90 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OF 



deer. This of itself is a pretty good-sized herd and of sufficient num- 

 bers to encourage them in preserving it; and if to this number are 

 added, for instance, only the increase for the five years they have 

 remained in the herd, they will have sufficient, with good care, to sup- 

 ply themselves with food and clothing, while at the same time the num- 

 ber will increase. 



From the reasons given elsewhere in my report Por,t Clarence should 

 become the chief station and be made permanent. If this is done I 

 believe that, as soon as two or three hundred deer can be spared for 

 the herd, a new station should be started 50 or 100 miles away, and 

 this should be continued until they are thoroughly distributed through- 

 out the territory that is adapted to their propagation. If this is done, 

 the herders who have served their two years' apprenticeship would be 

 qualified to go with the herd to the new station, and by this means the 

 employment of Siberians could be dispensed with. 



A few deer should not, in my opinion, be distributed to natives, or 

 even to white men, unless it is pretty well known that they will be 

 cared for. If a few are sent here and there, and through some cause, 

 however unavoidable, the deer should not live, it would be a hard mat- 

 ter to get the natives to believe that they can be made to live and 

 increase, and this prejudice will be difficult to eradicate. The fact that 

 we have brought our deer through the winter successfully has done 

 more to establish confidence among the natives and to enlist their sym- 

 pathy in the enterprise than anything else that could have occurred. 

 This is especially so because they generally predicted that they were 

 not adapted to this country and would all die. 



It might be a good idea each winter to have a number of deer killed 

 and the food and skins distributed among the natives. This would be 

 an ocular demonstration of what they would have if the enterprise 

 blossomed into an industry; and perhaps the old adage that the best 

 way to reach one's heart is through his stomach would be verified 

 among the natives. 



In conclusion, I beg to offer my congratulations on the result of the 

 first year's experiment in this enterprise. It is all the more gratifying 

 to me because I know and fully appreciate the difficulties under which 

 its establishment was accomplished. Those friends who have sus- 

 tained you in your ceaseless efforts in behalf of these suffering people 

 have cause now to share in the gratification that must be yours. 



I trust that future years wili see the boundless area of Arctic Alaska 

 overflowing with these beautiful animals, and that they will always 

 exist as living monuments of your efforts in a most righteous cause. 



