18 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



2 were lost by straying away. Twelve were so injured by transporta- 

 tion from Siberia that they either died or had to be killed. During 

 the year 13 others died from injuries received while fighting, slipping 

 upon the ice, etc., making a total loss of 27. On the other hand, there 

 has been a gain of 79 fawns, born in the spring of 1893, leaving, on 

 June 30, 1893, 222 reindeer in the herd. During the summer 127 addi- 

 tional reindeer were purchased in Siberia, of which 124 were safely 

 landed at the station, making a total, in September, 1893, of 346. Dur- 

 ing the winter the superintendent of the station trained 12 deer to 

 draw sleds, and with his two teams of reindeer made a successful trip 

 to the mission station at Cape Prince of Wales, 60 miles distant. 



For further details concerning the herd and its management during 

 its first winter on the Alaska side, see the very full report, in the 

 appendix, of Mr. Miner W. Bruce, the superintendent of the station. 



It is proposed to take another step forward, during the summer of 1894, 

 in the progress of the reindeer movement. As the first herd was pur- 

 chased by the Government from private funds, contributed for that 

 purpose, it is proposed to give 100 head of reindeer to each of the follow- 

 ing stations: The Congregationalists, at Cape Prince of Wales; the 

 Swedish Evangelical Church, at Golovin Bay; the Roman Catholic 

 Church, on the Yukon Biver, and the Presbyterian Church, at St. Law- 

 rence Island, thus making four additional herds. With the increase of 

 the herd it is proposed to offer a similar number of reindeer to other 

 Christian denominations at work in that region who may wish to 

 receive and care for them. 



The presence of the herd attracted very great attention from the 

 natives, and scarcely a day passed during the winter that delegations 

 did not visit and inspect the herd, some of them coming from the 

 inland 300 or 400 miles for that purpose. The herd is an object- 

 lesson which has created a strong desire on the part of the natives for 

 the time when they can have herds of their own. One man, at Cape 

 Prince of Wales, who had some whalebone to sell, offered to sell it to 

 the captain of a whaler on condition that he would go over to Siberia 

 and bring him a certain number of reindeer. 



The fears that had been freely expressed, that the reindeer would be 

 destroyed by the native dogs, were not realized. The herders were 

 armed and had strict orders to fire upon any dog interfering with the 

 herd, and then to report the same to the superintendent, who hadinstruc- 

 tions to send for the owner of the dog and compensate him for the loss. 

 During the entire year it became necessary to shoot but five dogs that 

 were interfering with the herd. During the sledge trip of the super- 

 intendent to Cape Prince of Wales, two or three times he staked out the 

 deer in the neighborhood of villages with from 100 to 300 native dogs, 

 and in no instance were they molested. Tims the difficulties that were 

 anticipated in the introduction of reindeer into Alaska, have, one by 

 one, been met and solved. 



