8J"4 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



by spearing - small flounders which are found a little nearer shore. It 

 does not matter how cold the weather is. They stand on the ice behind 

 blocks of snow piled up to protect them from, the biting winds, some- 

 times for hours at a time, and it has often been a wonder to me how 

 they manage to keep from freezing. 



These constitute absolutely the oidy food these people have to eat. 

 A more extended reference to this subject would be to reiterate the same 

 dismal conditions and the same dreary routine of labor, trials, and suf- 

 ferings of these people to obtain nourishment sufficient to sustain life. 



There is one feature, however, that will illustrate better than any- 

 thing I call to mind the scarcity of food with these people. It is the 

 length of time a mother nurses her young. It is no uncommon thing 

 for a woman to nurse her child until it is four or Ave years old, and 

 although its teeth are all completely formed at two years of age, they 

 are permitted to suck at the mother's breast until they are nearly large 

 enough to take a hook and join the other little children in supplying 

 themselves with food. The mother reasons that it is better to let the 

 child nurse her than allow it to cry for food when she has none to give it. 



And in the face of this distressing condition of affairs, there was food 

 sufficient to supply their families for several months, yet we have 

 scarcely lost the value of a dollar by theft. In plain sight of their vil- 

 lage there were feeding a herd of 150 reindeer, that would not only sup- 

 ply them with food in abundance, but clothing to keep their half naked 

 bodies warm, and not one was molested. The lives of only two white 

 men stood between an abundance and their hungry stomachs, and I 

 often found myself wondering what spot on earth where white men were 

 standing on the verge of starvation would witness tins condition long. 

 Every deer would be killed and every particle of food distributed, and 

 their act would be justified by public opinion. 



RECOMMENDATIONS. 



It seems to me that the repeal of the law prohibiting the sale of re- 

 peating arms and fixed ammunition in Alaska would not only be a 

 humane act but one that is urgently demanded. The scarcity of the 

 whale and walrus, and the danger that has to be encountered in pursuit 

 of the seal by the natives, would be much lessened if they could be 

 allowed to purchase them at a fair price. 



Few of the natives are supplied with anything but muzzle-loading 

 rifles, and many of them hunt the seal and walrus with ivory-pointed 

 spears and harpoons. 



The opinion that the law should be repealed is shared by every white 

 man who has lived among them, and the force of the argument ought 

 to be much stronger on this account. The object sought to be accom- 

 plished in enacting the law was undoubtedly to put the natives in a 

 position that, in case of a revolt, they would be practically at the mercy 

 of the white men with the repeating rifle. There is practically no dan- 



