APPENDIX C. 



REINDEER REPORT, CAPE PRINCE OF WALES. 



By W. T. Lopp. 



Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska, June 6, 1895. 



Dear Sir: In accordance with the conditions expressed in your 

 letter of July 27, 1894, giving to this mission a herd of domestic rein- 

 deer, I hereby submit our annual report. 



We have experienced no serious difficulties in their management, and 

 with the recent increase of fawns the herd now numbers 174. 



Our herders have consisted of five Eskimo boys, ranging in ages from 

 14 to 19, and one Siberian, all of whom were with us last year at the 

 Teller Eeindeer Station at Port Clarence. Until April they lived in a 

 log house about 7 miles northeast of the cape, and since then they have 

 lived in a tent. The winter has been unusually severe, and on some 

 occasions when blizzards were raging the herd or parts of it have been 

 lost. But when the weather cleared up they have always been able to 

 find the deer. Eegular watches were kept by our herders until January, 

 when some of the Eskimo herders from the Teller Reindeer Station 

 explained to our boys how they and the Laplanders stood no regular 

 watches and did not herd the deer at night. From that date to the 

 time of calving, our herders stood no night watches, much to their own 

 satisfaction and comfort, and no loss to the herd. It is our opinion, 

 however, that a night watch should be kept over a herd, unless the 

 ground is covered with snow and there is no danger from dogs and 

 wolves. 



Our six sled deer have been kept busy packing and hauling supplies 

 and wood. New deer have been broken, but most of them are too 

 young to be very useful before one or two years. In March, Moses, the 

 Yukon Indian boy, came up from the Teller Eeindeer Station to visit 

 our boys, and while here broke a 4-year-old steer according to the Lap- 

 lander method. The Lapp harness has many advantages over the Sibe- 

 rian harness, but it has the same objectionable feature of a single trace 

 rubbing through the hair and skin of the hind legs. Both, however, 

 are admirable for breaking deer to the sled. A slight modification of 

 the harness used on horses seems to be best adapted for use on the 

 treeless plains in this section: We have used Eskimo and Siberian sleds 

 only, as the snow is hard here most of the winter. 



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