TDRNEB] DISEASES. 187 



locality. Pitching themselves from a cliff or producing strangulatiou 

 are the usual methods. Sometimes a gun is used. Remorse and dis- 

 appoiuted love are the only causes of suicide. 



A man discovered, during a period of great scarcity or food, that 

 while he went in quest of food his wife had secretly stored away a 

 quantity of fish and ate of them during his absence only. Coming 

 home unexijectedly, he caught her eating and she endeavored to secrete 

 the remainder. He quietly went out of the snow hut and blocked up the 

 entrance. She inquired why he did so. His reply was for her to come 

 out and she would discover why it was done. His tone was not at all 

 reassuring. She remained within the hut and perished ft'om starva- 

 tion, knowing she would be killed if she went out. 



Instances are reported where, in times of great scarcity, families have 

 been driven to cannibalism after eating their dogs and the clothing and 

 other articles made of skins. Unlucky or disliked women are often 

 driven from the camp, and such must journey until they find relief or 

 perish by the wayside. 



The principal diseases from which these people suffer are pulmonary 

 troubles, chiefly arising from their filthy manner of living in crowded 

 huts, too ill ventilated to allow the escape of the odors emanating from 

 their own bodies and from accumulations of slowly decomposing animal 

 food. All openings must be I'losed as quickly as possible in order to 

 economize the heat within, for when (mce chilled it is difficult to restore 

 the house to the proper degree of warmth. An Eskimo would always 

 prefer to erect a new hut of snow rather than pass the night in one 

 which has been deserted for only a single night if the doorway has not 

 been tightly clos/ed with a block of snow. 



Within the walls, reeking with the exhalations of various putrid mat- 

 ters, the people breathe and rebreathe the air filled with poisonous 

 gases ; so fully one-half of the Eskimo die of pulmonary troubles. The 

 other prevailing diseases are those causing devitalization of the blood, 

 such as scurvy. Sores break out on the shoulders, elbows, knees, and 

 ankles. The ravages of these diseases proceed at an astonishing rate, 

 soon carrying off the afflicted person. 



The means of relief usually employed are those which the shaman (or 

 conjurer, as he is locally known) is able to effect by working on the im- 

 agination of the sick, who is in this condition easily influenced. The 

 will power of both the patient and shaman is stretched to its utmost 

 ten.sion, and as faith with them, as with many others of fairer skins, 

 often produces more of the relief than the ministrations of drugs or 

 drafts, the cure is effected, or else the shaman, like the physician, 

 has not the devil on his side. 



The magnitude of the disease is generally measured by the amount 

 of the patient's worldly wealth. 



