AN ANTLERED ARMY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19918, 3 May 1930, Page 8

AN ANTLERED ARMY.

TO SAVE ESKIMO.

In tho valley of the Mackenzie river, within the Canadian Arctic, the Government of the Dominion is preparing a homo for 3000 reindeer from Alaska. This herd represents a serious effori to rescue the Eskimo population of tlio North-west from an unwholesomo tinned diet aud to restore it to something approaching primitive food. Those who best know the Eskimo and his ways agree that whatever benefits may havj been sccurod to him by civilisation, his vitality and power of resistance have been lowered by strange dietary customs. lie used to bo healthy and vigorous ou seal blubber, and there is a traditional picture of tho Eskimo hunter, flat on his back, being fed 1 savory bits of fat by a devoted wife. The picture does not conform to meals of tinned beef, bread, and tea. This picturesque antlered army, now on its slow way from Alaska, comprises direct descendants of 1280 reindeer introduced into that country less than forty years ago to bo the ancestors of a herd which to-day numbers more tbau three-quarters of a million, aud out of which 200,000 animals have been slaughtered to provide food and clothing for tho Alaskan natives. If this experience is repeated in tho Mackenzie district, whero conditions arc similar, it will bo only a few years before the desolate plains abound with hugo reindeer herds to provide the Eskimos with an ample meat diet and with skins for their clothing. At Kittigaruit, on the Mackenzie, a huge corral is being constructed of spruce trees as headquarters for tho lierd. The Government was encouraged in this novel enterprise by the success which has attended the establishment at Wainwright, Alberta, of the greatest buffalo cauip in tho world. The Eskimo, onco a hunter for game's sake, now has become a trapper. Seal and caribou still exist in quantities, but instead of catching tbcm for hiß food ho traps foxes aud deals with the traders. Experts in Arctic conditions believe that through reindeer herds the natives may bo saved from the extinction which seems inevitable if something is not done to save them from a whito man's diet unsuited to their race aud environment. .

CANADIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COWS.

The latest available iigures indicate that Canada's average cow produces 47451b milk containing 1661b butterfat, states the "New Zealand Journal of Agriculture." New Zealand's averago cow for tjto 1928-29 season is estimated to have produced 2121b butter-fat. The average test in New Zealand can be taken at about 4 per cent., which represents an average milk production of 53001b.