INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 237 



January 1, 1899: New Year's Day. At Sunday school referred to 

 the custom of making new resolutions on this day. 



January 2: Monday. Did not make any New Year's calls, as the 

 Massinga ladies are not in the habit of "receiving" on this day. In 

 lieu of reception delicacies, I dined on walrus liver, after it had been 

 cooked about three hours. 



Assoone began a five day's feast called Kazzeeva. 



Captain Jack, an Indian Point (Siberia) native, has been on a "spree" 

 of late and has tried to batter down the doors of the houses of some 

 of his neighbors, and has carried specious messages to his enemies, 

 purporting to emanate from myself, and as a result this man of ' ' two 

 tongues," although his reputation for falsification is commonly known, 

 has put his enemies evidently to open discomfiture, if not to utter 

 rout. When complaint was made against him, I had to be guarded 

 lest a word from me should cause the two opposing factions in the 

 community to be at "loggerheads," as they appear to have been ayear 

 or two ago. I have treated all persons with equal kindness, taking 

 the side of neither party, but urging upon the leaders the duty of and 

 the blessing attendant upon mutual respect and good will. I have 

 purposely refrained from becoming the especial patron of any influ- 

 ential man or set of leading men; I have maintained myself independ- 

 ently of either their favor or their dislike. To establish the Govern- 

 ment school on a basis of absolute independence of all other consider- 

 ations has been my aim all along; and I can fairly claim to have been 

 consistent accordingly in all my relations to the people, bearing in 

 mind at all times my obligations to the community as a whole as para- 

 mount to those to individuals. 



January 3: Second day of dance at Assoone's house. 



January 4: Third day of the dance. 



In the evening, in a dark room, Abrahamsen and I listened to 

 Assoone as he shrieked and howled in his efl'ort at "devil chasing." 

 From a supposed high flight in the air, he alighted so heavily upon 

 my left foot as to cause me to question his "power of wings." The 

 company, with the exception of the two Caucasians, were credulous of 

 his sudden dropping down below the surface of the earth as well as 

 his flight aloft. 



January 5: After a dance and feast in the morning at the Kazzeeva, 

 the young and middle-aged men and the boys performed the "kip-up" 

 and one or two other simple feats on the walrus ropes which had been 

 tied to uprights. "Tag" and jumping over low obstructions were 

 also indulged in. 



January 6: Wrestling contests between the young men followed 

 trading as the "wind up" of the Kazzeeva. 



January?: Saturday. 18°; moderate northeast wind; fair. The ice 

 moved southward. 



January 8: Sunday. 16°; northeast wind; strong; fair. 



