DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 87 



by publication of the adoption of such brand and thereby acquire all 

 tli<' protection usual in such matters. 



I respectfully suggest the immediate discontinuance of the practice 

 of teaching school by the officers of the station. While with us the 

 past year the extent of school to be taught was understood to depend 

 upon the time that could be spared from other duties, yet we felt anx- 

 ious to accomplish as much as possible the first year, and teaching 

 became a diversion that we really and truly enjoyed. But there is a 

 wide difference between the duties devolving- upon an officer of the sta- 

 tion and those of a school-teacher. In one, the teacher is supposed to 

 practice more or less indulgence and patience, and an Eskimo can not 

 understand why the teacher can not be governed by the same princi- 

 ples and the same attitude toward him in requiring him to do his work. 

 We found it hard to harmonize both duties, and I think the best inter- 

 ests of the Government can be subserved by discontinuing the practice 

 altogether. 



Herders should not, in my judgment, be expected to attend school. 

 For that matter, I think nothing should be imposed upon them but to 

 do odd jobs about the station, such, for instance, as cutting and haul- 

 ing wood, etc. All of our herders, with one exception, were grown men, 

 and their attendance at school the past winter beeame almost com- 

 pulsory. They seem to look upon it as a matter in which their pride 

 suffers, being obliged to study and associate with the children and 

 become subjects of ridicule to a certain extent with the other natives. 



While the mere matter of herding carries with it no very great labor 

 or physical exertion, yet it is something that severely tries their patience 

 and becomes exceedingly monotonous. During pleasant weather it 

 is not so bad, but in long spells of cold and stormy weather it must 

 be very trying, and for this reason they should be allowed to return to 

 the station when relieved from duty, and enjoy a little recreation that 

 will take their minds into different channels. 



From the experience of the past year I would respectfully and 

 strongly urge that a physician be employed at the station. We were 

 constantly called niton to prescribe for natives, and in two or three 

 instances they came from considerable distances. All through the 

 winter our herders were ailing more or less, and occasionally one or two 

 had to lie off for a time to be doctored. One of our most valuable men 

 had to cease work entirely, and had a physician been present I have 

 no doubt he would have been restored to health in a short time. In 

 the early part of last summer I was exposed to wet weather a great deal, 

 and contracted a cold which later on caused other complications which 

 for several weeks made me seriously ill. Indeed, I fear, on account of 

 not Inning proper medicines and the services of a. physician, my con- 

 stitution, always very robust, may have become permanently impaired. 



It seems to me that in a matter involving so much responsibility, and 

 in which so much depends upon the health of those in charge, one of 



