DOMESTICATED REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 103 



shot and I began to feel provoked to think they were chasing them so 

 far that I would not be able to get another shot, when I noticed them 

 scampering among the tundra, jumping up and down, and soon they 

 returned, each bringing three or four nice fat birds about half grown. 



The ptarmigan, before they are hunted closely, are sluggish in their 

 movements and like the prairie chicken will lie in the grass and 

 hug the ground close in their efforts to prevent being seen, when afew 

 Haps of their wings would carry them safely out of harm's way. 



This country is their natural home, and in summer and fall they are 

 very numerous. Their flesh is tender, and in flavor is almost identical 

 with that of the prairie chicken. 



The first approach of spring brings the wild goose and duck in large 

 numbers, and the pool of water which settles about the tundra affords 

 ample scope to use their webbed feet, and the different varieties of grass 

 and flora furnish them with abundant food. The tundra and marshy 

 land make excellent breeding ground, the shallow pools being espe- 

 cially well adapted for the young in their first venture at swimming. 



Many of the natives still use the primitive method of hunting the 

 ducks and geese, which consists of a dozen or more pieces of sinew 

 thread about 18 inches long, tied together in a large knot at one end, 

 and on the other end of each is fastened a piece of ivory, cut in circular 

 form, about 1 inch in diameter. With this in the right hand they 

 approach the flock, and when they rise, swing it rapidly and throw it 

 among them. The instant it strikes one the strings get tangled about 

 the feet, wings, or neck, and they immediately drop to the ground, prison- 

 ers. This simple device is wonderfully effective, and all that is neces- 

 sary for the Eskimo to secure his game is to get near enough to hurl 

 the sling among them. 



They still cling to the primitive manner of making fire with flint 

 stone and their little pieces of steel, usually a piece of an old file, and 

 flint is as much a part of one's personal belongings as the coat he wears 

 upon his back. 



They carry these articles in a little bag, in the bottom of which are 

 little wads of the same fibrous material used for wicks for their oil 

 lamps, and which is gathered from a wild bush in the fall of the year. 

 In making a light, they take a small piece of this cotton, which has 

 previously been rolled in wood ashes, and, holding it between the 

 thumb and flint, strike the steel against the stone, and the sparks 

 emitted ignite the cotton, which is blown into a flame. It is a crude 

 way of getting a fire started, but it is one of the most simple and inter- 

 esting of their customs, for it comes from a period of time when the 

 Eskimo had to depend upon their own resources for obtaining a fire, 

 and before they knew anything about the usefulness of the match of 

 civilization. 



The advent of the whalers in this country has distributed pretty 

 well among the Eskimo many devices and articles which they use in 



