The Diary of Abraham Ulrikab: Text and Context

"Eskimos at the Berlin Zoo"

Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic Volume 12,1880 Eskimos at the BerlinZoo BY DR. RUDOLF VIRCHOW [The following excerpts are translations of an article in which Dr. Rudolf Virchow (18211902 ), a renowned physician of Berlin, describes his experiences with the Inuit visitors. He examined them during their stay in thezoological garden in Berlin and analyzed various features concerningtheir outward appearance and culture. These were (ab)used toget asomewhat "scientific approach" to their heritage and their cultural status, meaning that they "get into one line with the lowest races of other parts of the world" (p.268). The examinations included: Detailed physical analysis and measurements , e.g.face and body proportions, shape of the eyes, skin color,etc. Education Aspects of perception, e.g.how Inuit see and describe colors Linguistic features Use of tools,etc. The article was published in Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic [Journal of Ethnology], Vol. 12. Berlin: Verlag von Paul Parey, 1880. pp. 253-274.] Although coming from the same area in Labrador, which issituated on almost the same latitude as the southern tip of Greenland, the Eskimos we are dealing with can be said to be comprised of two groups or families. They belong to coherent groups who differ not only in their religion but show severaldifferences in their outer appearance aswell. One group, the family of Abraham, consisting of the man, the woman Ulrike and two small children - along with the unmarried Tobias, come from the mission of Hebron.... the missionaries were successful in supporting the education of these people to such an extent that they developed their intelligence to quite a degree and are capable of writing easily, of drawing, and of practicing several skills of a civilized life.... The other family, THE DIARY OFABRAHAM ULRIKAB [57] consisting of the man Tiggianiak, his wife Paieng, and his daughter Noggasak, however, are completely heathenish and, indeed, possess features that are eminently fit for learning about the primitive state of this people. Mr. Jacobson hired this family in Nakkwak, a station of the Hudson Bay Company at a fjord north of Hebron. The hair of our people from Labrador matches that of the people from Greenland in every respect. The color of the hair is black without exception. Already the small children have very dark hair, only the eyebrows are rather brownish. The adult men's hair is relatively long so that it covers the neck and even the shoulders of the heathens. It isvery thick, shiny black, like ebony,similar to the manes of horses, by no means curly or wavy but very straight. The women's hair has the same quality , only they have it comparatively short and thus it rather gives the impression of a certain sparseness. Mrs. Ulrike has hers simply parted and braided. In contrast, the pagan woman and her daughter have a knot at the neck and at every temple, the knots at the temples are trimmed with long pendants which are plaited of reindeer hair and richly decorated with colourful (European) pearls. The eyebrows of most of them are thick, only Mrs. Ulrike's are thinner. Even the men hardly ever have sideburns, whereas moustache and goatee are thicker, only that the latter is restricted to the chin. Abit of a moustache can also be found on Mrs. Ulrike. The rest of the body, as far as I had a look at it, chest, forearm, lower leg, are almost completely hairless. It is known, and here I want to oppose especially the purists in this field, that if we ask our common people, e.g. rural peasants, we also observe that some of them cannot distinguish these colors precisely and that they set up similar combinations, as they occur here, through nuancing the color blue and thus saying "black-blue" or "dark-blue" or "redblue ." Altogether, the Eskimos that we interrogated individually exhibited such strong homogeneity in their answers that it cannot be disputed on linguistic congruence. They are obviously predisposed in this direction and prove to be not of a lower but of a rela- [58] THE DIARY OFABRAHAM ULRIKAB tively higher race,not in the sense believed by many for a long time, that the retina only develops with the culture. One also has to judge their intelligence in a similar way, I think. Nothing has ever more forcefully strengthened the impression that the Eskimos are of a lower race than their clumsiness in using numbers.... Indeed, one...