Boas on Baffin Island
Boas spent summer 1883 to Summer 1884 with Inuit people in the Canadian Arctic. He kept a diary of his experiences and thoughts:
"I often ask myself what advantages our good society possesses over
that of the savages. The more I see of their customs the more I realize
that we have no right to look down on them. Where amongst our people would
you find such true hospitality? Here, without the least complaint people
are willing to perform every task demanded of them. We have no right to
blame them for their forms and superstitions which may seem ridiculous to
us. We highly educated people are much worse, relatively speaking...As a
thinking person, for me the most important result of this trip lies in the
strengthening of my point of view that the idea of a cultured individual is
merely relative and that a person's worth should be judged by his
"heart." This quality is present or absent here among the
Eskimo, just as among us."