DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 23 



In 1779 Lieutenant Artega visited the sound and repeated the solem- 

 nities of taking possession. In connection with Cuadra, who was 

 second in command, they made a complete survey of the sound, which 

 survey is the best that has thus far been made.- This accounts for the 

 Spanish nomenclature on the charts. The next visit of the Spanish 

 was in 1792, when Lieut. Jacinto Oaamano in the frigate Aranzazu, 

 came searching for the Northwest Passage. 



In the northeast corner of the sound is the small fishing station of 

 Klawak. Here in 1886 I established a school with Kev. L. W. Currie 

 as teacher. The first winter the school was kept at the native village 

 of Tuxikan in a native house, Mr. Currie and family occupying a por- 

 tion of the room curtained off with drilling, the owner another portion, 

 and the school and church the center. The following summer they 

 removed to Klawak, where a school and teacher's residence were built. 



Passing along the seaward side of Iphigenia Bay at 11.20 a. m., we 

 were off Coronation Island. We were also off the mouth of Sumner 

 Straits, at the eastern end of which is the village of Fort Wrangell 

 with its Government school and Presbyterian mission. Passing Chris- 

 tina Sound and the Hazy Islands, we were soon abreast of Cape 

 Ommaney, the southernmost point of Baranof Island. This island is 

 about 85 miles from north to south, and about 20 miles wide. At 7.30 

 p. in., we made Biorka Island, at the southern mouth of Sitka Sound. 

 At 9.50, it being too foggy to attempt to make the harbor, the steamer 

 stood off and on until morning. At 1.30 a. m. the Bear stood iu for 

 Sitka Sound, and at 3.20 a. m. hauled up between Cape Edgecumbe 

 and Biorka Island. 



Cape Edgecumbe is the southwestern point of Kruzof Island. This 

 island is noted for the extinct volcano of Edgecumbe at its southern 

 end (see Professor Libby's account and Findlay's Alaska Directory, 

 pp. 52, 53). Cuadra in 1775 named the cape Cabo de Engano, and the 

 mountain San Jacinto. These names were changed in 1778 by Captain 

 Dixon to the present name of Edgecumbe. The Tchinkitanc of the 

 natives, the Baya de Gaudalupa of the Spaniards, and the Norfolk 

 Sound of Captain Dixon is now known as Sitka Sound. 



Just over Biorka, to the eastward a few miles, is a group of hot and 

 cold sulphur and iron springs. The waters are impregnated with sul- 

 phur, iron, manganese, and chlorine, 97 per cent being sulphur. Dur- 

 ing the Bussian occupation a small hospital was established and main- 

 tained at the springs for the treatment of skin diseases. 



At 5 a. m. we were off Vitskari Island, and at 6.25 a. m. dropped 

 anchor in Sitka Harbor in front of the Presbyterian mission. The 

 harbor of Sitka, with its large number of islands and islets, is one of 

 surpassing beauty, and forms one of the most picturesque and attrac- 

 tive locations for a town in the United States. 



In the closing years of the eighteenth century, it being found that 

 the fur-bearing animals of western Alaska were rapidly decreasing in 



