126 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



Department of the Interior, 



WashimxjU/fi, Janum-y 25, 1899. 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter from 

 the Commissioner of Education, and to commend to your favorable 

 consideration the request therein contained, that Dr. Sheldon Jackson, 

 the general agent of education in Alaska, be accorded accommodations 

 on the revenue cutter Bear in her cruise to Bering Sea and the Arc- 

 tic Ocean during the present year, and that the commanding officers 

 of other cutters in the service be directed to extend to him such facili- 

 ties as may be practicable and convenient in the discharge of his duties 

 in the district of Alaska. Also that the commanding officer of the cut- 

 ter J3ea7' be directed to convey Dr. Jackson to the Siberian coast, and to 

 call at Vladivostock, Petropaulovsk, and such other points along the 

 Siberian coast as may be convenient while en route to the vessel's 

 cruising ground in the Bering Sea. 



Furthermore, that he be directed to transport to the Alaskan coast 

 such reindeer as it may be possible to secure, for fulfilling the pledge 

 of the Government to return 491 deer to Cape Prince of Wales and 

 Cape Rodney. These animals are to replace those taken by the Gov- 

 ernment from the American Missionary Association, at Cape Prince 

 of Wales, and certain "Eskimo herders at Cape Rodney, and were used 

 in connection with the expedition sent for the relief of the whalers 

 imprisoned in the ice near Point Barrow. 

 Very respectfully, 



C. N. Bliss, Secretary. 

 The Secretary of the Treasury. 



THE PROCURING AND FITTING OUT OF THE U. S. S. THETIS FOR 

 PURCHASING REINDEER. 



Department of the Interior, 



Bureau of Education, 

 W(is/mi(/ton, D. O., JmmarySl, 1899. 



Sir: 1 have the honor to call to your attention my letter of the 21:th 

 instant, asking of the Secretary of the Treasury, through you, the 

 privilege of transportation for the agent of education in Alaska on 

 the cutter Bear along the Siberian coast, and the transportation of 

 such reindeer as can be obtained on the trip, especially to replace those 

 which were borrowed by the Treasury Department and driven to the 

 relief of the whalers, with the promise that an equal number of rein- 

 deer would be returned to the owners in the summer of 1898. 



I am informed that the Treasury Department is compelled to decline 

 the request upon the ground that the duties devolving on the cutter 

 Bear during the coming season are so pressing that the vessel will be 

 unable to give any time to the securing of reindeer. 



