226 THE PRESENT AND FUTURE 



than they are breeding; and so they must be increasing. 

 Their food supply is unlimited. They are protected by two 

 redoubtable champions — Jack Frost and the Mosquito. Their 

 country never will contain a great human population. The 

 natives are so few in number, and so lazy, that even though 

 they should become supplied with modern firearms it is un- 

 likely that they ever will make a serious impression on the cari- 

 bou millions. The only thing to fear for the Barren Ground 

 caribou throngs is disease — a factor that is beyond human pre- 

 diction. 



It is reasonably certain that the Barren Grounds never 

 will be netted by railways — unless gold is discovered over a 

 wide area. The fierce cold and hunger and the billions of 

 mosquitoes of the Barren Grounds will protect the caribou 

 from the wholesale slaughter that "civilized" man joyously 

 would inflict — if he had the chance. 



The caribou thousands of Newfoundland are fairly ac- 

 cessible to sportsmen and pot-hunters, but at the same time 

 the colonial Government can protect them from extermina- 

 tion if it will. Already much has been done to check the 

 reckless and wicked slaughter that once prevailed. A bag 

 limit of three bull caribou per annum has been fixed, which is 

 enforced as to non-residents and sportsmen, but in a way 

 that is much too "American" it is often ignored by residents 

 in touch with the game. For instance, the guide of a New 

 York gentleman whom I know admitted to my friend that 

 each year he killed "about twenty-five" caribou for himself 

 and his family of four other persons. He explained thus: 

 'When the inspector comes around I show him two caribou 



