DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 15 



time they are to return 100 head of deer to the Government, and 

 retain the increase for themselves. (Appendix, p. 84.) This herd will 

 be located about a day's journey south of the Teller Station, and will 

 be under the general supervision of the Government superintendent. 

 The natives will be accompanied and assisted by a family of Lapps. 



The progress of this latter herd will be watched with special interest. 



Caribou. — A large herd of wild reindeer exists from 600 to 700 miles 

 inland, iii the neighborhood of Fort Yukon, Porcupine River, and the 

 Lower Mackenzie River. In small bands they are found within 100 

 miles of the coast, and extending from the Arctic south to the Alaskan 

 peninsula. They are not accessible, however, to large numbers of the 

 people, and it is much easier, speedier, and cheaper to procure those 

 that have come down through generations of taming, than to attempt 

 to catch and tame the wild ones. 



REINDEER AT UNALASKA. 



In 1891 sixteen head of reindeer were purchased to disprove the 

 assertions that the Siberians would not sell, and to prove by actual 

 trial that the reindeer could be successfully transported by sea. No 

 arrangements at the time having been perfected for herding them, they 

 were turned loose upon the islands of Unalaska and Amaknak in 

 Unalaska Harbor, where, uncared for, they have maintained themselves 

 from that time to the present. Last winter four of the herd on Amak- 

 nak Island walked out on a ledge of snow which overhung a precipice, 

 and the ledge breaking off under their weight, they were killed on the 

 rocks below. 



STOCKING THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 



The success of the reindeer on the islands of Unalaska and Amak- 

 nak suggests the wisdom of stocking the whole Aleutian group. This 

 remarkable chain of islands reaches out from the mainland of Alaska 

 1,000 miles toward Asia. It is composed of many islauds sufficient in 

 area and pasturage to maintain large herds of reindeer. The scattered 

 Aleutian population, in the past supported by sea-otter hunting, are 

 now being reduced to want by the disappearance and destruction of 

 the otter. The introduction of reindeer would be to them a new and 

 valuable source of food supply. 



Again, between the islands are the passes which lead from the Pacific 

 Ocean to Bering Sea and the Arctic. On the 11th of May, 1891, the 

 whaling bark James Allen, attempting to sail through, struck a sunken 

 reef off the east end of Amlia Island and went down, the crew taking 

 to their boats. Twenty-five persons were drowned or died from expos- 

 ure. And when, on June 14, Captain Healy, of the Bear, took the last 

 nine survivors off of Umnak Island, they were found eating the dead 

 body of a companion who had died two weeks previous. If those 

 islands had beeu supplied with reindeer much of this starvation and 

 loss of life could have been prevented. In view of the importance ot 



