BOAS.] • DISTRIBUTION OF THE TRIBES. 427 



not kill enovigh to cause any considiM'alili' cliininution iu numbers. 

 The whalers do not hiint the seal tn any rxicnt. and when one realizes 

 how small the population of the cnuutry is ami how vast the territory 

 in which the seal lives it is easy to understand that famine or want 

 cannot arise, as a rule, from the cutting off of the natural food sup- 

 ply. Ill fact, in the spring enormous numbers of seals may be seen 

 together basking in the sun or swimming in the water. 



The causes of the famines which occur somewhat frequently among 

 the Eskimo must be sought in another direction. Pressing need 

 often prevails if in the latter part of the autumn the formation of 

 the iioe is retarded; for in that case hunters are not able either to go 

 hunting in boats or to procure the necessary food at the edge of the 

 floe, as new ice is attached to its more solid parts and the seals do 

 not yet open their breathing holes. Such was the case at Xiaijuuau- 

 jang.on Davis Strait, in the fall of 1883. Gales of wind inlldwini;- in 

 qiiick succession broke the floe. The new ice which had iormud im- 

 mediately prevented the natives from sealing, and in November and 

 December a famine visited the settlement. Very soon the supply 

 of blubber was exhausted, and being unable to feed the dogs the 

 inhabitants Avere obliged to kill them one after another and to live 

 upon their frozen carcasses. Only two dogs survived these months 

 of need and starvation. Consequently the hunting season was a 

 very jjoor one, since the natives missed the services of their dogs, 

 which scent the breathing holes, and could not leave their settle- 

 ment for any great distance. 



Ill winter a long spell of bad weather occasions privation, since the 

 hunters are then prevented from leaving the huts. If by chance 

 some one should hapiien to die during this time, famine is inevitable, 

 for a strict law forbids the performance of any kind of work during 

 the days of mourning. When this time is over, however, or at the 

 beginning of good weather, an ample supply is quickly secured. I 

 do not know of any cases of famine arising from the absolute want 

 of game, but only from the impossibility of reaching it. 



Sometimes traveling parties that are not acquainted with the nat- 

 ure of the country which they visit are in want of food. For in- 

 stance, a large company, consisting of three boat crews, were starved 

 on the eastern shore of Fox Basin, their boats being crushed by the 

 heavy ice and the game they expected to find in abundance having 

 left the region altogether. On one of the numerous islands of Net- 

 tilling a number of women and children perished, as the men, who 

 had been deer hunting, were unable to find their way back to the 

 place in which they had erected their huts. 



Another case of starvation is frequently mentioned by the Eskimo. 

 Some families who were traveling from Akuliaq to Nugumiut passed 

 the isthmus between Hudson Strait and Frobisher Bay. When, after 

 a. long and tedious journey, they had reached the sea, the men left 



