THE TRUCK SYSTEM 83 



for themselves, he had sent out first his wife and 

 eldest daughter to search for food, and his eldest boy 

 to search for birds. Mr. Blomfield told me he sup- 

 posed that the cries of the hungry children proved 

 too much for the poor father. Truly Virginius of 

 old acted in much the same way. 



This, of course, is an extreme case, and in order 

 to arrive at a fair conclusion, we took, as far as 

 possible, a census of the Livyeres noting the num- 

 bers and ages of children the proportion that could 

 read and write, and the number each had of gallons 

 of molasses, barrels of flour or pork, pounds of tea, 

 and tobacco, which, alas, nearly all use, however poor 

 and unable to afford luxuries. That a very large 

 proportion had a quite insufficient quantity of food 

 became beyond question. It must be remembered 

 it is not a question of how much they can buy, but 

 how much a supplier is willing to give to people 

 already heavily indebted to him, only a few being 

 independent enough to pay down for what they 

 take. Government aid, sea birds, seals, trout, willow 

 grouse, and rabbits, i.e. arctic hares, are the supple- 

 mental sources available. The Newfoundlanders are 

 too often only little better off than Labradormen, 

 and I have many piteous accounts of parents them- 

 selves suffering chronic starvation in order to supply 

 their little ones with the necessities of life. Soon, 

 it is sincerely to be hoped, the interior of Newfound- 

 land will be opened up. All look to the new rail- 

 way to turn the attention of many to the cultivation 



