106 HOOFED ANIMALS 



beneficial and humane proceeding toward the Eskimo tribes 

 of western Alaska to import a large number of domestic 

 Reindeer from Siberia, and teach the natives how to care 

 for and use them. Through the heroic efforts of Dr. Sheldon 

 Jackson, General Agent of Education in Alaska, this advice 

 was promptly followed, under the auspices of the Bureau of 

 Education; but the first fund of $2,000 came from private 

 sources, and was expended in 1892-3. The initial Con- 

 gressional appropriation, of $6,000, was expended in 1894, 

 but since 1899 the amount granted annually has been 

 $25,000. 



From 1892 to 1902, 1,580 Reindeer were imported from 

 Siberia and 144 from Lapland, from which 6,116 fawns were 

 born in Alaska. Dr. Jackson states that "the animals born 

 in Alaska are developing into larger and stronger animals than 

 their parents." The rumors of alleged deterioration through 

 "inbreeding" are totally incredible, and should receive no 

 attention whatever. 



The Reindeer experiment has been wisely conducted, on 

 good business principles, and is an unqualified success. There 

 are forty-nine Reindeer stations, extending from Point Bar- 

 row, on the Arctic Ocean, to the Alaskan Peninsula opposite 

 Kadiak Island. The Laplanders who were taken to Alaska 

 to educate the natives in the care and use of Reindeer did 

 their work conscientiously, and the Eskimo have eagerly 

 embraced the opportunity to acquire a domestic animal, good 

 for use and for food, to take the place of the vanished walrus 

 and Barren Ground caribou. 



The recently completed tabulation of the returns contained 



