Evening star., 1942-07-16
Of Stors, Mem
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
Bu Thomas r. Henry.

| by 1HOTIdS n. HeVV.
Anomalous among races are the people
of the desolate, fog-bound Aleutian
Islands.
They are not, strictly speaking. Indians
or Eskimos, say anthropologists OF the
Smithsonian Institution. Only during
the past two decades has much scientific
study been devoted to their origins or to
the history of their bleak habitat before
the discovery by the Russians In 174l.
| 1t now generally is admitted that
North America was peopled from Eastern
I Asia by way of Alaska. This was a slow,
| unorganized migration probably extend
| ing over thousands Of years and COM
| posed of physically and culturally diverse
| peoples of a basic Mongoloid stock, the
ancestors of the various Indian tribes
and of the Eskimos.
The migration eastward took various
routes. There can be little doubt but
that one of these was by way of the
Commander and Aleutian Islands
stretching like chain of stepping stones
| between the two continents.
The ancestors Of the present Aleuts
migrating peoples or, according to &C
cumulating evidence, they may have
been an earlier group of migrants who
| were turning back to Asia again.
Physically the Aleuts stand alone.
They belong to the great Mongoloid
oil hn
peoples of Eastern Asia, the Eskimos and
the American Indians. But they can be
classed neither as Eskimos nor Indians,
although carrying some of the character
istics of both peoples. They are among
the broadest-headed races on earth. The
ratio of the length to the breadth of the
skull, the so-called "cephalic index" is
most useful devices of anthropologists in
determining racial relationships.
Eskimos are relatively narrow
skulled people. The ratio generally in
creases from Greenland westward, but
the Alaskan Eskimos have an index
considerably below that of the Aleut.
So do most of the Indian tribes. Perhaps
the nearest approach is found among the
Athabascans, presumably the latest pre-
white migrants to cross from Asia to
North America Their principle repre-
sentatives today are the Navajos of the
Southwest.
Otherwise, however, the Aleuts do not
match the Athabascans. They have a
superficial Eskimoid appearance, due in
part to a similar habitat and way of life.
There are various theories to account
for their anomalous position among the
earths races. One is that they are
basically Eskimos.
Another hypothesis is that their ply
sical characters may have arisen as q
result of their bleak environment,
through the constant survival OF the
fttest over many generations.
Their language, usually divided into
two dialects spoken respectively In the
East and West of the island chain, is
closer to Eskimo than to any other
known tongue. 1t has no demonstrable
relation to any of the Athabascan dia-
lects, but many words show close
similarity to the general Eskimo tongue.
This itself is not closely related to any
other on earth
The origin and meaning Of the term
"Aleut' are disputed. Bering in his re-
ports referred to them only as "Ameri-
cans" They used to call themselves
"unangans probably meaning only "the
people"
One Russian account of the words ORR
gin is that boy taken to Kamchatka by
the trader became very reverent men,
ber of the Greek Orthodox church. In
his own language the term for Creator"
was "Aleuksta" When repeating the
prayers, the boy constantly spoke this
word. But the word cannot be definitely
assigned to the Aleut language.
Another explanation Is that the ma
tives when spoken to in Russian by the
traders, always would say: "Alik-waya."
This might be interpreted to mean:
what is it?", or What did you say?"
Hence the people came to be known to
the Russians as "Aliks," or who's" from
(which the transition to "Aleut" was easy.
At the time of Bering there were about
Is 900 inhabitants of the desolate chain
of islands. Within few years their
numbers were reduced to below 5000
Even the government of the Cars at
the start of the 10Th century enacted pro-
tective laws. The apostle to the Aleuts
was Russian priest named Veniaminof,
who must be considered one of the great
missionaries OF history. He went to the
islands in 1924. A man of enormous zeal
and energy, he was very successful IN
christianizing the aborigines.
Almost entirely as result Of this one
mans work, the Aleuts became sincere
Greek Orthodox Christians. They have
remained so up to the present and have
been far from receptive OF missionaries
of other creeds. The poorest Aleut turns
over part of his slender earnings to the
church.
BY and large, the Aleut has responded
we'll to civilization especially under
American rule, which has been pro-
gressive and kindly Smithsonian an
thropologists who have lived in Aleut
communities agree that he Is relatively
a man of high intelligence The ex-
tremely harsh life on these desolate
islands for hundreds of generations has
eliminated from the stock both the men
tally and physically inferior strains. The
Aleut of today wears modern clothes,
sets fair table, and lives in villages OF
fairly comfortable houses.