INSTITUTE NEWS
glacial erosion. Axel Heiberg Island,
N.W.T., Canada.
PESSL,
JR.,F. University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor, Mich., U.S.A.
Studies in geomorphology and glacial
geology. Sortehjorne, Greenland.
PITELKA,
F. A. University of California,
Berkeley, Calif., U.S.A.
Comparative ecology of lemmings and
other microtines in northern Alaska.
Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A.
REED,B. L. Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.
Bedrock geology of a part of the Lake
Peters
area,
Alaska. Lake
Peters,
Alaska, U.S.A.
SATER,
J. E. Arctic Institute of North
America,Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Acquisition of material for developing
photogrammetric
and
photo-interpretative techniques for the evaluating of the surface morphology of sea
ice. Barrow,Alaska, U.S.A.
129
SMILEY,
Ch. J. MacalesterCollege, St.
Paul, Minn., U.S.A.
Crataceousfloras of KukRiver,
Alaska. Kuk River, Alaska, U.S.A.
SOLECKI,
R. S. ColumbiaUniversity,
New York, N.Y., U.S.A.
Archaeology and ecology of northeastern Alaska. Arctic Slope, Alaska,
U.S.A.
STEERE,
WM.C.New
YorkBotanical
Garden, New York, N.Y., U.S.A.
A critical field study of arctic American mosses. Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A.
TEDROW,
J. C. F. RutgersUniversity,
New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.
Astudy of the pedologic processes
operating in the arctic areas
of Alaska.
BrooksRange,Alaska,
U.S.A.
WILIMOVSKY, N.
J. University of British
Columbia,Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
An ichthyological surveyof the Aleutian Islands. Aleutian Islands, Alaska,
U.S.A.
REVIEWS
LA FRANCE ET L’EXPLORATION French exploration in the Arctic and
A LAPEROUSE.
POLAIRE. DE VERRAZANO
Antarctic couldfill nearly 400 pages and
1523-1788.
get no farther than1788. Dr. Eknmanuel
By MARTHE
EMMANUEL.Paris:Nou- herself is the firstto raise this question,
velles Editions Latines. 1959. 9 x 5% in theopening sentenceof her introducinches, 397 pages, maps, plates. No tion,and thefirsttoadmitthatthe
price.
contribution of France does not compare
For anyoneinterestedinpolarexwiththose
of many other countries.
ploration and able to read French this
Nevertheless many will be surprised at
is a most fascinating book, the more so the extentof the effort and achievement
because itiswritten
from a point of that she reveals, an achievement all too
apathyandlack
of
view different from any
to which most of oftennullifiedby
us in North America are accustomed - governmentsupport at home,and by
of thearmchair
that of a Frenchwoman setting out ex- the obstinaterefusal
believe
to
the
reports
pressly to examine French participation geographers
in thefield. It thus has for ausfreshness brought home by explorers. For examand stimulation over and above its very ple,everychildknowsaboutRaleigh
and the founding of Virginia, but how
considerableintrinsicmerits,
andthe
result is a book that is indispensable to many know that half a century before
Raleigh theItalian Verrazano,sailing
any well-stocked polar library.
Most of us would raise a polite eyeunder French colours, traced the coast
browandwonderhow
the story of of North America from Spanish Florida
130
REVIEWS
north to Labrador and gave it the name repeated instances of the opposite attiof Francesca? If the Frenchgovernment tude in France - apathy and unwillinghad followed this voyage withcoloniza- ness to follow up discoveries or even to
tion, it ispossible that the United States publish the results of voyages till years
later if at all, so that in many cases it
and Canada might today be one large
was hardly
surprising
that
French
united French-speaking territory.
As will be seen fromthe above exam- names were replaced on the maps by
those of laterexplorers,fromVerraple, Dr. Emmanuel does not limit herself
zano’s Francescarightdowntothe
strictlytopolarexploration.Yetshe
never loses sight of her subject. All the names chosen by La Pdrouse on hish e
voyages she discusses are directly con- survey of the coast of Southern Alaska.
The academic or armchair geographto be polar
nected with what turned out
objectives, such as the Northwest Pas- ers come in forconsiderable criticism. It
on the reasons
sage (Verrazano, the explorers of New is interesting to speculate
France, LaPdrouse) or theelusive Terra for the obstinate refusal of so many of
these men to abandon,in the face of the
Australis(Bouvet,MarionduFresne,
mostconclusiveevidence,suchlongKerguelen) and contribute quite legitimately to the overall picture. The book cherished chimerasas the great southern
is divided into two almost equal
parts continent and the straitof Juan de Fuca
and Admiral de Fonte, which was supdealing with the Arctic and Antarctic
the west
is posed to join Hudson Bay to
respectively.Quitealargesection
devoted
to
the
Spitsbergen
whaling coast, and on the extent to which they
days, and here the French
played a very retarded geographical knowledgeby this
important part, as all the other nations, refusal.Suchmenwere
tobefound
Dutch, English and Danish alike, were
everywhere, and France had
awhole
dependenton the hardy Basque harfamily of them- the brothers
Delisle
pooners of the Biscay fisheries to teach and their in-laws and descendants, the
them the art.It was alsothe Frenchwho Buaches, who even after Cook’s last
later were thefirst to process whales on voyage were still talking to La Pdrouse
board ship and thus do away with the
of de Fuca andde Fonte. An interesting
necessity for a shore station.
exception
was
the
great
naturalist
It must not be thought because the
Buffon, who was a strong supporter of
book deals specifically with the French the southern continent and of the open
contribution that it is chauvinistic in polarseatheory,
butunlikeBuache
of
tone. The author’s attitude is occasion- altered his thinking after the voyages
ally partisan, but on the whole she takes
Cook and Phipps.
a very detached and objective view
of
Of particular interest to Canadians is
her countrymen, and while she presents the section on Canada and the struggle
muchlittle-knownmaterialthatwill
for Hudson Bay. Here again we see the
greatly enhance the importanceof their British solidly backed up at home and
role in the eyes of those hitherto unthe poor French left in the lurch at every
familiar with it, the claims she makes on
turn. It was not love of the British that
their behalf are modest. And if she is ledRadissonand
de Groseilliers to
outspoken about the English tendency
defect, butsheerfrustrationattheir
to take possession of territories on claims treatment by the French Government.
thatappearedgroundlesstoallbut
It is remarkable indeed that there were
themselves, the point must be admitted not more like them, and even more reto be well taken, and it is salutory for
markablethattheFrenchmadethe
those of us who are of British extraction tremendousachievementstheydid
in
to be reminded of it from time to time. the New World. Perhaps it was just this
This
regrettable
propensity
at least lack of encouragement and unwillingshowed a willingness on the part of the ness to provide suffcient support that
home government to take action and to firsttaughttheFrenchin
Canada to
support claims to discovery,however
manage without and to adapt themselves
tenuous.Dr.Emmanuel’s
book gives SO well to the Indian ways of travelling.
REVIEWS
131
With a minimum of material assistance a detailed and entertaining account of
people, which he
they travelled overland to Hudson Bay, the country and the
thePrairies,andthe
Gulf of Mexico, lifted whole from a recent but obscure
and would no doubt soon have reached text on Lapland written in Latin by a
Swede
from
Strasbourg.
the Pacific, as Dr. Emmanuel points out, naturalized
had it not been for the intervention of Unfortunately on his return to Paris he
been
the Seven YearsWar in 1754. As it was, found that this workhadjust
translated into French, English, German
French coureurs de bois renderedindispensable assistance to those who did. and Dutch and was in all libraries. His
An interesting pointis brought out in own account had to beshelved, but was
connection with La PQrouse’s voyageto published after his death andbecame a
Hudson Bay in 1782 and the taking of best-seller, being looked on as a model
And with some
Fort Princeof Wales, Among the effects of travelliterature.
of Samuel Hearne, governor of the fort reason, if the following comment on the
robust healthof the Lapps is typical: “Ne
atthe
time, La PCrouse foundthe
connaissant pointde mCdecins, il ne faut
journal of his journey to the Copperpas s’Ctonners’ils
ignorentaussiles
mine, hitherto unpublished and indeed,
accordingto thisauthor, deliberately maladies.”.
The book is well but unobtrusively
kept secret by the Hudson’s Bay Comdocumented and has a good bibliograpany. La PCrouse wanted to confiscate
itas Companyproperty,butHearne
phy, but lacks an
index, which would
insisted it was his own, and was allowed be very valuable to a workof this kind.
to keep it on condition that he would It isillustratedbysomeinteresting
publish it assoon as hegot back to Eng- historical maps, some of which however
land. It was in fact not published until
suffer from illegibility
as a resultof poor
1795, which was deploredby the French, reproduction. The two supposedly modand rightly if the story is accurate, asa ern maps, on the other hand, which are
presumably intended for general referbreach of faith. Had it been published
immediatelyonhis
return from the ence, are notonly illegiblebut of such a
Coppermine in 1773, the ghost of Juan staggeringantiquity
asto
leave the
de Fuca’s strait would have been laid
reader gasping. The one of the Arctic is
muchsooner,and
La PCrouse himself pre-1914, showingneither the islands
would not have been sent to look for it discovered by Stefanssonnor
Severin 1785.
nayaZemlya.
But it is churlish to
The author has achieved the rare feat complain of trifles in awork of such
of writing a solid scholarly work thatis excellence and charm. A second volume,
at the same time delightfully readable
bringing the storyuptodate,isin
andsometimesevenhumorous.There
preparationandwill
I am surebe
are two reasons for this, other than her eagerly awaited by all who sample
the
own easy flowing style. The first is that first.
she quotes agood deal fromher sources,
MOIRADUNBAR
which have the immediacy of all firsthand narration and the
piquancy of style INGALIK MENTAL CULTURE
and language of their period. And secOSGOOD.N’ew Haven:
By CORNELIUS
ondly she isobviously deeply interested
Yale University Publications in Anin people, and it is real people, not dusty thropology. No. 56,1959. 9% x 6%
historical events, that one finds in her
inches, 195 pages, map, 10 text figures.
pages. Some of them are highly colour$2.50.
ful characters, too, like the whaler Jean
This is the third and final monograph
Vrolicq,a sort of sea-goingVicar of of a detailed ethnographic account
of the
Bray, who sailed under
whatever
Athapaskan-speaking
Ingalik
Indians
colours seemed expedient at the time. living in the area of the lower Yukon
Or likeJean-FranGoisRegnard,sucRiver of Alaska. The first volume, Incessful writer of comedies, who made a galik Material Culture, appeared 1940;
in
journey to Lapland in 1681, and wrote
in
the second,IngalikSocialCulture,