INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 187 



A.s no survey of this island has 3'^et been made, one can not aec-uratelj^ 

 state its dimensions. I should estimate its surface area, approximately, 

 at 3,000 square miles, as the maximum length is less than 1(»0 miles, 

 measured from northwest to southeast, and probably less than 40 miles 

 on the average in width. Its eastern limit is about longitude 168" 57' 

 W., and its western extremity is probabl}^ longitude 171° 50' W. Its 

 northern point reaches latitude 63° 34' N. and its southern point about 

 latitude 62° 57' N. 



There are two villages on the island at present. On(^ is situated at 

 Cape Chibukuk, which, by the way, probably ought to be spelled See- 

 vookuk, to accord more nearly with the native pronunciation, and 

 named now Gambell, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Vene C. Gambell, who 

 la])ored here as missionaries during three years, commissioned by our 

 Government and the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. This vil- 

 lage contained in the spring of 1899, according to my census, 313 per- 

 sons. The other village is about 40 miles south, at Southwest Cape, and 

 contains 24 persons. This village suffered greatly about twenty years 

 ago during a food famine, losing the majority, I think, of its inhabit 

 ants, while Seevookuk lost about half of its population. This famine 

 obliterated a large village at Southeast Cape, numbering pr()ha})ly 150 

 persons, and also four or five smaller settlements on the north shore, 

 one neai' Cape Kuhuliak and another on Northeast Cape. 



The animal life on the island is confined to Eskimo dogs at the vil- 

 lages, arctic fox. an occasional polar bear, with a few mice, while winged 

 creatures are very a})undant, especially waterfowl and ravens, with an 

 occasional owl. Insect life appears to be represented solely by the 

 house fly and butterfly, but there may bo others to which my attention 

 has not been called. The sea teems with codfish, and affords during 

 the proper season whales (although not many of these), walruses, seals, 

 and whitefish. The sea urchin and kelp cast by the surf upon the shore 

 afford food for the people. 



The nearest land is Indian Point, Siberia, which is only 40 miles 

 distant, and suggests the origin of these natives. 



The natives on the island are Eskimos. They call themselves "Mas- 

 singa" men — ''good" men. The Indian Point and Plover P)ay people 

 arrogate the same title to themselves. 



ORIGIN OF NATIVES ON ST. LAWRENCE ISLAND. 



It is interesting to note the antipathy for the Indian Point natives 

 as a result of long and ])itter feuds in the past, when tlu> Siberians 

 nearly exterminated the natives here. This makes the people on St. 

 I^awrence Island unwilling to admit that they sprung from the same 

 stock as theii enemies, the Indian Point people. They claim to be of 

 autochthonous origin. The language, I understand, is the same here 

 as at Indian Point and the adjacent village at Plover Bay. It is of 



