REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION 



caribou meat. From evidence, both direct and indirect, it was clearly shown 

 that there is practically no difference between the meat of the reindeer and that 

 of the caribou. 



Information secured by Mr. Stefansson was to the effect that in Norway 

 and Sweden there was developed during the war period an excellent market for 

 reindeer meat, and that as the people became accustomed to its use the price 

 increased with the growing demand, until it slightly exceeded those of both beef 

 and mutton. 



That it also finds a market in North America is shown by the following 

 excerpt from a most comprehensive memorandum furnished by Dr. James 

 White, F.R.C.S., from which more extensive quotations would have been made 

 but for the fact that before it reached the Commission, much of the information 

 which it contains had already been secured and compiled : — 



"During 1919, about 1,000 reindeer carcasses, averaging 150 pounds 

 each, were shipped from Nome to Seattle, making an aggregate of 150,000 

 pounds, or 75 tons. This meat sold for about 28 cents, f.o.b. Seattle, 

 making the total value of the trade about $42,000. 



"The carcasses are shipped with the hides on, the hides being valued 

 at about S5 each. 



"These shipments were made by the Lomen Company which owns 

 about 16,000 reindeer. 



"The average value of reindeer in Alaska is about $25 per head." 



Reindeer Skin — 



The skin of the reindeer which, when properly dressed, is very soft and 

 pliable, is the principal clothing material in use among the Lapps of Northern 

 Europe and their kinsmen in Siberia. It is almost solely used for clothing pur- 

 poses by those natives of Alaska who have reindeer, as also largely by the white 

 inhabitants of that territory. The Esquimaux of rs^orthern Canada use instead 

 the skin of the caribou which is, of course, practically identical. In Ungava, 

 owing to the disappearance of the caribou, the natives have been forced to wear 

 cotton clothing, and as a consequence, endure great physical suffering and are 

 very liable to disease. 



Milk— 



Although the yield from the domestic reindeer is small, the milk is richer 

 than that of the cow, and among the Lapps reindeer milk and its various pro- 

 ducts form an important part of the diet. 



CARIBOU 



Habitat — 



All the evidence relating to the vast interior territory, beginning in the 

 south at about township 60 in the Prairie Provinces, extending to within about 

 thirty miles of the Arctic coast, and from a short distance west of the coast of 

 Hudson bay on the east, to the Alaskan boundary on the west, indicates that 

 this region is tenanted by vast numbers of wild caribou, principally of the 

 Barren land variety, which migrate annually over practically the same routes. 



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