DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 33 



The color of the fur of the reindeer is varied. Perhaps the most 

 common is the seal-brown, and when free from other shades is decidedly 

 rich in appearance. The fur, for such it may properly be called, after 

 it has taken on its summer coat is soft and glossy and about the length 

 of that of the fur-seal. When taken at this season, if properly dressed, 

 it sheds very little, if any at all. The skin is soft and pliable, and but 

 little thicker than that of the fur-seal of the same size. 



Of the spotted reindeer, perhaps the next prettiest is that having 

 large white spots among the deep brown, but of course this is a matter 

 of taste. Occasionally one is found almost entirely white, or with 

 white streaks extending lengthwise or around the body, and sometimes 

 with white spots of a uniform size completely covering the skin. Eein- 

 deer commence to shed their coats as soon as the snow begins to thaw 

 in the spring, and in a short time they look ragged, and have much 

 the same slovenly appearance that domestic animals do at that season. 



The method adopted by the natives in dressing skins is to first rub 

 water all over the surface. Sometimes human urine is used instead of 

 water, but it does not appear to be the common practice. It is said 

 that a skin dressed in this way closes more firmly on the fur, thus pre- 

 venting its shedding; but I have discovered little or no 'difference 

 between skins dressed in this manner and where water is used. 



After the skin is wet down it is tightly rolled up and tied. In this 

 condition it is allowed to go through a sort of sweating process for a 

 day or two, when it is spread upon a smooth surface, and the native, 

 sitting astride of the skin, scrapes it with a sharp instrument until the 

 thick substance and fat are all scraped off. When the skin is thor- 

 oughly scraped it is rubbed with the hand until it is soft and pliable. 

 Sometimes powdered stone is sprinkled over the skin after being scraped 

 in order to give it a softer and prettier finish. 



The reindeer skin was at one time the common one used by the 

 natives for their clothing, tents, and everything else, but now the seal 

 and ground-squirrel skins play an important part. 



From Point Hope on the north to St. Michael's on the south, natives 

 have visited the station during the past year, and among all these, 

 except the natives coming from Cape Prince of Wales, reindeer-skin 

 clothing has been the rare exception. They were clothed generally in 

 squirrel skins and occasionally in rabbit and seal. Eeindeer skins have 

 become a matter of luxury with the natives, and only those who deny 

 themselves other things that they need for their comfort wear reindeer 

 clothing. 



In the country about Kotzebue Sound occasionally a skin is secured 

 from a wild reindeer, but it so rare that it assumes somewhat the nature 

 of a curiosity. Thus it will be seen that, practically, all the reindeer 

 skins used by the Alaskan Eskimo come from Siberia. 



When it is understood that the proper clothing for a native to be 

 dressed in consists of two suits, worn at the same time, one with the 

 S. Ex. 70 3 



