INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 25 



Corner Bay in this sound Captain Cook rei)aired his shii)s in 1778, and 

 here in 1783 Baranoff built the ships in which he made his tirst exY)e- 

 dition to Sitka. A more sheltered harbor could hardly be imagined. 

 In 1892 the Victoria sealing fleet rendezvoused at Nuchek to meet their 

 supply vessel, the Coquithtin. The revenue-cutter Convin, Capt. C. L. 

 Hooper commanding, surprised them in the act of transferring the car- 

 goes of seal skins, and the Coqtiitlam was seized and taken to Sitka for 

 a violation of the United States revenue laws in transferring cargo 

 without authority. At Xnchek tliere is a salmon cannery and trading 

 post. Here the Eusso-Greek Church maintains a school with an enroll- 

 ment of 37, Mr. Andrew P. Kashevaroff, teacher. 



The next morning we steamed up the sound to the little settlement 

 of Taklitat. At the very head of the sound tfee two branches of the 

 Chugak Alps meet and their snowy sides are perfectly mirrored in 

 the glassy Avaters. In this out-of-the-way nook the Alaska Commer- 

 cial Company has a trading post. The trader and almost the entire 

 population of the village were suffering from la grippe. The mail 

 steamer carries a supply of medicines, and an exceedingly formidable 

 quantity of "grip mixture" was left with the trader. 



Our next port was St. Paul (Kadiak), on the northeast shore of 

 Kadiak Island. The harbor of St. Paul is encircled by undulating 

 hills and the village nestles among gentle slox)es of grass and moss. 

 The climate of this region is mild; cattle are raised and small gardens 

 are numerous. In 1874 a delegation from the Scandinavian residents 

 of Wisconsin made an expedition to this region to determine whether 

 it would be advantageous for their people to seek homes on this island. 

 From their report the following sentences are taken : 



Potatoes grow and do well, although the natives have not the slightest idea of 

 how they should be cultivated, which goes to show that they would thrive excel- 

 lently if projierly cared for. To judge from the soil and climate, there is no reason 

 why everything that succeeds in Scotland should not succeed at Kadiak. Pasture 

 land is so excellent on the island, and the hay harvest so abundant, that our coun- 

 trymen would here, just as in Iceland, make sheep breeding and cattle raising their 

 chief method of livelihood. The quality of the grass is such that the milk, the beef, 

 and nmtton must be excellent ; and we had also an opportunity to try these at Kadiak. 



On Kadiak Island the dense dark forests dwindle in scattered groves, 

 and from this point westward even these disappear. The sides of the 

 Aleutian Mountains are entirely void of trees. In the summer months, 

 after the snow has disappeared, the shrubs, the grasses, and mosses 

 which cover thein are kept intensely green by the almost perpetual fogs 

 and showers. The dugout disappears with the forests, and its place is 

 taken by the bidarka, a narrow canoe of sea lion or walrus hide tightly 

 stretched over frames of driftwood. It has two, sometimes three circu- 

 lar hatclres, just large enough to admit a man's body. The hatches are 

 usually furnished with an apron which is fastened around the waist so 

 that the bidarka becomes i)erfectly water-tight. Tliese "Cossacks of 

 the seas," as Liitke called them, buoyantly ride the roughest waters. 



