Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-03-19

whales and walrus and thcs cut of the FOOD
supply Of the people The gradual extinction
OF thesa marine animals cannot be denied AND
il from them came the principal food
supply Of our Eskimo relief sbonlG
DO afforded with out delay. but in that
cass it would be cruelty. indeed. to in
| troducs among them an animal such ~ they
| have always hunted and still hunt in Q wild
state, and then to ask or compel the starving
people to wait patiently for years until the
| natural increase may permit Of drawing upon
| the herds for food II starvation exists now in
| Alaska-and 1t does. locally and periodically
let US send them meat, fish or -four which can
| be more easily distributed and carried to them
more cheaply than Siberian rein deer can be
ferrisd over on government ships. As . meas.
ure OF immediate relief something more prao.
| ticsbis could. no doubt be conceived.
THE CAUSES SCARCITY OF FOOD
From such Information 40 il obtainAble II
would appear that thus far all instances OF
scarcity of food among the Eskimo tribes have
aprung. a, least partially. from other sources
| than the extinction OF the wa,rus. The fatal
period OF starvation on St Lawrence Island,
which occurred eleven or twelve years ago, was
clearly traced to a failure o, the part Of the
people to lay in their supplies at tho proper
SEASON. being then incapactated by protracted
indulgence in liquors sold them by unscrupu-
lous traders, There has been appareutfy no
IL
as the census returns show no further decrease
of population sincs the great mortality
OF the winter Of 1879 and 80.
At various points along the Arctic shore.
also, deficiencies In the winter food supply can
generally be traced to failure on the part Of
the people TO make use Of their opportunities
at the proper time. We must remember that
nature Is not generous with her children in
those desolate regions, and that every devil
alton from rules laid down by nature brings
ho1t ~, oh
such failures are various. The general assem-
bling Of the people at points visited by whale
ships and their eagerness to trade away any
thing and everything Cor articles often useless
or injurious to them are productive of want,
directly well as indirectly by keeping them
away from their fishing grounds It is known
that these people obtain liquors in spite of the
persistent efforts of tine revenue marine Off
cials. who can watch the coast only during q
limited period, and if the Arctic Eskimo can
not buy intoxicants he knows how to make
them from the most innocent ingredients For
a brief period of boisterous hilarity or stupid
oblivion he pays, later on, with the gnawing
panss OF hunger.
ANOTHER EVIL INFLUENCE,
which, perhaps. causes as much mischief as
the liquors emanates from the sway of the
medicine man or sorcerer, who insists upon
superstitious observances involving the sus-
pension of all labor for weeks at a time and
the avoidance Of certain hunting and fishing
grounds for one or more seasons. These su-
perstitions are 70 closely interviewer with the
whole social and economic structure of Eskimo
life that 1T Will require long years Of patient
teaching to eradicate them.
SOURCES OF FOOD SUPPLY
It must be remembered that these people
never depended upon the walrus alone for sub
sistence-the various species OF hair seal always
were and still are Of paramount importance
in their domestic economy. These seals (not
the fur seal are hunted only by the Eskimo
and they are nearly as plentiful as ever. They
regret the extinction of the walrus more on
account OF its ivory, which commands good
prices from the traders and could be exchanged
for liquors.
As for the whales they are rapidly growing
less. but while they still exist the natives are
provided by the whalemen with Implements for
their capture far more efficient than any they
ever had OF their own manufacture, and many
a carcass set adrift from whale ships floats to
their shores.
The supply of fish is still undiminished
everywhere in Alaska. 1t has been repre-
sented that the salmon canneries have alb
sorbed the fish supply OF the Eskimo, but
there are no canneries within . thousand miles
OF the Arctic Eskimo who are to be assisted
and even in the immediate vicinity of the
fisheries the natives prefer to cure for their
own consumption varieties Of salmon which
have no market value, and the canneries give
them remunerative employment il they wish to
labor.
Birds, Of which they consume all kinds, have
not perceptibly diminished in numbers, but
energy and activity are necessary to secure
them Life must always be . struggle in the
arctic or subarctic regiona
TRIBES THAT SUFFER LEAST AND WHY.
Starvation is not imminent or Unavoidable
As far a. known such instances - occur are
tlu
they are local. not general in their character.
Ny own long experience in Alaska has con-
WINGED me that the tribes who have been left
to their own traditional devices and who have
not been tempted to change their routine of
life have suffered least. As an instance of this
/ may quote the Island OF Nunivak In Boring
sea. 1t has rarely been visited and never had
permanent white resident upon its shores
Up to within q few years the Wild reindeer or
cariboo were abundant on this island but,
having obtained guns, the natives killed the
reindeer to the last one, disposlng Of over 1000
skins In single season. Today there is not q
| reindeer garment to be found among the 700 in
habitants. They next turned their attention to tho
walrus. which formerly frequented the southern
coast in large numbers, until the annual catch
has been reduced to twenty or thirty. One
would naturally expect to find scarcity and
| suffering here, after the determination Of two
| such important animals. but such IL BY no
means the case. The seal, the white grampus.
TIE Esu cduruL III LAeif hhalloH streams and oil
kinds Of aquatic birds fill their store houses to
overlooking, and they the healthiest and
heartlest natives ] have found in Alaska. So
little are they pressed for food that they pay no
attention to the vast focks of arctic grouse or
! ptarmiSsn which inhEbit tho swamps and iov
hills, totally undis.urbed by the advent of d
stranger among them.
THE TAME REINDEER.
After this brief inquiry into the food supply
/ OF our Eskimo turn to the question more i'm
mediately at issue-the introduction of tnme
reindeer from Siberia among the natives Of
| Alaska.
| We know Of but two tribes or families who
have at least partially domesticated the rein
deer-ths Laps Of Lapland and the Chukche Of
eastern Siberia.
| With the Laps and their customs am quits
familiar, having passed my youth in St Peters
| burg. to which place certain families OF tho
Finnish Laps migrate every winter with Their
herds to sell meat A few of them, with well
broken teams. camp on the river Neva> earning
money by driving people about in their clumsy
sleighs, while the others follow the herds oveI
the vast noors and NOISY plains surrounding
the northern metropolis aud attend to thu
| tutchering.
| now the LAS Are DIVIDED.
The Laps are divided into Fishing Laps'
and Reindeer Laps" the former settle or
rivers and seaeoast; the latter pure. nomads
following up their fiocks over q vast area q,
| country and living in tents througheut ths
year. The reindeer Laps, whose number = no.
great and who hayo more wauts perhaps thar