54 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



Mathews Island. During the night between the 27th and 28th of July 

 we came near running ashore on the west side of St. Lawrence Island. 

 During the darkness of the night the shij) had drifted in among the 

 breakers before we became aware of our danger. We Vere scarcely a 

 hairbreadth from being wrecked against the rocks of St. Lawrence. 

 We were most fortunate in escaping this danger. The next day the 

 water was calm, and two boats tilled with the first Alaska Eskimo we 

 had ever seen came on board. On the night of the 29th a stiff south 

 breeze was blowing. The same wind favored us the next day, and this 

 brought us past Kings Island and within Point Spencer, in Port Clar- 

 ence, where we anchored for the night. Xext day we again weighed 

 anchor and sailed to the reindeer station, whei^e Mr. and Mrs. Lopp 

 came on board and invited us to come ashore, an invitation which we 

 were more than happy to accept after a tedious journey of forty-one 

 days in a most uncomfortable ship. We went on board again in the 

 evening, and we were not landed until the 31st of July. 



On our arrival at the station, both Eev. T. L. Brevig and the writer 

 and his family were most kindly received by Mr. and Mrs, W. T. Lopp, 

 and everything possible was done to help us become familiar with our 

 new surroundings. ISfo i)ains were spared to satisfy our immediate 

 wants, even though Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Lopp had to make a sacrifice of 

 their own comforts. 



There was no formal assuming of the affairs of the station, but it may 

 be said in general terms that matters were under our control from the 

 6th of August, and one of the Lapps, together with two apprentices, 

 were sent out with the herd. The other Lapps were set to work to make 

 salmon seines, and in the course of a few days we had five of them busy 

 securing fresh fish for our tables. The dried goods of last year had 

 been consumed and the goods for this year came with the W. H. Meyer. 

 All the resources had been exhausted, so that it was necessary to begin 

 using the provisions we had brought at once. In accordance with your 

 instructions, dated the 27th of July, 109 reindeer (92 females, 8 bucks, 

 5 steers, and 4 sled deer) were taken out of the herd in August and 

 marked and delivered to Mr. W. T. Lopp to be transported to the Ameri- 

 can Missionary Association mission station at Cape Prince of Wales. 



In addition to these 109 deer, 10 females, belonging to apprentices 

 from the same mission station, were taken, marked, and sent. These 

 apprentices returned to Cape Prince of Wales Station. Your instruc- 

 tions called for only 100 reindeer, but after tlie separation 9 of the 

 Government herd were mixed with the mission herd and could not 

 afterwards be separated, since the fawns were in the latter herd. As 

 there was no enumeration of the herd or any formal delivery of it to us, 

 1 took a census of it as soon as I found the opportunity. By adding 

 the reindeer that had been taken from the herd in the summer and 

 those that were lost after I arrived, I found the actual number of rein- 

 deer in the herd on the Gth of August, 1894. What has become of 



