90 REPORT ON INTRODUCTION OF 



measuring 6 feet around the curve. They begin to shed their horns in February, 

 and by the end of August they are in the velvet, with strips dangling from the 

 prongs. By the end of October but few have antlers complete, most of the bucks 

 having lost one or both horns by righting. Females breed in May, varying some- 

 what according to latitude. In that month mosquitoes are very troublesome, as 

 they are everywhere in subarctic regions, and the pestered deer flee to the tundras, 

 where the wind blows constantly, in order to escape them. 



Starvation is very common among the coast natives at the fag end of winter dur- 

 ing the spring floods and the breaking up of the ice in the bays and rivers, by reason 

 of improvidence in not laying up sufficient supplies of tish and meat for themselves 

 and their sled dogs in the periodical seasons of plenty which come about every 

 three years. No fish can be caught while the ice is running. Ducks fly with the 

 deer to the far off tundra. Ptarmigan and willow grouse, which many a time have 

 opportunely supplied an exhausted larder, are nesting. Winter stores were long since 

 consumed, and only a few rabbits are found on the hummocks above the reach of the 

 floods, which are anxiously approached in skiffs and knocked down with sticks. 

 By June 12, however, the duck, geese, swan, and gull eggs are all ready to hatch, and 

 the spring migration of deer takes place, which is a godsend to the famished people, 

 who forthwith proceed to make camp at their crossings, where they build huts and 

 watch for the deer, keeping very quiet, and taking care not to make a smoke, 

 which alarms them. The banks are so high and steep that the animals have to 

 select particular crossing places, and are there speared from skiffs while swimming. 

 Sometimes slip nooses made of well greased seal-skin thongs are suspended over the 

 paths which lead up the banks, and the deer are caught by the antlers. By these 

 methods large numbers are killed. The meat is dried in the sun, though much of it 

 becomes putrid. 



This periodical destitution gives occasion for numerous acts of benevolence on the 

 part of those who are better off, and the considerate Czar of Russia has already 

 bestowed many medals upon kindly people who have assisted the starving settlers. 

 Be it understood that there are two classes of inhabitants, namely, coast dwellers, 

 who subsist chiefly on sea food, and wanderers, who chase the deer. Like con- 

 ditions, somewhat modified, frequently obtain in Alaska, and also in Labrador and 

 along the shores of Hudson Strait. 



On the eastern coast of Siberia, where the Thntchus and Kodaks dwell, there are 

 moss-covered hills to which the reindeer are driven in summer, to the number of 

 perhaps 100,000, by their herders, being divided into bands for economy in feeding. 

 Individual owners are known who possess 10,000 deer apiece, and are rich. In the 

 autumn they are returned to the great plains of the interior. Very few ever come 

 to the coast on the hoof. A large annual trade has long been maintained across 

 Bering Strait, between East Cape in Siberia and Cape Prince of Wales in Alaska, as 

 well as by another more northern route, furs and seal skins being exchanged for 

 reindeer skins — already so scarce in Alaska that it is difficult to procure even mate- 

 rial for necessary winter clothing. Through fear of destroying this market for their 

 skins, the Siberians have declined until recently to sell live deer lest the Alaskans 

 should come to provide for themselves by propagating from the stock. By fortuitous 

 persuasion, this objection lias been overcome sufficiently to procure an ample plant 

 for the Government stations in Alaska, at the price of about $3 per head, live rein- 

 deer selling in Tamsk, on the Okhotsk Sea, at 2£ roubles, or about $1.87 of our money. 



All the various tribes throughout Siberia have domesticated the reindeer, though 

 dogs and horses are used conjointly by several of them for draft purposes. The deer 

 are the most economical, because they can pick their feed, instead of having it pa' ked 

 for them. Supplies of fish which must be carried for dogs' food, materially reduce 

 the amount of freight that can be transported. But dogs are claimed to be much 

 the fastest travelers, and Mr. Bush mentions having done 1,200 miles with dogs, over 

 a post, road, in nineteen days. Between the deer and the dogs is a natural antip- 



