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I mean that seldom are more than three children living to a family. I account for the disparity of females by the often occurring periods of hunger together with the hardships to which the women are subjected. When the food becomes short male adults have preference over females, boys over girls. Just before the beginning of the salmon season in the early spring when large game has retired to the mountain pastures, occurs the greatest suffering. Their country is indeed inhospitable and it is barely possible ^ for them to secure skin clothing adequate to the severe winters.
The worn teeth of these people is easily accounted for by the chewing of dried salmon their chief sustenance and of roots which they do not see fit to wash. Both of these are furnished with an abundant sprinkling of sand. These natives also eat the salmon skins which on the Yukon are not unfrequently