NO,    I  ARCHEOLOGY    OF    ST.    LAWRENCE    ISLAND COLLINS  23 
from  one  to  four  dead  bodies.  One  woman  was  found  face  down,  just  outside 
the  door  of  a  house ;  probably  one  of  the  last  survivors,  she  had  gone  out  to 
find  relief  from  her  terrible  sufferings,  and,  overcome  by  weakness,  had  fallen 
and  found  that  relief  in  death.  The  body  of  a  boy  of  perhaps  sixteen  years  of 
age  was  found  in  the  village,  about  half-way  down  a  small  hill,  he  having  fallen 
as  he  descended  and  died  as  he  fell.  I  estimate  the  number  of  dead  at  this 
place  at  one  hundred  and  fifty. 
About  fifteen  miles  west  of  Cape  Siepermo  we  found  another  village 
also  entirely  deserted.  Here  we  saw  twelve  dead  bodies,  all  full-grown  males. 
As  at  the  other  villages,  the  women  and  children  had  probably  been  buried,  for 
we  saw  none.   The  number  of  dead  at  this  place  was  estimated  at  thirty. 
At  a  large  settlement  on  the  northwest  end  of  the  island  ....  [Gambell] 
which  we  next  visited,  wc  found  about  three  hundred  alive.  They  confirm  the 
report  of  wholesale  starvation,  and  say  that  the  inhabitants  of  the  villages 
visited  by  us  on  the  north  side  of  the  island,  are  all  dead,  not  one  escaping.  At 
this  settlement  two  hundred  had  died,  and  the  entire  number  had  barely  escaped 
starvation  by  eating  their  dogs  and  the  walrus-hides  covering  their  boats  and 
houses.  At  a  settlement  on  the  southwest  end  they  said  a  large  number  had 
died,  but  how  many  they  could  not  tell. 
This  general  starvation  occurred  a  year  ago  last  winter ;  but  few  died  last 
winter.  The  entire  number,  however,  were  again  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
eating  their  boat-covers,  dogs,  &c. 
These  people  say  the  weather  was  cold  and  stormy  for  a  long  time,  with 
great  quantities  of  ice  and  snow,  so  that  they  could  not  hunt  walrus  and  seal; 
and,  as  they  make  no  provision  for  the  future,  but  depend  upon  what  they  can 
get  from  day  to  day,  of  course  failure  means  starvation. 
They  live  directly  in  the  track  of  vessels  bound  into  the  Arctic  Ocean  for 
the  purpose  of  whaling  or  trading;  they  subsist  upon  whales,  walrus,  and  seals, 
taking,  as  already  stated,  only  so  much  as  is  actually  needed  for  their  immediate 
wants,  never  providing  for  the  future.  They  make  houses,  boats,  clothing,  &c., 
of  the  skins  of  walrus  and  seals,  and  sell  the  bone  and  ivory  to  traders  for 
rum  and  breech-loading  arms.  So  long  as  the  rum  lasts  they  do  nothing  but 
drink  and  fight.  They  had  a  few  furs,  some  of  which  we  tried  to  buy  to  make 
Arctic  clothing,  but,  notwithstanding  their  terrible  experience  in  the  past,  they 
refused  to  sell  for  anything  but  whiskey,  breech-loading  rifles,  or  cartridges. 
We  saw  thousands  of  walrus  while  passing  the  island,  lying  asleep  on  the 
ice,  but  not  an  Indian  in  sight ;  having  a  few  furs  and  a  small  amount  of 
whalebone,  they  were  waiting  for  that  curse  of  Alaska,  a  whiskey-trader.  As 
near  as  I  can  learn,  over  four  hundred  natives  had  died  of  actual  starvation 
on  this  island  within  the  last  two  years,  and,  unless  some  prompt  action  be 
taken  by  the  Government  to  prevent  them  from  obtaining  whiskey,  they  will 
in  a  few  years  become  extinct.    [Hooper,  1881,  pp.  lo-ii.] 
On  the  basis  of  Captain  Hooper's  report  it  has  often  been  asserted 
that  liquor  was  directly  responsible  for  the  famine  of  1878-79.  It 
is  claimed  that  the  Eskimos,  being  on  a  prolonged  spree,  had  failed 
to  lay  in  a  supply  of  walrus  meat  when  the  game  was  available,  and 
