uch aggravated it. They lived much more in
the open when they had no tree-felling tool but a stone-axe and did not
build cabins. The winter residence in those days was, it is true, a
dark, half-underground hut covered with earth and poles, but the time of
residence therein was much shorter; the skin tent sheltered them most of
the year. Indeed, some tribes, such as the Chandalar, lived in their
skin tents the year round. Now an ill-ventilated and very commonly
overcrowded cabin shelters them most of the year. It is true that the
cabins are constantly improving and the standard of living within them
is constantly rising. The process is slow, despite all urgings and
warnings, and overcrowding and lack of ventilation still prevail.

[Illustration: THE NATIVE COMMUNICANT.]

[Illustration: RAW MATERIAL.]

Perhaps as great a cause of the spread of tuberculosis is the change in
clothing. The original native was clad in skins, which are the warmest
clothing in the world. Moose hide or caribou hide garments, tanned and
smoked, are impervious to the wind, and a parkee of muskrat or squirrel,
or, as was not uncommon in the old days, of marten, or one of caribou
tanned with the hair on, with boots of this last material, give all the
warmth that exposure to the coldest weather requires. Nowadays fur
garments of any sort are not usual amongst the natives. There is a
market, at an ever-growing price, for all the furs they can procure. A
law has, indeed, gone recently into effect prohibiting the sale of
beaver for a term of years, and already beaver coats and caps begin to
appear again amongst the people. It would be an excellent, wise thing,
worthy of a government that takes a fatherly interest in very childlike
folks, to make this law permanent. If it were fit to prohibit the
sale of beaver pelts for a term of years to protect the beaver, surely
it would be proper to perpetuate the enactment to protect the Indian. It
would mean warm clothing for man, woman, and child.

[Illustration: AN ESQUIMAU YOUTH.]

[Illustration: A HALF-BREED INDIAN.]

[Sidenote: THE INDIAN TRADER]

The Indian usually sells all his furs and then turns round and buys
manufactured clothing from the trader at a fancy price. That clothing is
almost always cotton and shoddy. Genuine woollens are not to be found in
the Indian trader's stock at all, and in whatever guise it may
masquerade, and by whatever alias it may pass, the native wear is
cotton. Yet there