Identifier: historyofworldsu02helm (find matches)
Title: The history of the world; a survey of a man's record
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Helmolt, Hans F. (Hans Ferdinand), 1865-1929 Bryce, James Bryce, Viscount, 1838-1922
Subjects: World history
Publisher: New York : Dodd, Mead
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive

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is aspect we cannot treat the northern Siberians merely asa distinct group of the human race, but must investigate the economic zone towhich they, in common with American and European stocks, belong, — that is tosay, the northern polar zone, whose inhabitants have been called by the collectivename of Hyperboreans (see the map, North Polar Eegions ). The main features of this universal Hyperborean civilization are determinedby the direct and indirect influences of the climate; on the other hand, the sepa-rate branches into which it is divided are differentiated by the specific characterof each several region, by its position as regards the rest of the world, and by thetype of its inhabitants. The direct influence of climate appears very distinctly inmodes of dress and domestic architecture, since among the Hyperboreans somespecial protection for the body is absolutely necessary, owing to the inclemency ofthe weather. The indirect influences of climate show themselves in the fact that
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Lmdon W^ H^ainriii PrinLed liy the Bibliodnipliuiclius biiitiliit I.Piysi^. Sfw rai*.I)odtLJb,td £ r* ^TsL1t) HISTORY OF THE WORLD 201 the number of edible plants is verj small in the north. For food and for tlieparaphernalia of civilized existence the peoples of the north rely chiefly on theabundant fauna of those regions. The extensive and almost exclusive employmentof animal and mineral in the place of vegetable products is the most striking char-acteristic of the Hyperborean cultiu^e. This culture appears in its purest form among the Eskimos of America, sincehardly any southern influence is perceptible among them. Utensils and weaponsof bone, horn, and stone, fur clothing, houses and tents constructed from stone,blocks of snow, or skins, are the characteristic features; to which we may add, aspeculiarities equally produced by the climate, snow-shoes, snow spectacles, andsledges drawn by dogs (cf. Vol. I, p. 131). The Eskimos show at tlie same timethat the Arctic tribes, like all

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