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Show CHAPTER VII THE ESKIMO AND THE NORTH PACIFIC INDIANS ( 1500- 1900) THE word Eskimo is derived from the Abnaki dialect of the Algonquian and means " he eats raw flesh," a characterization quickly made by the southern neighbors of the group in question. The Eskimo themselves use the term Innuit, or " people," following the usual egotistical habit of primitive men in designating their own particular group. \ jhe distribution of the Eskimo is uniform and the cultural results are very significant and interesting. They are essentially a coast people and confined to the higher latitudes of the continent; and, notwithstanding the enormous separation and practical isolation of their constituent villages, the uniformity of their type, language, and culture is one of the most striking lessons of ethnography. Their seat is the coast of North America from southern Labrador around the arctic shores to southern Alaska; Offshoots have pushed north to Smith Sound in Greenland and west across Bering Strait to Asia. Seldom ranging more than a few miles from the coast except on hunting ex- 103 |