386 THE ESQUIMAUX 



Kalutimah grew more sad than I had ever before 

 seen him, when I spoke to him of the fortunes of his 

 own people. " Alas ! " said he, " we will soon be all 

 gone." I told him that I would come back, and that 

 white men would live for many years near Etah. 

 " Come back soon," said he, " or there will be none 

 here to welcome you ! " 



To contemplate the destiny of this little tribe is 

 indeed painful. There is much in this rude people 

 deserving of admiration. Their brave and courageous 

 struggles for a bare subsistence, against what would 

 seem to us the most disheartening obstacles, often 

 being wholly without food for days together and 

 never obtaining it without encountering danger, 

 makes their hold on life very precarious. The sea 

 is their only harvest-field ; and, having no boats in 

 which to pursue the game, they have only to await 

 the turning tide or changing season to open cracks, 

 along which they wander, seeking the seal and walrus 

 which come there to breathe. The uncertain fortunes 

 of the hunt often lead them in the winter time to 

 shelter themselves in rude hovels of snow ; and, in 

 summer, the migrating water-fowl come to substitute 

 the seal and walrus, which, when the ice-fields have 

 floated off, they can rarely catch. 



From the information which I obtained through 

 Hans and Kalutunah, I estimated the tribe to number 

 about one hundred souls, — a very considerable dimi- 

 nution since Dr. Kane left them, in 1855. Hans 

 made for me a rude map of the coast from Cape York 

 to Smith Sound, and set down upon it all of the vil- 

 lages, if by such name the inhabited places may be 

 called. These places are always close by the margin 

 of the sea. They rarely consist of more than one 



