72 galton.org
72
Inquiries into Human Faculty
mind’s eye of what he was about to draw, and was able, in some degree,
to project it on the paper or slate.
Other living races have the gift of drawing, but none more so than the
Eskimo. I will therefore speak of these and not of the Australian and
Tasmanian pictures, nor of the still ruder performances of the old
inhabitants of Guiana, nor of those of some North American tribes, as the
Iroquois. The Eskimos are geographers by instinct, and appear to see vast
tracts of country mapped out in their heads. From the multitude of
illustrations of their map-drawing powers, I may mention one of those
included in the journals of Captain Hall, at p. 224, which were published
in 1879 by the United States Government, under the editorship of
Professor J. E. Nourse. It is the facsimile of a chart drawn by an Eskimo
who was a thorough barbarian in the accepted sense of the word; that is to
say, he spoke no language besides his own uncouth tongue, he was wholly
uneducated according to our modern ideas, and he lived in what we
should call a savage fashion. This man drew from memory a chart of the
region over which he had at one time or another gone in his canoe. It
extended from Pond’s Bay, in lat. 73° to Fort Churchill, in lat. 58°44',
over a distance in a straight line of more than 960 nautical, or 1100
English miles, the coast being so indented by arms of the sea that its
length is six times as great. On comparing this rough Eskimo outline with
the Admiralty chart of 1870, their accordance is remarkable. I have seen
many MS. route maps made by travellers a few years since, when the
scientific exploration of the world was much less advanced than it is now,
and I can confidently say that I have never known of any traveller, white
or brown, civilised or uncivilised, in Africa, Asia, or Australia, who, being
unprovided with surveying instruments, and trusting to his memory alone,
has produced a chart comparable in extent and accuracy to that of this
barbarous Eskimo. The aptitude of the Eskimos to draw, is abundantly
shown by the numerous illustrations in Rink’s work, all of which were
made by self-taught men, and are thoroughly realistic.
So much for the wild races of the present day; but even the Eskimo are
equalled in their power of drawing by the
