56 INTEODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



Extract from quarterly account — Continued. 



As you will see from the above tables, we liave killed and lost 30 

 deer during tlie past year. Tliis number is not small considering the 

 size of the herd, but it was the best result we could produce. As you 

 will also perceive, there was a severe disease among the deer last 

 autumn, a liver and lung epidemic taking oft" 15 of 3G deer lost or killed. 

 The disease was of short duration. Nothing was observed before the 

 deer suddenly left the herd and wandered off by themselves without 

 taking any nourishment, and death followed a day or two later. All 

 the remedies we could think of were applied, but absolutely without 

 benefiting the diseased animals. The herd was changed to new pastures, 

 milking was stopped, but those that were attacked by the disease died 

 all the same. The same disease is also known in Lapland, but no remedy 

 is known there. One of our Lapps had to kill over 90 reindeer in his 

 herd in Lapland in a single autumn on account of this same disease. 

 At the outbreak of the disease it seemed that we would lose many more 

 animals than we actually did. It is to be hoped that we will escape 

 this danger in the future, for we think we have discovered the cause, a 

 matter which I will not discnss at this time, as we have not gathered 

 a sufiicient amount of fticts. Vv^heu we subtract these 15 animals and 

 the C killed for food, the loss is 15 j^er cent, which is more than is calcu- 

 lated in Lapland in herds of the same size as ours. 



The annual loss in private and other herds in Alaska does not exceed 



