e
fur houses of Seattle, and the sight gave me much concern.

THE CARIBOU, GENERALLY.--I think it is not very difficult to forecast
the future of the Genus _Rangifer_ in North America, from the logic of
the conditions of to-day. Thanks to the splendid mass of information
that has been accumulated regarding this group, we are able to draw
certain conclusions. I think that the caribou of the Canadian Barren
Grounds and northeastern Alaska will survive in great numbers for at
least another century; that the caribou herds of Newfoundland will last
nearly as long, and that in fifty years or less all the caribou of the
great northwestern wilderness will be swept away.

The reasons for these conclusions are by no means obscure, or
farfetched.

In the first place, the barren-ground caribou are to-day enormously
numerous,--undoubtedly running up into millions. It can not be possible
that they are being killed faster than they are breeding; and so they
must be increasing. Their food supply is unlimited. They are protected
by two redoubtable champions,--Jack Frost and the Mosquito. Their
country never will contain a great human population. The natives are so
few in number, and so lazy, that even though they should become supplied
with modern firearms, it is unlikely that they ever will make a serious
impression on the caribou millions. The only thing to fear for the
barren-ground caribou throngs is disease,--a factor that is beyond human
prediction.

It is reasonably certain that the Barren Grounds never will be netted by
railways,--unless gold is discovered over a wide area. The fierce cold
and hunger, and the billions of mosquitoes of the Barren Grounds will
protect the caribou from the wholesale slaughter that "civilized" man
joyously would inflict--if he had the chance.

The caribou thousands of Newfoundland are fairly accessible to sportsmen
and pot-hunters, but at the same time the colonial government can
protect them from extermination if it will. Already much has been done
to check the reckless and wicked slaughter that once prevailed. A bag
limit of three bull caribou per annum has been fixed, which is enforced
as to non-residents and sportsmen, but in a way that is much too
"American" it is often ignored by residents in touch with the game. For
instance, the guide of a New York gentleman whom I know admitted to my
friend that each year he killed "about 25" caribou for himself and his
family of four other persons. H