DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 75 



There is more or less difference in the dialects of the different tribes, 

 that of one lying within a lew miles of another differing- more or iess, 

 but they are brought so much in contact with each other that a native 

 belonging to one tribe can talk with one of another with little diffi- 

 culty. 



The different tribes have no chiefs and are not controlled in any way 

 by one particular person ; but there are those who are considered head- 

 men, and they are the ones possessed of the most property. 



Perhaps the doctors may be said to be the leaders, for in some 

 respects they control the actions of the natives. They are supposed to 

 possess an invisible power, and through their natural tendency toward 

 superstition the natives are often led by them to do many absurd 

 things. 



Notwithstanding the extreme poverty of the natives all through this 

 region of country, they do not seem to be decreasing in numbers, but, 

 on the contrary, increasing. .Most every family contains from one to 

 half a dozen young children, and during the past year there have been 

 in the tribes above enumerated probably twenty births and but four 

 deaths. 



The prevailing winds in the summer, or from the 1st of June until 

 the 1st of October, are from the south, and those for the rest of the 

 year are mostly from the north and northeast. The north winds often 

 are accompanied by snow, but storms of this character usually come 

 with an east or northeast wind. A west wind always means fair- 

 weather. 



While thick or foggy weather is very rare during the warm weather 

 the mountains and hills are often wholly or partly obscured by vapory 

 clouds, and they generally presage rain. During the warm mouths of 

 summer rain is of common occurrence and often for three or four days 

 in steady downfall, but seldom accompanied by wind. An old-fash- 

 ioned down-East rainstorm is very rare. 



It must be borne in mind that these statements are made from an 

 experience of but one year, but I am told that the weather during that 

 time may be taken as a fair illustration of that which usually prevails 

 here, although the natives tell me that more rain fell here last summer, 

 and more snow last winter, than usual. 



The longest day occurred on the 22d of June, at which time the sun 

 was out of sight but a short time in the twenty-four hours, just dipping 

 behind the northwestern horizon, only to come up in the northeastern 

 almost immediately. There was only the faintest diminution of day- 

 light; indeed it was barely noticeable. 



From about the middle of May until the middle of July it was day- 

 light most of the time, but when once the days commenced to shorten 

 they did so very fast, and this was the case when they began to 

 lengthen in the spring. 



