108 FAMINE AMONG TIIE ESQUIMAUX. 
“ It seems that the poor wretches suffered terribly,— 
even more- than our neighbors of Etah Bay. Their 
laws exact an equal division; and the success of the 
best hunters was dissipated by the crowds ot feeble 
claimants upon their spoils. At last the broken nature 
of the ice-margin and the freezing-up of a large zone of 
ice prevented them from seeking walrus. The water 
was inaccessible, and the last resource pressed itself 
upon them. They killed their dogs. Fearful as it 
sounds when we think how indispensable the services 
of these animals are to their daily existence, they 
cannot now number more than twenty in the entire 
ownership of the tribe. From Glacier South to G lacier 
North, from Glacier East to the rude icebound coast 
which completes the circuit of their little world, this 
nation have but twenty dogs. What can they hope 
for without them ? 
“ I can already count eight settlements, including 
about one hundred and forty souls. There are more, 
perhaps, but certainly not many. Out ol these I can 
number five deaths since our arrival; and I am aware 
of hardships and disasters encountered by the survivors, 
which, repeated as they must be in the future, cannot 
fail to involve a larger mortality. Crime combines 
with disease and exposure to thin their numbers: I 
know of three murders within the past two years; and 
one infanticide occurred only a few months ago. These 
facts, which are open to my limited sources of informa¬ 
tion, cannot, of course, indicate the number of deaths 
correctly. They confirm, however, a fearful conclusion 
