DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 11 



admitted that the Lapps of northern Europe, because of their superior 

 intelligence (nearly all of them being" able to read and write, and some 

 of them being acquainted with several languages), are much superior 

 to the Sainyoed deer men of northern Europe and Asia and the barbar- 

 ous deer men of northeastern Siberia. 1 Intelligence applied to the 

 raising of reindeer, just as to any other industry, produces the best 

 results. 



Therefore, when in 1893 it was ascertained that the herd at Port 

 Clarence had safely passed its first winter (thus assuring its perma- 

 nence), I at once set about making plans to secure herders from Lapland. 

 There being no public funds available to meet the expense of sending 

 an agent to Norway in order to secure skilled Lapp herders, I had 

 recourse again to the private benefaction of friends of the enterprise, 

 and $1,000 was contributed. 2 With your approval I at once sent Mr. 

 William A. Kjellmann, the new superintendent, to Lapland. He sailed 

 from New 1'ork City, February 21, 1894, on the steamship Majestic, to 

 Liverpool. He then crossed England to Hull, and taking a steamer 

 for Norway, reached Hamnierfest, 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle 

 (70° 40' N. latitude), on March 8. In the face of an Arctic winter and 

 raging snowstorms, the mercury 39° below zero, he pushed back into 

 the mountains with reindeer and sled to Kautokeino, the center of the 

 Finmarken district, where there were 05,000 reindeer. (Appendix, 

 p. 79.) 



Great difficulty was experienced iu procuring the consent of the 

 herders to leave their country and their people. The fact that there is 

 not a single colony of Lapps in the United States or elsewhere, shows 

 their intense love of home, and great unwillinguess to leave it. In 

 addition to their aversion to leave home and friends, they were afraid 

 of the barbarous people among whom they were to be taken. However, 

 after being assured of safe conduct and final return home (Appendix, 

 p. 79), the following persons were secured: 



Johan Speinsen Tornensis, wife, and one child under 1 year of age; 

 Samuel Johusen Kemi, wife, and two children, ages 1 and 4 year*: 

 Mathis Aslaksen Eira, wife, and one child 4 years of age; Mikkel Josef- 

 sen Nakkila and wife; Per Aslaksen Eist; Frederick Larsen. Some 

 of these are men of property, owning large herds of reindeer, and have 

 several thousand dollars deposited in bank. They can all read and 

 write, and some of them speak the Finnish, Eussian, and Norwegian 



1 Those who have read, in the appendix of the reindeer report of 1894, the letters 

 of the various Scandinavians in the United States, who are acquainted with the 

 management of the reindeer in Europe, can not fail to have heen impressed with the 

 unanimity with which they testify that the employment of expert Lapp herders is 

 essential to the most successful iutroduction of domestic reindeer into Alaska. 



3 The contrihutors to the above fund were: Mrs. William Thaw, Pittsburg, $350; 

 Mrs. Elliott F. Shepard, New York, $250; Miss Mary L. Kennedy, New York, $200; 

 Mr. John Nicholas Brown, Providence, R. I.,$100; Mrs. Helen Sinclair Robinson, 

 Hawaiiau Islands, $50; Mr. H. O. Houghton, Boston, $50. 



