Page:Material Culture of the Iglulik Eskimos.djvu/253
garded as an inland culture which has acquired a marine facet which, however, has not gone very deeply as yet. That it is from the inland tribes on the Barren Grounds, especially the Caribou Eskimos, that this influence has come there is no reason to doubt when one considers the great similarity between the Iglulik and Caribou Eskimos. There has apparently been a marked expansion from the interior to the coast, analogous to the comparatively recent movement from the interior to the coast which Jenness[1] assumes with regard to the Copper Eskimos. Whether with regard to the Iglulik Eskimos we have to deal with a migration or simply cultural influences is difficult to decide; presumably there have been migrations of people from the interior and, in some places, they have driven away the coast people and, in others, settled down among them and gradually influenced them. This would explain the absence of transitional finds in some regions, for instance at Repulse Bay, and, on the other hand, the presence of many transitional finds in other regions as in Northern Baffin Land. Thus although we cannot say with certainty that the Iglulik Eskimos have originally lived in the interior of the country and from there have migrated out to the coast, as the Tunit legends would have it,[2] there is no doubt that their culture bears distinct marks of influence from the interior.
If we compare the Iglulik Eskimos as they are now with the description given of them by Parry and Lyon a hundred years ago, we find that in reality there has been surprisingly little change. The European influence has become a little more pronounced, whereby some of their own types of implements such as the bladder dart, bird dart, throwing board and drum have disappeared, and others, such as the bow and arrow and the kayak are about to do so; finally, some of the relics of the Thule culture such as the conical shaft end on the arrow heads, the stone ring round the tent and the urine tanning, have quite disappeared. Otherwise their types of implements have remained unchanged, their dwellings, sledges and clothing are the same.
What the future of the Iglulik Eskimos will be is difficult to say. Will it be possible for this little tribe, five hundred people, spread over an enormous area of land, to continue being able to hold its own in the struggle for existence, or will it, like so many other primitive peoples, be swallowed up in the fight against European civilisation?
Even if statistical information is still defective, I think I may