DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 69 



the shepherd dog, Jack, a few times in rounding up. We also made a 

 large pen into which we drove the herd for milking. On September 30 

 the herd were driven into the pen and counted. The entire number 

 was found to be 343. Since then we have lost 20 by disease and accident. 

 But April, May, and June added 145 fawns to our herd. In the fall 

 of 1894, 120 deer were brought from Siberia, making a total of 588. 



HERDING. 



In Mayjmd June we found the herd inclined to scatter in search of 

 a grass with a clover-like head which is just coining through the 

 ground. Herding in the summer is much more disagreeable and 

 unhealthy than in the winter. With the exception of a few days in 

 April the watches have been relieved every twelve hours. Grass is 

 plentiful in the summer and an abundance of moss is always accessible 

 in winter. In the winter when the snow becomes packed or hard it is 

 necessary to move the herd to a new locality, and in the spring during 

 the calving season a slope sheltered from northerly winds should be 

 sought. 



DRIVING. 



In October when the ground becomes covered with snow the deer 

 become more docile, and many of the sled deer, and some of the others, 

 can be caught without the use of a lasso, by simply holding out to 

 them a seal-skin cup filled with human urine. Their fondness for the 

 salt which it contains causes them to run to the herder, and while 

 drinking the coutents of the cup he quietly passes his arm around its 

 neck. We have tried salt but it does not answer the samepurpose. Most 

 of them refuse it. A few of them have learned to eat flour, corn meal, 

 and bread. When the season for sledding opened we were much sur- 

 prised to learn that we had only 11 sled deer, 2 of which were very old. 

 Anxious to have more, we have asked our Siberian herders how long 

 it would require to break in new deer, and received the discouraging 

 answer " Oh, I believe two winters, I think, sometimes three winters." 

 It was first necessary, they said, to rebreak the old sled deer. 



The Siberians in driving use the whip and slap the lines constantly. 

 This habit probably originated in the drivers becoming cold, and to 

 keep up the circulation keeps cither his whip or lines in constant 

 motion. 



Unfortunately we were compelled to use our few sled deer for haul- 

 ing wood, also for breaking new deer and driving to and from the 

 camp. We should have had at least 40 sled deer this winter for our 

 herders to practice driving. 



BREAKING. 



We have had 13 deer under breakage, with varying degrees of suc- 

 cess. The Siberian method is to catch a young deer 1 or 2 years old 

 and lead it for several successive days, then hitch it in by the side of a 



