INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 79 



wliicli was tlie result of two weeks' work by those men well e(iuiuped. 

 For the killing- of these 5 seals they had used 175 cartridges. When 

 we add to this the provisions and the amniuiiitiou for a shotgun, these 

 5 seals become i)retty dear. From the list of i)urchases it will be seen 

 that the 5 seals could have been bought for about $4. 



On the 31st of the same month I equipped and sent out a new com- 

 pany consisting- of live others of our apprentices, but these had to 

 return by land on the 2d of I^^ovember on account of unfavorable con- 

 ditions of the ice. The whole bay was filled with ice so that they could 

 not get to Point Spencer. After the ice had become sufficiently solid 

 ex])editions would be made now and then to the edge of the ice about 

 10 or 12 miles from the land, and the result of all these expeditions was 

 the capture of 2 seals. In the middle of February, when the winter 

 sealing- takes place near Polayrook, between Cape Prince of Wales and 

 our station, I sent out an expedition consisting of three of our best 

 sealers. This expedition was gone five weeks, during which time they 

 got just one seal, and this one they had eaten before they came home. 

 On their return they informed me that 150 cartridges which they had 

 used in killing this one seal had not been used for this purpose, but 

 had been given to the father and brother of the apprentices. Once 

 more, later, I tried to send a man out, but he had no better luck than 

 the others, and after an absence of two weeks he returned without any 

 seal. In June our ai)prentices shot i seals near the station. 



The fishing did not amount to very much last fall, for we arrived here 

 too late. The salmon fishing had already ended, nor did we bring any 

 suitable fishing tackle, and none such was to be found at the station. 

 Still we made a few salmon seines and with them we caught enough for 

 our daily use. The Eskimo Jipprentices had no way of securing fish 

 and had to get their daily wants supplied fiom fish caught by the Lapps. 

 Later in the fall a selection from all the different nationalities were 

 sent up to the lakes, and they brought back some tomcod and some 

 herring, and of the herring enough was salted to supply the wants of 

 the Lapps during the winter. 



In the course of the Avinter three different kinds of seines were 

 made which will be used for catching- fish this summer, and I think 

 that a winter supply of fish will be secured. This will involve a great 

 saving, since meat and fish are very expensive. One of these seines has 

 lately been used. The ice drifted from one side to the other, leaving- an 

 oi)en body of water. The ice may be said to have been gone since the 

 27th of June. AVith this seine we have caught a considerable amount 

 of tomcod, not only enough to keep our Eskimos constantly employed 

 in dressing and drying them, but also enough to give the other Eskimo 

 families, who have their tents here on the seashore, all they want; and 

 so the latter also have been busy hanging up fish to dry for their winter 

 supply. 



As this work of catching fish is done in the evening after working 



