CANADA'S INDIAN PROBLEMS — JENNESS 377 



how it varied in different parts of the Arctic, and at different seasons 

 of the 3^ear. Inevitably it involved great hardships, and the mortality 

 everywhere was very high. In the Canadian Arctic especially the 

 jDopulation density was extremely low owing to the comparative scar- 

 city of sea mammals ; long stretches of coast line carried no inhabitants 

 at all. The total number of Eskimo-speaking people today, from the 

 shores of eastern Siberia to Greenland, is only about 38,000 ; and there 

 is no evidence that it ever exceeded that figure. 



It was in Greenland that Europeans first discovered the Eskim.o, 

 at the end of the sixteenth century, if we leave out of account the 

 early Norsemen, whose colonies were sjmrlos versenkt. During the 

 next few decades these Greenland Eskimo, like those of Canada and 

 Alaska later, were demoralized by the crews of whaling ships and deci- 

 mated by European-brought diseases. In the eighteenth century, how- 

 ever, Denmark insulated the country by making all trade a government 

 monopoly and began to administer it on the principle of "Greenland 

 for the Greenlanders." Eskimo became the official language through- 

 out the island, and its inhabitants were granted in time a considerable 

 measure of self-government. During the last hundred years the popu- 

 lation has steadily increased until now it exceeds 17,000. Intermar- 

 riage with whites takes place quite freely, and most of the present- 

 day Greenlanders carry in their veins a greater or less percentage 

 of Danish blood. 



Whaling ships did not frequent Hudson Bay and North Alaska in 

 any numbers until the second half of the nineteenth century. There 

 too they left a diminished population, one that had become equipped 

 with rifles and metal tools. Nevertheless, they did not greatly disturb 

 the daily routine of Eskim,o life as it had existed for centuries. 

 The fur traders who succeeded them, however, exerted a more perma- 

 nent influence. Instead of hunting seals on the ice close to shore dur- 

 ing the months of winter the Eskimo now trap foxes, and their diet at 

 that season has changed in some regions from 100 percent meat and 

 meat broth to 60 percent and even 70 percent flour and tea. Their 

 clothing, too, has altered. Originally made entirely from caribou 

 fur except the outer footgear, which was of sealskin, it now consists 

 partly of woolen and cotton garments ; and under the conditions that 

 prevail in the Arctic these garments are seldom washed, and some- 

 times not even removed until they rot. Inadequate diet and unhy- 

 gienic clothing are thus impairing the physique of the Eskimo in many 

 places, even though there are fewer deaths from, outright famine. 

 Whether their numbers are still declining along the more northern 

 coasts is unknown, since there has never been even an approximately 

 accurate census until the last 10 years. 



In Canada, as in Alaska, the authorities have made no attempt to 

 isolate the Eskimo. Subject to certain regulations, Arctic Canada is 



