APPENDIX III 455 



are used snow and ice can be eaten in moderate quantities with great relief. 

 If good ice can be obtained it is better. The ice should be held in the 

 hand till the surface begins to melt, for if it is put into the mouth before 

 this it will stick to the tongue like cold iron. If snow is used it must first be 

 melted in the hand till it is almost slush. By observing these precautions 

 glossitis may be avoided, and one's thirst fairly well satisfied. 



In closing, I will say that the Eskimo race in Alaska has greatly 

 diminished in numbers in the past twenty years, in a large part because of 

 disease inevitably introduced by the whites. Whether the race will 

 acquire sufficient immunity to withstand this sort of thing time alone will tell. 

 I think the outlook for the Eskimo in his natural condition is better than 

 that of the North American Indian, because the Eskimo is industrially 

 valuable to the whites in the extreme north. The Eskimo, while useless for 

 steady day labour, is docile and satisfactory as a hunter and trapper. He 

 makes a good sailor on a whale ship, and is practically necessary to the men 

 engaged in floe whaling. 



