272 THE LABRADOR ESKIMOS AND THEIR FORMER RANGE. 



not help thinking that their numbers have sensibly di- 

 minished, inasmuch as we found signs of their presence 

 everywhere ; yet except at Port Burwell, Ashe Inlet, and 

 Stupart's Bay, none were met with. About six miles 

 south of Port Burwell [Cape Chudleigh] there are the 

 remains of what must once have been a large Eskimo 

 settlement, their subterranean dwellings being still in a 

 fair state of preservation. At the present time, so far 

 as I can learn, there are only some five or six Eskimo 

 families between Cape Chudleigh and Nachvak. 



" Along the Labrador coast the Eskimos gather in 

 small settlements round the Moravian Mission stations; 

 at these places their numbers vary considerably. Nain 

 is reported to be the largest settlement, and its Eskimo 

 population amounts to about two hundred souls" (p. i6.) 



The following notes will show how rapidly the Es- 

 kimos are diminishing. In an extract in Hind's Labra- 

 dor, published in 1863, from an article by Rev. L. T. 

 Reichel, it is stated that the number of Eskimos dwelling 

 along the coast, which is about 500 miles in length, "is 

 computed at about 1,500, of whom 1,163 belong to our 

 mission. There are about 200 heathen living to the 

 north of Hebron, and there are said to be others scattered 

 here and there, but their number cannot be considerable, 

 and some are settled at the establishments of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company." 



In 1871, in a pamphlet entitled " Die Missionen der 

 Briider-Unitat. I., Labrador," Rev. Mr. Reichel stated 

 that the number of Eskimos is smaller than generally 

 supposed. There are along 500 miles of the north coast 

 scarcely 1,500 souls, of which 1,124 live at the six mis- 



