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 
