. 1872 w, on April rs, 1906, Stcfans-
son SAYS
There seems to be nothing in the nature
of a ceremony connected with entering into
c|onjugal relations. There may be, and Of
ten is, an understanding between princi-
pals, bat the essential IS that the consent
of the parents be obtained and then that Of
the prospective bride. A negative from any
Of those three settles it for the time being
otherwise the marital relations are enter
ing into on the day OF the agreement, and
as simply as if they were being resumed
after a short separation among us The
great majority of the marriages seem to be
temporary. If they last beyond the year
the chances are they Will become perma-
nent. For divorces after more than a year
are rare-except where women have left