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INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 121 

 DOMESTIC REINDEER. 



We have no means of knowing when reindeer were first caught and 

 tamed by savage man. They were doubtless first captured and con- 

 fined witli a view to having a food supply handy. Later he also 

 found that his fieet-footed captive could be made to draw him over 

 the snow, and this is as far as he has reached to-day. They have 

 been domesticated for ages by the Lajilanders, or rather by that por- 

 tion of them who live a nomadic life, for most of the Lapps are fisher- 

 men and farmers. The reindeer is also domesticated by the Mongol 

 tribes of Siberia, but to what extent is not fully known. It is known, 

 however, that individual owners in that region hold herds of 15,000 

 animals or even more. One interesting feature of the deer in that 

 region is that certain breeds or races of them are larger and much 

 more powerful than the Lapland deer, and, in consecjuence, are of 

 greater service to man. This is especially true of the breed of deer 

 kept by the Tunguse tribe in eastern Siberia. It was to introduce 

 these large deer into Alaska that Lieut. E. P. Bertholf, of the United 

 States Revenue-Cutter Service, visited Siberia in 1901, and, as we 

 shall see, succeeded in landing about 250 head of them at Port 

 Clarence. 



The reindeer people, whether they live in Lapland or in Siberia, are 

 all nomadic. They have to be. The deer, which live in large herds, 

 must be moved from place to place in search of pasture. The people 

 consequently have no fixed abode, but live in tents, both winter and 

 summer. They take the reindeer to the woods in winter and drive 

 them to the mountains and open tundra in summer. Some of the 

 people have log houses for winter use, located at various points on 

 the range; others live in tents always. This is, of course, not condu- 

 cive to a high state of civilization. Herding deer is in most respects 

 like herding sheep. They must be kept together to prevent their 

 straying off and becoming lost ; they' must be protected from wolves 

 and other predaceous animals, and the sick ones and the fawns must 

 be looked after. In return for this care the reindeer supplies nearly 

 all the frugal wants of its owner. The meat is his chief food; from 

 the milk he makes cheese, or, in winter, he keeps it in frozen chimks 

 for use in coffee or for cooking, or it is evaporated and kept that way, 

 or it is made into butter; the blood is saved and eaten; the fat is 

 used for food, for candles, and for making footwear and clothing 

 waterproof; the skins are used lor tents, for clothing, for mats and 

 blankets, for boots, for lassos, for straps, and for thongs; the bones 

 and horns are used for tools and utensils and, together with the hoofs, 

 are used in boiling glue; and the animals are his burden bearers and 

 motive power while they live. By the aid of the reindeer their owners 

 maintain an existence where they otherwise would starve. 



