Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/46

10 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTUOD. On the Atlantic, the eastern Eskimaux extend also along the coast of Labrador, south of the sixtieth degree of latitude, to the Straiis o( LJelleisle and within the Gulf of Saint Law- rence, almost as far south as north latitude 50°. The western division of the nation extends without interrup- tion, along the shores of the , Pacific, from the Straits of Behring, as far south as the extremity of the Peninsula of Alaska, in north latitude 57°; and may be thence traced east- wardly, under the names of Konagen and Tshugazzi (Tchou- gatche*), till they disappear entirely in the vicinity of Behring's Bay and Mount St. Elias, in lat. 60°, and long, about 140°. A tribe belonging to this division, inhabits the western shores of the Straits of Behring, or that north eastern extremity of Asia, which lies north of the river Anadir. It is known under the name of " sedentary Tchuktchi," and is as yet the only well ascertained instance of an Asiatic tribe, belonging to the same race as any of the nations of North America. The identity of language, along such an extent of coast, contrasted with the great diversity found amongst small and adjacent tribes as we proceed farther south, is a remarkable phenomenon. The distance in a straight line, either from the Eskimaux seen by Captain Clavering on the eastern coast of Greenland, or from the Straits of Belleisle, to the Straits of Behring, or to the southwestern extremity of the Peninsula of Alaska, exceeds three thousand six hundred miles. But as the Eskimaux communicate with each other only by water and along the seashore, it will be found that the distance, between those of the Straits of Belleisle, and the Konagen who inhabit the island of Kadjak, or Kodiak, (north latitude 58°, west longi- tude 152°,) proceeding along the seashore, is not less than five thousand four hundred miles, without making any allowance for the sinuosities, bays, and inlets of the coast. But the Eskimaux, who, though they hunt during their short summer, draw their principal means of subsistence from the sea, are rarely found farther from its shores than about one hundred miles. On Mackenzie's River, the mouth of which is in latitude 69° 40', the boundary between them and the Loucheux, their next inland neighbours, is in latitude 67°, 27", but no Eski- maux huts are found south of 68° 15" ; and their distance from the sea is still less on the Copper Mine River. They thus form a narrow belt surrounding the whole northern coast of America, from the 50th degree of north latitude on the Atlan- tic to the 60th on the Pacific.