38 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



One of the disagreeable features of this country is the severe winds 

 that prevail both summer and winter. In the former season they are 

 mostly from the south, while in the winter the prevailing- wind is from 

 the north. They seem to rise without regard to the time of day, and 

 cease without being influenced by the sun, as usually occurs in most 

 countries. But we have learned to look upon the winds more in the 

 light of a blessing than otherwise. It is seldom that a snowstorm 

 prevails here when the flakes fall quietly; but it is accompanied by 

 more or less wind. It is thus hurled in clouds or rolled across the 

 level country until it finds a resting place in some hollow or is banked 

 against the side of a hill. More or less ground is thus left so nearly 

 bare that the reindeer have no trouble to find the feed. They dig away 

 the snow with one or other of their fore feet, and usually one or two 

 scrapes lay the feed bare. After they have nibbled at this patch, they 

 move on a few feet and attack a new spot. 



On each occasion when I have gone out to the herd during the past 

 winter, I have found the condition of the snow such that no trouble 

 was experienced by them in getting feed, and this was true not only on 

 the level land, but upon the sides of the hills. 



Thus it is reasonably safe to conclude that in any part of this country 

 where it is not too rugged or mountainous, and where the wind has full 

 scope, feed for reindeer can be had with little or no trouble. It is so 

 abundant that it is doubtful if the occasion will ever occur when it will 

 become necessary to move the herd to such distance as would furnish 

 them a better supply of feed than the ground they have ranged over. 



The blinding snow clouds seem to have no effect upon the reindeer 

 other than to completely cover them. When it is driven into their fur 

 and they become too heavily loaded they shake themselves from it as 

 easily as a duck will water. 



I will say in this connection that, anticipating that it might become 

 necessary to move the herd in search of food, preparations were made 

 early in the winter which put us in condition to move at an hour's 

 notice. Sleds were made and tents constructed out of reindeer skins, 

 and we could have traveled a hundred miles or more with little trouble 

 other than that occasioned in transporting our supplies. 



The birth of the first fawn occurred on April 1. One of the herders 

 came into the schoolroom during the session and suddenly made known 

 the fact, and the announcement of the arrival of a new baby would not 

 occasion more joy among the children in a white family than was 

 evinced by the little Eskimos. They seemed to lose all interest in their 

 studies, and, when dismissed, a number of them walked out to the herd. 

 My first impression was that it was an " April fool" joke sought to be 

 played on me, and I did inot enthuse much over the news on that 

 account, until the report was verified when the children returned. It 

 proved to be true, and I concluded to christen it April Fool in honor of 

 the day of its birth. 



