INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 63 



and latei". Some of these fawns are expected to be saved and so take 

 the place of the deceased fawns droj)ped by mature mothers. We 

 secured this result this j^ear by the aid of the male reindeers which we 

 asked for last fall, and which you landed here the 1st of September, 

 and, to use an expression of the Lapps here, we may say that the fawn- 

 ing and increase has been "barri" — that is, successful. The reindeer 

 are always called fawns until they have passed their second birthday (1 

 year old). 



Last fall w^e built a fence and made a pen, and then we began milk- 

 ing. This was a most difficult task, as many of the cows had never 

 been milked, and those that had been milked were so afraid of under- 

 going this operation again that when the lassoing began they started 

 oft' ou a full run, and some of them leaped over the fence. This dread 

 of lassoing and milking was caused by the manner in which they had 

 heretofore been handled during this process. They had been thrown 

 to the ground and two or three men had held them down, lying on top 

 of them while they were being milked. No wonder that such barba- 

 rism should frighten the animals. It took a long time before we could 

 get the herd quieted down during the milking, and when the season 

 was over there were only three cows that allowed themselves to be 

 caught without lassoing and stood still during the milking without 

 being held. Still I considered this a satisfactory result for the milk- 

 ing of the first fall. 



The reindeer are milked only in the fall, after the fawns have been 

 weaned. From the milk we made cheese. Some of the milk was 

 evaporated to be used in the winter, and although the milking ceased 

 early in the season, the Lapps still had cheese and butter for their bread 

 and milk for their coflee in the middle of Marcu. Our apprentices 

 were altogether too lazy to milk, and consequently they had neither 

 cheese nor milk to use. 



We have had but little trouble in protecting the herd from the 

 Eskimo dogs. Only once or twice did they give us any annoyance last 

 fall, and that was before the herd was moved away from the station. 

 But they were driven away by the Lapps' dogs on guard, and from that 

 time we have never seen them approach the herd. On the other hand, 

 we have been somewhat annoyed by the sharp teeth and empty stom- 

 achs of the Eskimo dogs in connection with the sled deer which were 

 constantly kept near the station. We had kept the dogs away by 

 threats and sticks, excepting in one case, where a dog was killed by the 

 knife of a Laplander while he was taking care of the sled deer. The 

 dogs in the nearest village are by this time so accustomed to the rein- 

 deer that they never attack them, although we have driven directly iu 

 front of their noses every day during the whole winter. In the begin- 

 ning of last autumn there were many wild cries and just as many con- 

 flicts between the Lapps with their great knives and the dogs with their 

 sharp teeth. The Lapps were always victorious. On account of their 



