110 INTEODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



bumping and jarring through the ice, with a can of meat, bread, 

 and black tea, served occasionally on a small improvised table, 

 furnished with one knife and fork and spoon, all served to remind 

 us that we were now entering the Arctic life, where, as Captain Jarvis 

 says, "If you are subject to miserable discomforts, or even if you 

 suffer, it must be regarded as all right and simply a part of the life." 

 As for myself, the anticipation of giving the Cape Eskimos a complete 

 surprise helped me to forget my own discomforts. 



On June 18, about 1 a. m., just as the midnight sun had risen 

 above the horizon in the north, we rounded the cape and came 

 within sight of the village. The shout of Ta rah me! Ta rah me! 

 (a sliip ! a ship ') which went up from the people among whom I had 

 spent ten years, caused me to tremble with excitement. By the time 

 we were anchored, canoes were alongside of us and we were kept 

 busy shaking hands. 



Upon reaching shore we found that civilized food was scarce in 

 the village. Walrus steak, seal liver, whale skin, ducks, and other 

 Arctic luxuries made up the principal part of our bill of fare for a 

 few days until we could go to York and get supplies. 



Before the arrival of the school building on the schooner Fortuna, 

 July 15, I was able, by travehng 230 miles in canoe, to visit the Port 

 Clarence herd once and the Cape herd twice. 



Mr. Olsen, the carpenter for Barrow, etc., arrived here June 27, 

 and Air. Alseth and his assistant, Mr. Finley, on July 6. Previous 

 to their arrival and the mail with the invoice of the lumber and 

 building material, Mr. Evans and I had considered the advisabilit}^ of 

 making two houses of the building — the schoolhouse near the old 

 mission school building and the residence in the north end of the 

 village. After estimating the additional lumber required for such 

 a change we concluded to make no changes in the original plan of the 

 building. 



Just before leaving Seattle I received an urgent request from the 

 American Missionary Association asking me to look after the man- 

 agement of their herd and herders at this place. On July 9 I took 

 charge of the herd and divided my time between the herd and school 

 building until the arrival of the Thetis. After repairing the corral, 

 built just south of Tin City in the summer of 1900, we marked 134 

 deer purchased for the Bureau of Education, counted the entire 

 herd (1,488), "cut out" and marked a herd of 398 for Sliislunaref 

 Inlet, and marked the big herd remaining. 



As but little or no marking or castrating had been done for two 

 years, tliis prolonged and continued handling in the corral materially 

 told on the condition of the herd. In "roping" the deer some of the 

 fawns were brained. The lasso accidentally jerked a young horn off 

 and a piece of skull 2 inches in diameter with it. These had to be 



