Author: W. H. Dall

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 9781332346752

Excerpt from On the Remains of Later Prehistoric Man: Obtained From Caves in the Catherina Archipelago, Alaska Territory, and Especially From the Caves of the Aleutian Islands That great series of islands extending from the mouth of Cooks Inlet to the end of the Aleutian chain, and perhaps properly including the Commanders Islands, was named by Forster, in 1786, the Catherina Archipelago, in honor of Catherine the Great, Empress of all the Russias, to whose enlightenment and liberality the explorations in that quarter were largely due. The chain between Lon. 163 and 188 W. of Greenwich bears the general name of the Aleutian Islands, from the term Aleuts, applied by the Russians to their original inhabitants. East of Lon. 163 the various groups have local names, of which the more important are the Shumagin Islands, the Semidi Islands, the Kadiak group, and the Barren Islands. The entire Archipelago is, or has been, inhabited by tribes of the Eskimo stock. These are naturally divided into two groups: I, the Kaniag muts, or typical Eskimo tribes, and, II, the Aleuts, or Aleutian Islanders. The Kaniagmuths, in language and physique, in implements and weapons, and in manners, are hardly distinguishable from those of the Western Eskimo, who inhabit the coast lands of the continent, from the Kusilvak mouth of the Yukon River to Cook's Inlet. The differences now existing are due to original local peculiarities, - common to each individual assemblage of settlements of any aboriginal stock; - and to the greater pressure of civilization which circumstances have brought to bear on them during the last three quarters of a century. They are described by the earliest voyagers as independent in character, long resisting the efforts of traders to subdue them and of missionaries to christianize them; as sharing with the other Eskimo of that region, uncleanly habits, sensual practices, a belief in Shamanism, extreme facility in the use of the skin canoe or kyak, and great powers of endurance. To these they united certain peculiar superstitions, which indicate a passage from typical Eskimo animism toward the more differentiated and still more peculiar notions entertained by the Aleutians, The intercourse of the Kaniag miits with the latter people was greatly interfered with by the hostilities usual to adjacent and dissimilar aborigines in all parts of the world, and especially by the differences in their dialects. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."