Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-01
Ghastly villages Of Uuburled Dead.

LIEUT.. HAND, of the Arctic whaler's
relief vessel Thomas Corwin, recently
returned from the Northern seas, told a
San Francisco Chronicle reporter:
"On the second day out from st.
Michaels we reached st. Lawrence ISL
and, where it was reported a famine
had swept away nearly the whole popu-
lation during the previous year. The
island is ninety miles long from east to
west. We steamed along close in by
the shore, working our way through the
ice. At last the settlements were
reached and each one that was visited
presented the same dreary scene of
death and desolation. Not a sign of life
was to be seen any where. Not a soli-
tary dog or rat was TO be found about
any of the rude huts; but in front of the
houses, in ghastly row, lay the dead
bodies of those who had sucCumbed to
the terrible hunger. They had lain
there for fifteen months, and we were
probably the first to look upon them.
Their clothes had rotted off the bodies,
but the forms were preserved by the cold
SO that they looked like mummies. The
skin had drawn tight over their emaci-
lbDu AusbND anu AOA ms anu 4ODhEu llhb
ancient parchment. So perfectly had
the dry air preserved them that we could
distinguish the bodies of the women from
the men by the deep tattoo marks on the
chin, which is one Of the peculiar styles
of feminine face ornament. In few
houses bodies were found in various
postures, just as they fell in the last
agony of solitary death. As long as
there were any survivors to perform the
service the corpses were placed in the
regular rows in front of the huts. At
one place we found fifty bodies side by
side, some being the remains of little
children, while others were the corpses
of old people. Ill. .-....., ..
"The usual litter and refuse which
surrounds the Esquimaux huts were
lacking, and there was not a scrap left
of any kind of food. The cleanly-gnaW-
ed bones showed that they had eaten
their dogs they had even devOured the
rats which infested the village; they
had chewed up the old bits Of walrus-
hide-every thing which would satisfy
the cravings of hunger. At last they
had perished miserably, dying by inch
es, with no hope of succor and no
chance of escape. At least 500 of the
poor wretches suffered this hideous
death. To explain this terrible famine,
which was as unusual as it was fatal,
it must be added that the season was
one of unparalleled severity. The ma
tives of this island were large, robust
men and expert hunters and fishermen.
But like most of their race they were
improvident and made no provision for
such a winter. The cold set in early
and without interruption. The mercury
was forty degrees below zero for weeks
at a time. The cold and the violent
storms prevented them from going out
on the ice to catch walrus and seal-their
main dependence for food in the winter.
Their scanty stock of meat was soon ex-
hausted; they were many miles from
Siberia and could not have reached it
alive in the face of the bitter wind. At
the northwest end of the island we found
a settlement of about two hundred and
fifty people. These had suffered severe
ly by the famine, only about one-half
the original colony having survived.
They had had a larger stock of pro-
visions than their unfortunate neighbors
and thus escaped utter annihilatiOn.