REINDEER AND MUSK-OX 



During my time from 1895 to 1905 there were three outstanding instances 

 of crime. In one season it was reported to me that thirteen Esquimaux were 

 killed, in another season nine, and a third seventeen. Mr. A. A. Chesterfield, a 

 Hudson bay trader, wTote a fiction story for one of the magazines based on the 

 killing of the latter seventeen persons. 



In the winter of 1911-12, an Esquimaux woman and two young daughters 

 perished eighty miles north of Great Whale river trading post. In the spring 

 the bones of the children were found piled in such a way that only human hands 

 could have laid them there. Near by was found the half-eaten body of the 

 mother. The manifest conclusion was that the mother had lived for a time on 

 the flesh of her children, and then starved to death. When found, the foxes had 

 partly devoured her body. 



In 1902, measles broke out at Fort George, my own headquarters, and while 

 only seventy-three deaths were reported at first, the actual number was nearer 

 one hundred. There was no food to feed the sick, and no capacity to properly 

 care for them. To the limit of my power I fed and cared for those within reach, 

 and estimate that I was thus the means of helping sixty people, many of whom 

 would otherwise have perished. 



In 1916, eleven Indians starved to death inland from Richmond gulf. Two 

 boys were sent to the post for help, but they returned with none. Three Indians 

 starved to death inland from Great Whale river, and nine from Fort George. 



The winter of 1918-19 was one of the hardest seasons in the memory of this 

 generation owing to the scarcity of rabbits, ptarmigan and other food. A 

 family of five died of starvation north of Great Whale river. During this winter 

 an Esquimaux was killed by his neighbours on the south Belcher islands. I 

 personally investigated the case last summer, and it seemed to be a matter of 

 self defence. 



While I have given many instances of crimes and suffering extended over a 

 quarter of a century, I want it distinctly understood that the spirit that has been 

 gradually developed in these people through Christian missionary influence is 

 the subject of wonder and admiration to explorers and travellers from the out- 

 side world. 



II. Relief Through Reindeer 



It is hardly necessary for me to enlarge upon the relief that would inevitably 

 come to these people through the introduction of the reindeer in sufficient 

 numbers. It is obvious that the reindeer would furnish a reserve of food that 

 would always be available in case of distress, and, ultimately, they would be 

 the staple article of diet when the supply became sufficiently abundant. They 

 would furnish the skin clothing that is absolutely essential for life in snow 

 houses and the extreme exposure to which the Esquimaux have to submit in their 

 seal hunting in winter. They would furnish milk for the children and lower 

 infant mortality. They would also furnish transportation facilities, not only 

 for the natives but for the explorers and the prospectors, the carrying of the mail, 

 the carrying of the doctor to his patients, and the police in search of the criminal, 

 to say nothing about aiding the missionary in his work of mercy. In my judg- 

 ment, no policy of relief however generous can permanently solve the difficulty 

 of food supply unless that food is grown on the territory, and I see no other 

 suggestion that can compare in reasonable promise with the introduction of the 

 domesticated reindeer within our area. 



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