30 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



The .spring has just opened, the buds of the birch and cottonwood 

 are swelling, and in sheltered places the leaves are partly out. To-da}^ 

 I saw specimens of the famous Yakoot pon}', a hard}^ animal that will 

 find his ow^n food, even in a semiarctic Siberian winter. On this 

 peninsula are said to be large numbers of wild horses that hav^e stjirted 

 from strayed domestic stock. They would be a good breed to intro- 

 duce into Alaska. The Siberian cattle are an undersized breed, but 

 very hardy. 



June 20: Last night about 11 o'clock the Japanese steamer Setsuyo 

 Maru, in the employ of the Russian Fur Company, arrived from the 

 northern coast, where it had been locating Japanese and Korean fisher- 

 men for the season. The output of the fisheries finds a market in 

 Japan. As the steamer sails from here for Japan an opportunity is 

 afforded for sending out a mail. 



After breakfast I went aboard the Setsuyo Maru with Captain Jarvis 

 and called on Captain Powers, jr., master. With the exception of the 

 captain all the crew and officers are Japanese and Koreans. 



June 21: A rainy day. During the morning I callied on Father Don- 

 skoi, the old Russian priest. His diocese at one time covered all 

 Kamchatka Peninsula and north to the Anadyr River. Since 1888 

 he has been an invalid. He still, however, has charge of the services 

 of the church. Plis son was a few years ago Russian priest at Sitka, 

 Alaska. 



At 11 a. m. H. 1. M. S. Yahit^ of the Russian navy, arrived from 

 th(^ Connnander Islands and dropped anchor. Captain Jarvis made 

 an official call. 



June 22: The forenoon was cloudy; the afternoon clear, bringing 

 out the snow-covered volcanoes and mountain range that surrounds 

 Avatcha Bay as an amphitheater in clear relii^f around the horizon. 

 It was the first good view of the whole horizon that we have had. 

 The scene was one of marvelous ])eauty and grandeur. The ward- 

 room oflicers invited the captain and ofiicers of the Yakut to dinner at 

 5.30, after which the oflicers of the B<((/- returned with their guests 

 to the Yakut to spend the evening. 



At 7.1.5 p. m. the steamer K<iflk\ of the Russian Seal Skin Company, 

 from Japan, for which we had been waiting, passed in and dropped 

 anchor. C'aptain Jar\'is called on Captain Powers, manager of the 

 fur company, who came on the KotH' and arranged for a l)usiness 

 interview inmiediately after breakfast to-morrow. 



June 23: Captain Jarvis had breakfast at 7.30, and soon after 8 a. m. 

 we were on board the KotH- and had a satisfactory interview with Mr. 

 Philip II. Powers with reference to the purchase of reindeer in large 

 munl)ers. He had no doubt they could l)e purchased in any number 

 we wished, driven over to a good bay on the Bering Sea side of 

 Kamchatka, and shipped to Alaska. It was arranged that on his 



