Evening star., 1923-09-30
Mysterious Tribe of Indians
/ Found IN Wastes of Labrador
Washington Explorer
Spends Summer in
Arctic Zone.
DIR. Nicholson Fails to
Identity Strange Race
in Canadian, Interior.

An unclassified tribe of red men
roam over the icy rocks of northern
Labrador. These arctic nomads be-
long to no known Indian family
They constitute mysterious cast
!! off in American ethnology. Their
language is unintelligible. They
cannot be studied. They are murder
ouSly hostile to the slow advance of
civilization over the last frontier
into the friendly north"
DIR. Truman Nicholson. Indian ex-
pert of the Smithsonian Institution,
returned to Washington this week,
after a summer in the arctic He had
hoped to connect the lost tribe.
through their language, with the
great Algonquin race. In this he failed,
although he was able to identify the
Labrador coast Indians.
Interior Little known.
a majority of the interior people
never have seen a white man, DR..
Nicholson reports. They are one of
the more isolated of existing human
families. The dreary Canadian
yond narrow, rocky strip on the
coast. The fur trading stations hug
the seashore and the rivers.
The Indians have 20 settled abode.
Only occasional individuals wander
into the little settlements with their
fur packs. Nobody knows how num-
erous they are, although the Cana
dian government roughly estimates
about 5000 of all tribes in. the ter
ritory.
Even the Moravian and Jesuit
missionaries fail to reach them. The
troopers of the northwest mounted
seldom meet with them. They appar-
emily gain their entire sustenance from
hunting
DIR. Nicholson spent most of his time
at trading post on Northwest river
just below Hudson bay. This village
consisted of three fur stations, a
Grenville hospital and few frame
houses. He was a guest of the Hud-
son Bay Company. He reports that
one American concern has just taken
a hand in the century-old war be-
tween arctic fur traders. On one side
of the river is the Hudson bay post.
Directly opposite is the Revillon
freres post. The Americans, with a
smaller concern, are causing the old
rivals to forget some of their hatred
for each other and hustle for busi-
ness.
Few Whites i'm Village.
There are three or four white men
In the village. The rest~of the popu-
lation is Eskimo OF Eskimo halfbreed.
He found them deeply religious but
largely illiterate people. Among the
rocks they exc out difficult existences.
DR. Nicholson has returned convinced
that the friendly arctic" legend is
false. He thinks. however, that the
lives of these people might be made
much easier by education in practical
farming and food values.
With care the villagers raise fair
potato crops during the short, balmy
summers. There are other crops to
which the land is adapted. the Wash
ington scientist thinks which are
unknown.
Even reindeer herding. the staff of
life for so many dwellers under the
midnight sun. is not practiced. The
natives claim that their dogs kill off
| the herds. If this is true it is the
kfault of the herdsmen, DR.. Nicholson
belieyes.-4 found the Eskimo dog a
eralh~r trattable animal when we'll
treated. The common practice is to
turn these tanimals loose during the
summer to shift for themselves. The
result is that they are so hungry
they will attack anything. When
fed and petted, the Washington man
found. they will become quite affec-
tionate. However, it is not uncom-