386 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



the leader at the head and then make a sally unflinchingly. The animals are 

 swift, and keen of scent, so extreme care must be taken in undertaking to 

 capture them and such hunting is as much as one's life is worth. When the 

 older animals have been disposed of the young are captured alive by use of a 

 lasso made of particularly strong rope. The legs of the young animals are 

 bound together and they are carried aside. The whole affair is a matter of 

 seconds and you must be quick, for the remaining animals might attack you, 

 and even the young ones are not to be trifled with. It is no easy thing to transfer 

 the animals to the vessel. There is likely to be some trouble. The year-old 

 calves are easily caught and managed. It is a great advantage that they have 

 no horns. About two or three men are able to manage such a calf with their 

 bare hands. By means of a muzzle or halter we contrived to get them on board 

 the boat. Many are rather refractory but we leave them as much as possible 

 to themselves during the transporting. Then we get them into the whaling 

 boat and upon reaching the ship's side we heave the whole boat on deck with 

 the animals in it. We then put them in spacious and solid cases made of two- 

 inch boards. At first the animals try their strength against the side of the cases, 

 but when after a while they understand that the cases are stronger than them- 

 selves they give in. After a day or two they begin to feed. It is no use to give 

 them hay or grass grown in contaminated fields as the animals fall ill with such 

 grass and hay, and die. They are very particular although hardy ; for instance, 

 they never taste water that is not entirely fresh. They soon get used to man. 

 Having been in the crates on deck for about a week they easily understand that 

 there will be a dainty tidbit when members of the crew approach with grass or 

 moss. The young ones are the most easily naturalized. Therefore, we catch 

 young animals by preference. 



HOW THE MUSK OXEN WERE SHIPPED TO ALASKA 



Transported in crates to Bergen, Norway, the 34 musk oxen on 

 September 6, 1930, were shipped from there on the Norwegian- Ameri- 

 can liner Bergensfjord to New York, where they landed September 

 17. The newcomers were received at the port by the late L. J. Palmer, 

 then in charge of the United States Biological Survey experiment 

 station at College, Alaska, the late E. A. Preble and the late W. B. 

 Bell, both at that time of the Washington office of the United States 

 Biological Survey. In order to insure against the introduction of 

 some of the many diseases of hoofed animals, such as foot-and-mouth 

 disease, rinderpest, and surra, the animals were held in quarantine 

 for 33 days at the Bureau of Animal Industry Quarantine Station, 

 Clifton, N. J. Two 72- foot steel express cars then carried the animals 

 to Seattle, where they were transferred to the steamship Yukon of 

 the Alaska Steamship Line and reached Seward, Alaska, 7 days 

 later. Four ordinary freight cars with a temperature of 20° to 40° 

 carried them over the Alaska Railroad to College, Alaska, where 

 they arrived the night of November 4, and the next day, with the 

 temperature at 16°, were unloaded and released in a 40- acre en- 

 closure on the College of Alaska campus. During their American 

 journey the animals were in roomy, individual crates, and were fed 

 alfalfa hay and given an abundance of water. They all reached their 



