(532 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



and makes tbeDi ruu with the head and not with the side in front. Our 

 harnesses have also been examined, discussed, and tried by the other 

 white people in Alaska, and all agree in regard to their excellence. I 

 do not know whether our pattern of harnesses has been used at Cape 

 Prince of Wales, but two sets of harnesses have been made for our 

 apprentices and sent up there. It is probable that tlie Siberian har- 

 nesses improved by Mr. W. T. Lopp are used there, as everybody is 

 inclined to like his own patent best. Antisarlook used the harnesses 

 made at this station, and he received two sets on his departure. He 

 says: " It is plenty good; Siberian not good." 



David Johnson, instructor at the mission school in Unalaklik, who 

 last winter made a missionary journey along the coast up to Cape 

 Prince of Wales, on which journey he also paid us a visit, has tested 

 various harnesses used in training and driving oxen, and on the 19th 

 of April, 1895, he wrote me as follows : 



Since I came home I have been busy training the hulls. I had Laplanders' har- 

 nesses made for them. I drive them with double lines, Init single traces. Tried the 

 yoke and the old Laplander harness, but found the one that is in use now ■worked best. 



As Mr. David Johnson is well acquainted with all the ways of driv- 

 ing in America, both with oxen and with horses, and is familiar with 

 all the different kinds of harnesses, and doubtless has tested all, he 

 finds that the Lapland reindeer harnesses are the best also for oxen — a 

 matter in which I entirely agree with him. I think it would therefore 

 be a good thing if some American farmers, in localities where oxen are 

 extensively used, would try this kind of harness, and I have no doubt 

 that it would produce a great revolution and improvement in the man- 

 ner of driving oxen in America. Of this I have not the slightest doubt. 

 The Lapland harness is certainly better than the yoke or any other 

 kind of harness, both for animals and for driver. It is not claimed 

 that we know more about driving than people do in America, but it 

 should be remembered that the people who have reached this result 

 with harnesses are a nation who for hundreds of years have had to 

 depend upon draft animals resembling oxen, and as a consequence they 

 have made many improvements. The harnesses were tested for years 

 before they were finally adopted, and the result has been the adoption 

 of the harnesses now in use. 



Looking at the matter from this standpoint, it is fair to presume that 

 an improvement would come from such a nation if it is to come at all. 

 In America all the attention has been concentrated on improving the 

 harnesses of horses, and the results have been highly satisfactory, while 

 it is doubtless true that the harness of oxen, particularly in later years, 

 has not received the attention to which it is entitled. The harness of 

 oxen ought to be considered so long as this animal has to do the main 

 work in clearing the land. From the work list, which I send you, you 

 will be able to see how both the herders and the apprentices have been 

 employed during the year. In order that the various kinds of work 



