THE GREAT CALAMITY AT LABRADOR.

Kumara Times, Issue 3103, 13 October 1886, Page 2

THE GREAT CALAMITY AT LABRADOR.

MEN AND BEARS CONTENDING FOK THE CORPSES OF THE VICTIMS. A despatch from St. John’s, Newfoundland, states: Hergenatia Ter, one of the Esquimaux who arrived here on the Nancy Barrett from Okkak, Labrador, says that the population of that settlement was nearly one hundred and thirty, yet when lie left with his wife not a soul remained. Early in March food gave out. Every drop of oil and bit of sealskin was utilised, and at rare intervals a bear was killed, but finally the supplies were quite exhausted. DRIVEN* TO CANNIBALISM. On June 3 they had eaten nothing

for six days, and, goaded by hunger, they feasted upon the corpses of several whites and a few Indians that had been killed by the cold. When one of their own party died, the body was frozen for use. From this food terrible dysenteiy sot in among the survivors, and on July 1 there were but sixteen persons left alive, the bodies of over twentyfive having been eaten. The sixteen survivors started down the coast in a sledge drawn by four dogs, the only living creatures left them, their ponies having been sacrificed to appease hunger long before. When about twenty-four miles from Cape Mingford a heave snowstorm set in. While the party were endeavoring to find their way they were attacked by white bears to the number of twenty-five or thirty, which billed all of the party but two, the survivors being among the number at Cape Mugford. BEARS RAVAGING THE SETTLEMENTS. Ter reports that more than one-half of the entire population have died of hunger. Thousands of bears have crossed over from Pennyland, ransacked the stores of Okkak, dug open the graves and devoured the dead, and attacked the living. They have devastated an immense district, of which the inhabitants, abandoning the smaller settlements, have flocked to the larger—the fishing ports—where they have been followed by hordes of bears, and devoured in great numbers. The neighbourhood of Hopedale, the centre of a considerable seal fishing traffic, has also suffered from lack of food and the ferocity of hears and wolves. Within the past two months over one bandied and fifty persons have perished from cold or hunger, or by falling a prey to the wild beasts. Men driven mad by hunger have fought over the remains of their dead companions, the bears being usually successful, and securing a double repast. BATTLING WITH THE BEARS. Further reports of the starvation horrors in Labrador have reached here. The terrible tales which are being slowly brought in relative to the depredations of bears are appaling. It is said that in one settlement of about twenty-eight families the inhabitants had been rendered so weak by the forced short rations to which they had been compelled to submit in order to eke out life, that there was hardly a man who was strong enough to raise a spear in self-defence against the brutes. The result was that the bears, nnmbering about one hundred and fifty, made a clean sweep of the place, devouring every man woman and child, excepting four young men, who succeeded in clambering*to some neighboring rocks. Here they remained 48 hours watching the bears at their horrible repast. After the bears moved away a pack of wolves, which had been hanging around, finished what the larger animals had left. By the time 48 hours had elapsed two of the young men had perished from cold, while a third died shortly afterwards. The fourth, who was an Esquimaux named Johann Anderson, being a little better clothed than his companions, succeeded in reaching the deseited houses and terrible sepulchre which had once been his home. He found some other articles of clothing and a few scraps of food which had been stored away. Armed with these he started out for White Bear, the neighbouring settlement, 23 or 24 miles away, and which, almost by a miracle, he succeeded in reaching. He there related his horrible story and was cared for as well as the limited resources of the poor people would admit. FEARFUL MORTALITY. The very lowest estimates of those who have perished from starvation and exposure places the number at 3500.