THE EEGULATION OF NUMBERS 233 



Of the Kutchins of the Peel River we are told that they are 

 ' an athletic and fine-looking race, considerably above the average 

 stature, most of them being upwards of six feet in height and 

 remarkably well proportioned '.^ ' The Indians north of the 

 Columbia are, for the most part, good-looking, robust men, some 

 of them having fine, symmetrical forms. They have been repre- 

 sented as diminutive ; with crooked legs and uncouth features. 

 This is not correct ; but, as a general rule, the direct reverse is the 

 truth.' 2 The Montagnais are described as ' tall, strong, erect, 

 well-proportioned and agile ' ; ^ on the other hand, we hear that 

 they are liable to shortages of food, are able to go without food for 

 three days together at a time, and are guilty of great excesses 

 of eating and drinking when food is plentiful.^ Hardisty says that 

 the Loucheuxcan always obtain food except under very unfavour- 

 able circumstances.^ ' It sometimes happens that the Ahts are in 

 straits for want of food, when the fish do not appear until late in the 

 spring,' ^ but ' they can bear the want of food a long time without 

 becoming exhausted 'J The account of the Cahfornians given 

 by the acute Jesuit missionary Baegert is of particular interest. 

 ' Notwithstanding the barrenness of the country, a Californian 

 hardly ever dies of hunger, except perhaps now and then an 

 individual that falls sick in the wilderness and a great distance from 

 the mission, for those who are in good health trouble themselves 

 very httle about such patients, even if these should happen to be 

 their husbands, wives or other relations, and a little child that 

 has lost its mother or both parents is also occasionally in danger 

 of starving to death. . . . The food of the Cahfornians is certainly 

 of a mean quality, yot it keeps them in a healthy condition, and 

 they become strong and grow old in spite of their poor diet.' ^ 

 ' Cahfornians can endure hunger easier and much longer than 

 other people ; whereas they will eat enormously if a chance is 

 given.' ^ Three days without food appeals differently to an 

 observer in a mission station on the one hand and to a prisoner 



' Bancroft, loc. cit., vol. i, p. 127. In the spring, when the winter stores are 

 exhausted, they usually experience a lean season (ibid., p. 129). ^ Swan, 



North-west Coast, p. 154. ^ Le Jeune, Jesuit Relations, vol. vi, p. 229. 



* Ibid., pp. 233, 277, and 285. 



' Hardisty, loc. cit., p. 311. Other accounts describe lean periods among the 

 northern tribes as fairly common, during which ' they often subsist for a great 

 length of time ujjon a very little food ' (Harmon, loc. cit., p. 284). See also Morgan, 

 Houses and House Life, p. 56. 



^ Sproat, loc. cit., p. 53. ' Ibid., p. 22. * Baegert, loc. cit., p. 3GG. 



» Ibid. 



