DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 55 



room with a fire, the ceiling and walls sweated so badly that everything 



on the inside got damp and mouldy. 



The whole expense of building the dngoat, including lumber and 

 labor, would not exceed $50, and the experience of the past winter has 

 shown that it is the only sensible kind of habitation for this country. 



At Cape Prince of Wales, in a letter received from one of the teach- 

 ers the last of February, he wrote: "We are cooking, eating, and sleep 

 ing in one room, while in those adjoining the mercury is down to 32 

 degrees below zero." 



r fhe other teacher, who, while on a visit to Point Hope during the 

 winter, visited some whalers who were living in a dugout, said it was 

 the right kind of a house for this country, and that he intended to 

 build one for his own use the coming season. Yet the residence of the 

 teachers at the cape is a neat and comfortable frame building of several 

 rooms, well built, of good lumber, and must have cost not less than 

 $3,000. 



In our own little shanty we have not had a temperature lower than 

 50 degrees above zero for an instant, and, although somewhat cramped 

 for room, have lived very comfortably. 



From the result of this experience I have concluded that, unless 

 your orders for the finishing of the frame building are emphatic, it is 

 best to erect the necessary buildings somewhat on the plan of our 

 dugout, and I believe when you are able to inspect it thoroughly you 

 will agree that the conclusion is a sensible one. 



The only inconvenience experienced in the dugout was in getting in 

 and out. Prom December to February 1st we were obliged to keep a 

 lamp burning most of the time, as the only window in the house was 

 continually covered up with snow. Before winter comes again a win- 

 dow will be put in the roof, and that difficulty will be done away with. 



The only stoves received at the station were a small-sized cooking 

 stove and a small heating stove. The cookiug stove was designed for 

 either wood or coal and the heating stove for soft coal. 



There were 12 tons of hard coal received at the station, but it was of 

 large size, and in consequence less convenient, as fires had to be often 

 rebuilt. Fortunately we were able to secure 1J tons of soft coal from 

 the whaling fleet supply, without which the starting of tires in our 

 small stoves would have been a troublesome task, to say the least. 



On account of the length of the spring and the chilly air that con- 

 tinued until after it was daylight throughout the twenty-four hours, it 

 was necessary to keep our fires going until about the middle of dune, 

 and, notwithstanding the fact that it was necessary to keep them burn- 

 ing on an average of sixteen hours a day from September 1 until 

 June 15, there was an economical use of coal, an advantage of some 

 moment in the dugout for a house. 



Although there is an abundance of wood on the bead: near the sta- 



