The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-10-09
CHASTITY Villages Of Uuburied Dead.

"a LIEUT.. HAND, of the Arctic whaler's
relief vessel Thomas Corwin, recently
returned from the Northern seas, told a
San Francisco Chronicle reporter
sh con the second day out from st.
and, where it was reported 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 sign of life
was to be seen any where. Not "a soil
tary dog or rat was to be found about
any of the rude huts; but in front of the
houses, in a CHASTITY row, lay the dead
bodiesco 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 oyer their ENACT
ated faces and forms, and looked like
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. LAS 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. .,.; .,..,..,.,...i....1s ,e
"The usual litter and refuse which
surrounds the Esquimaux huts were
lacking, and there was not ascrap left
of any kind of food. The cleanly-gnaw.
ed bones showed that they had eaten
their dogs; they had even .deyoured the
rats which infested the village; they
had cchewed up the old bits Of walrus-
hide-every thing which would satisfy
the, cravings of hunger. /, At last they
had persisted miserably, dying by inch
es, with no hope Of shcc6r and no
chance of escape' At least 500 ofthe
poor wretches suffered this ihideous
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
tiyes of this island were large, robust
men, and expert hunters and fishermen.
But like most, of their race they, were
ifnprovident 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 time. The cold and the violent
storms prevented them from going out
on the ice to catch walrus ard 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
thenorthwest end of the island we found
a settlement OF about two hundred and
fifty people. These had suffered severe
4 ly by the famine, only about one-half
the original colony having survived.
| They had had larger stock of pro-
\ visions than their unfortunate neighbors
and thus escaped utter humiliation.