DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 73 



plied from the stores at the station, for we felt he had taken side while 

 in our employ and should, in a measure, he eared for. I think, so far 

 as it is possible, the apprenticed herders should be men who have wives 

 and their families should be with them. Our experience in the past 

 year has demonstrated that they are, in the long - run, more apt in learn- 

 ing - , and take more interest in it than the young men. Besides, if the 

 herders do not have their wives with them they easily become discon- 

 tented. 



The daily rations of the herders, distributed to tlic 8 men and 1 

 woman, consisted of the following articles of food: 81 navy biscuits, 

 1 gallon seal oil, 3 pounds dried fish, 1 pounds corn meal, 4 pounds 

 beans, one-half pound tea, 1 plug tobacco, and 200 matches, twiee 

 each week. 



When it could be had, frozen fish or whale meat was given in plaee 

 of dried fish, and occasionally bread made from Hour was given in lieu 

 of biscuits. Occasionally rice was given, and a little molasses to 

 sweeten their beans. 



For ten months but 2 white persons visited the station. One of these, 

 Mr. Thomas Lopp, one of the teachers at Cape Prince of Wales, 60 miles 

 west of the station, and the only place where there are any whites 

 between here and Point Hope, 300 miles north of here, made us a visit 

 a few days during April. He came for the purpose of seeing the deer 

 after they had passed through the winter and to see them driven to the 

 sled. He had visited the station in August last in company with his 

 wife, and on his last visit he was afforded an opportunity of seeing the 

 deer work at hauling wood, and took several rides with them. What 

 his impressions were will be seen by a letter written me, a copy of 

 which I send herewith, marked Exhibit B. 



During the early partof January, Mr. Lopp and his young wife made 

 a remarkable journey with dogs to Point Hope, for the purpose of visit- 

 ing the different settlements, in a sort of missionary pilgrimage. They 

 were gone about two months, and L happened to be at the cape when 

 they returned. Considerable apprehension was felt on account of their 

 long absence, not only by their associates, Mr. and Mrs. Thornton, but 

 by the natives, and it was feared they had either perished from cold or 

 been carried away on the ice in crossing the dreaded Kotzebue Sound. 

 Strange as it may appear, among the 500 or more natives at the cape, 

 there was not one who had ever made the journey in winter, and their 

 trip was all the more remarkable because it was undertaken in the face 

 of opposition by the natives, who are supposed to know the country 

 and its dangers in winter traveling. 



During their absence natives had visited the station from some of 

 the settlements on Kotzebue Sound, drawn here partly for the purpose 

 of seeing the deer, the particulars of which Mr. Lopp had outlined to 

 them at his different meetings. We are therefore indebted to Mr. Lopp 

 for arousing an interest among the natives of that section in this enter- 



