88 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



the first things to be provided for ought to be the employment of a com- 

 petent physician. 



During last winter three cases came to our notice of natives being 

 afflicted by venereal disease. One of them appeared to be a serious 

 one, and his reputation for licentiousness was such that we expected 

 sooner or later to hear of other cases of a like character. If they were 

 developed, however, they did not come to our notice. We administered 

 such remedies as we had, and the favorable result was more from acci- 

 dentally stumbling on the proper remedies than from any knowledge 

 of what should have been done. It may be possible that it only served 

 to check the disease, but if this is so it will doubtless be demonstrated 

 before it is too late to procure help from the physician attached to the 

 Bear. 



The continuance of two men at the station is essential. The duties 

 are so diversified, and the natives are so ignorant in regard to the use 

 of tools and in the execution of all kinds of work, that the supervision 

 of one man is necessary all the time. 



The watchful care bestowed upon the herd the past year, during 

 which time one or the other of us made frequent visits to the deer when 

 some distance from the station, impressed the natives with the idea 

 that they were of considerable consequence and should be carefully 

 guarded. 



All sorts of perplexities have arisen during the past year, many of 

 which will appear in different parts of this report, also the record kept 

 in the log book, the latter of which I commend to your special atten- 

 tion. Hence, I do not feel that it is necessary to refer to them in detail 

 here. The work in many instances was of a character that required 

 careful thought in arranging the preliminaries, as well as in their 

 execution. The enterprise was a new one, instituted among a strange 

 people, and a mistake in some matters might seriously interfere with 

 the harmonious discipline in the future. 



In the light of the experience had with herders during the past year, 

 1 am of opinion that importing men from a distance is poor policy. Of 

 the eight men we had, two came from CO miles west of here, and, although 

 it was a short distance, they were constantly talking of going home, and 

 nothing but vigorous persuasion kept one of them from leaving. Natives 

 are prone to homesickness, and anyone who has experienced that feel- 

 ing knows that it means an unrest of body and mind that nothing can 

 satisfy. 



During the last days of April a young man arrived from the mis- 

 sionary station on the Yukon River known as St. James Mission. He 

 brought a letter from that worthy missionary, Mr. Prevost, dated 

 August 12, 1892. Where he had been during all these months I do not 

 know. He was not over 18 years of age, and, although able to speak 

 a few words of English, we could understand but little he said, and he 

 could not speak a word of the language used by the natives. He had 

 been in some way connected with the school of the mission, and evi- 



