62 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO xVLASKA. 



native who seemed the brightest, and paying him $2, he followed to 

 show us the place. We had, however, not gone many miles before we 

 found that he led us to the same place we had been to previously 

 several times. It would be of no use to go there again, so having 

 gone about 9 miles, we stopped. It was about 11 o'clock. Nils Bals 

 and the Andreafski native made an excursion off among the hills to 

 the southwest to see if the herd was driven across the Yukon to the 

 west of Andreafski. Nallogoroak watched the deer and made tea 

 while Per Sara and myself went in a northeasterly direction to the 

 hills on that side of the Andreafski River, a distance of about 3 

 miles. The whole distance was searched most carefully, but not a 

 sign of a human being was seen anywhere, nor that of a deer. 



Having arrived at the foot of the hills we followed them hrst in an 

 easterly direction about a quarter of a mile, and finding that way 

 practically impossible for either man or beast we returned and went 

 northwesterly along the hilfs, and after having plodded through loose 

 snow, knee-deep, for about a mile, I saw something that looked like an 

 old track of a man. Although old and snowed over it was a source 

 of encouragement. With lighter steps and hearts beating with 

 hope we continued through brush and snow^ a couple of miles when 

 suddenly one of my feet was caught in a ptarmigan snare. From 

 that place there were signs of people having walked several times, so 

 our hopes were renewed. Following said trail we were led over the 

 hills sloping toward Andreafski River and into the valley of another 

 river which is running parallel to the former and emptying its waters 

 into it near Andreafski village. On the opposite hills w^as found a 

 nice little bunch of spruce, and in the midst of it were the long-sought- 

 for Lapps. So well were they hid that it would have been hard to 

 find a better place of refuge from an enemy. They had said in 

 Andreafski that the}' were in exactly the same place where I visited 

 them last fall, and here they are 6 or 8 miles away from that place. 

 What is worse still is that they are not even in the same river valley. 

 It is in Nils Sara's tent I write these lines while Per Sara and younger 

 brother have returned to bring Bals, Nallogoroak, and the deer. It 

 was quite interesting to witness the meeting of Per Sara with his 

 parents. Per is a man of 20 summers, and as he has been parted from 

 his parents several years I expected to see a very touching meeting. 

 This, however, did not come off according to expectations. 



The whole ceremony consisted in the following: Father and mother 

 retaining their sitting position on the floor. When Per entered the 

 tent, he first turned to his father and placed his right hand on the 

 old man's back. In return the father touched his son in a similar 

 manner with his left hand. Plis salutation of his mother was done 

 in exactly the same way. Brothers and sisters were touched by Per's 

 left hand instead of the right; otherwise the ceremony was the same. 



