INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 39 



disorderly conduct. The community at once showed their horror at the act by 

 summarily killing both the murderers. 



After the death of her husband Mrs. Thornton returned to her parents in Maine, 

 and the mission was closed for the season of 1893-94. 



During the summer of 1894 Mr. Lopp returned to Cape Prince of 

 Wales and reopened the school. 



July 30 found us wind-bound in the lee of Chamisso Island, Kotzebue 

 Sound. Wliile here a search party for Mr. Gibson, a missing trader, 

 was organized. Lieutenant White was put in charge, and, with Dr. 

 Sharp, Mr. Justice, and myself as passengers, the expedition left the 

 ship in one of the sailing cutters at 4 a. m. on August 1. Mr. Gibson's 

 last camp, according to the native who accompanied us, had been on 

 the Buckland River, which emi)ties into Eschscholtz Bay, at the 

 head of Kotzebue Sound. In our tri^) we followed the course taken by 

 Captain Beechey in the expedition of Her Majesty's ship Blossom in 

 September, 1826. In the southern jjart of the bay are the extraor- 

 dinary ice formations which have attracted much attention among 

 geologists. They were explored by Kotzebue, and subsequently exam- 

 ined by Captain Beechey, wlio gives the following description of the 

 formation : 



While the duties of the ship were being forwarded under my first lieutenant, Mr. 

 Peard, I took the opportunity to visit the extraordinary ice formations in Eschscholtz 

 Bay, mentioned by Kotzebue as being covered with soil half a foot thick, producing 

 the most luxuriant grass, and coutaiuiug abundance of mammoth bones. We sailed 

 up the bay, which was extremely shallow, and landed at a deserted village on a low, 

 sandy point, where Kotzebue bivouacked when he visited the place, and to which I 

 afterward gave the name of Elephant Point, from the bones of that animal being 

 found near it. The clift's in which this singular formation was discovered begin near 

 this point, and extend westward nearly in a straight line to a rocky clitf of i)rimi- 

 tive formation at the entrance of the bay, whence the coast takes an abrupt turn to 

 the southward. 



The cliffs are from 20 to 80 feet in height, and rise inland to a rounded range of 

 hills between 400 and 500 feet above the sea. In some places they present a perpen- 

 dicular front to the northward; in others a slightly inclined surface and are occa- 

 sionally intersected by valleys and water courses, generally overgrown by low bushes. 

 Opposite each of these valleys tliere is a projecting flat piece of ground, consisting 

 of the materials that have been washed down the ravine, where the only good land- 

 ing for boats is afforded. The soil of the cliffs is a bluish-colored mud, for the most 

 part covered with long grass, full of deep furrows generally filled with water 

 or frozen snow. Mud in a frozen state forms the surface of the cliffs in some parts; 

 in others the rock appears with the mud above it, or sometimes with a bank half 

 way up it, as if the superstratum had gradually slid down and accumulated against 

 the cliff. By the large rents near the edges of the mud cliffs they appear to be 

 breaking away and contributing daily to diminish the depth of water in the bay. 



Remains of mammoths have been found in abundance near Elejihant 

 Point, many of which have been deposited in the British Museum. We 

 were fortunate in securing several bones. Mr. Gibson, the missing- 

 trader, concerning whom various rumors had been circulated, some to 

 the efteet that he had been murdered by the natives, was found near his 

 camp. He was in good health and had been on an extended trading 



