Instances are reported where, in times of great scarcity, families have been driven to cannibalism after eating their dogs and the clothing and other articles made of skins. Unlucky or disliked women are often driven from the camp, and such must journey until they find relief or perish by the wayside. DISEASES. The principal diseases from which these people suffer are pulmonary troubles, chiefly arising from their filthy manner of living in crowded huts, too ill ventilated to allow the escape of the odors emanating from their own bodies and from accumulations of slowly decomposing animal food. All openings must be closed as quickly as possible in order to economize the heat within, for when once chilled it is difficult to restore the house to the proper degree of warmth. An Eskimo would always prefer to erect a new hut of snow rather than pass the night in one which has been deserted for only a single night if the doorway has not been tightly closed with a block of snow. Within the walls, reeking with the exhalations of various putrid matters, the people breathe and rebreathe the air filled with poisonous gases; so fully one-half of the Eskimo die of pulmonary troubles. The other prevailing diseases are those causing devitalization of the blood, such as scurvy. Sores break out on the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The ravages of these diseases proceed at an astonishing rate, soon carrying off the afflicted person. The means of relief usually employed are those which the shaman (or conjurer, as he is locally known) is able to effect by working on the imagination of the sick, who is in this condition easily influenced. The will power of both the patient and shaman is stretched to its utmost tension, and as faith with them, as with many others of fairer skins, often produces more of the relief than the ministrations of drugs or drafts, the cure is effected, or else the shaman, like the physician, has not the devil on his side. The magnitude of the disease is generally measured by the amount of the patient’s worldly wealth. MARRIAGE. A woman is married as soon after puberty as a male comes along who has the requisite physical strength to force her to become his wife. Many of the females are taken before that period, and the result is that few children are born to such unions and the children are generally weakly. The ceremony between the couples is quite simple. The sanction of the parents is sometimes obtained by favor or else bought by making certain presents of skins, furs, and other valuables to the father and mother. The girl is sometimes asked for her consent, and, if unwilling, often enlists the sympathy of the mother, and the affair is postponed to a more favorable opportunity, or till the suitor becomes disgusted with her and takes somebody else.