INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEEE INTO ALASKA. 171 



there are ten t'oi' tr\ iivi^- the experiment in Canudu. You ean get to 

 Ahi.ska all winter from the .south, but with us in Canada all that eoun- 

 trv al)ove (>(> deo-rees is hermetieall}' sealed up after NoNeniber 1. (See 

 the report on the Great Mackenzie Valley to Parliament in 1888.) All 

 our men speak of ''reindeer" in it, but they nuist mean '"Ixirren- 

 o-round caribou." I do not know of any reindeer in Canada, and do 

 not think our barren-g-round caribou eould be trained like those from 

 Lapland and Si})eria. 



For above a 3'ear I have been trying- to ascertain the numl)er and 

 condition of the Eskimos from 140 to 90 degrees — that is, from Alaska 

 to Hudson Bay — and the condition of the interior inhabitants to (!0. 

 Are there any schools, missions, etc., in all that tract? 



The Moravians, Roman Catholics, etc.. have missions in Labrador; 

 the Church of England at the mouth of the Nelson River; ])ut what 

 is there on w hat 1 suppose is 8,000 miles of coast :■ The Roman Catholic 

 missions are at all the forts, but if there are any Eskimos on our coast 

 line I am not aw^are that there is a single school or mission from Alaska 

 to the Hudson Bay, and not a mission out of the Mackenzie \'alley in all 

 the great country to the east and l)ounded l)}^ the sixtieth degree of north 

 latitude. I am aware of all the Roman Catholic schools or missions at 

 all the forts on the Mackenzie from Good Hope to Athabasca. In 

 this tract of country there must ])e at various seasons of the year at 

 least jJ5,000 people, most of them uncivilized heathens. The attempts 

 the Roman Catholics have nrade in C'anada to Christian izt> the Indians 

 count for very little; in fact, if they have had no more success in the 

 north with the Indian than they have in Nova Scotia with the ]\Iicmac 

 the}" have not improved him, but have only created prejudices which 

 hinder him from taking up with other agencies. 



I have been thinking of the matter for a couple of years and it 

 begins to be a burden on me that we may have in all that territor}^ 

 thousands of Eskimo who can look forward to nothing l)ut raw fish 

 and an icehouse. We must extend the agencies (^f civilization to our 

 native tribes. It ill becomes us to send thousands of dollars to India 

 and China w^hen we have a population right at our door lighting an 

 Arctic winter in an icehouse, without any of the consolations of 

 religion and civilization. 



I have been thinking of asking the Moravians to extend their 

 missions right around our coast, provided you tell me we have the 

 people, and think the Moravians are among the ])est and most success- 

 ful woi'kers with the Indian and Eskimo. I am a pool- man. but have 

 any amount of enthusiasm for raising money in a cause which touches 

 my sympathies. 



1 would take it as a great favor if you could enlighten nu^ on these 

 matt(>rs, and believe me I Avrite vou because it secMus to mc that vou 



