DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 71 



looked as if they would not obey the order. However, they quickly 

 thought better of it, and soon a fine, large bull was struggling at the 

 end of the rope, but they experienced more trouble than usual in getting 

 to his head, so as to hold him better. We thought this a part of the 

 play, and when it took the four Siberians to hold him, there was no 

 one to catch another deer, so they were ordered to tie him to a post 

 standing near. Against this they solemnly protested, saying he would 

 thrash about until he killed himself, but we as emphatically repeated 

 the order, for it now looked as if it had resolved itself down to a struggle 

 in which either Siberia or the United States must triumph, and the 

 order was again repeated in a manner that meant no trilling. 



The herders then started for another deer, and in less than five 

 minutes the bull lay on his back dead, having broken his neck in his 

 struggles. 



The herders came up in a bunch, with an air that looked as if they 

 thought that settled it, but they looked chagrined when they were told 

 in an emphatic manner to bring up another bull, and, too, in language 

 more emphatic than elegant; and in a moment they returned to the 

 herd. In a short time they came up with a fine specimen of a two-year- 

 old, which they had suddenly discovered was a gelding, and in a little 

 while had another to match him. In a few days eight more geldings 

 were sifted out, and by the middle of winter we had twelve good sled 

 deer, all thoroughly broken. 



This little episode, although it cost us a deer, taught the Siberians a 

 valuable lesson, and in after months, in observing the alacrity with 

 which they obeyed orders, we concluded the sacriiice was a profitable 

 one. 



We have found the natives, as a rule, very willing to work. While 

 there is occasionally one who would continue at a task without some 

 one near to encourage and tell him just how it should be done, it is 

 generally necessary for one to be about to oversee the job. 



They of course knew little about the use of tools, and when put at 

 house painting or driving nails into boards or using a hand-saw were 

 not so graceful as an old mechanic, yet they learned readily. 



While the Eskimos are not inventive, they are good imitators, and 

 although when the station was established few of them knew anything 

 practically of even the use of an ax, yet in a short time they got so 

 they chopped all our wood; and in winter, when the weather was so 

 cold as to almost take the temper out of tools, they did not break more 

 than the average white man would under the same conditions. 



The native herders, of whom there were four, continued with us the 

 entire year. They took very kindly to the work, and although our 

 patience was severely tried at times, especially by one of those who 

 belonged at Cape Prince of Wales and often importuned us to be 

 allowed to return home, they were as a rule easily managed, as much 

 so as the same number of white men would be. 



