238 INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC REINDEER INTO ALASKA. 



At the request of Aningah, I did not hold Sundaj" school, as his 

 household had planned for a native dance. I tried to have him post- 

 pone the dance. I refused his invitation to attend. To have held 

 Sunday school would have brought out the other faction at my serv- 

 ice, while Aningah and the party to which his household adhered 

 would have been absent, and the former set would probably have 

 made capital of this marked division, and this would have compro- 

 mised me somewhat. 



January 12: School. — 1°; northeast wind light; clear- I trimmed 

 my hair and beard. 



January 15: Sunday school. — 15^; north wind strong; fair. 



January 18: School. — 17°; snow in the morning; north wind 

 strong. 



January 20: School could not be held, as the stove "smoked" 

 badly. — 16°; north wind light; clear. 



flanuary 22: Sunday school. — 17°; northeast wind strong; snow 

 p. m. 



January 23: School. — 7°; northwest wind light; snow a. m. 



January 24: No school. — 20°; northeast wind light; clear; coldest 

 day. 



Januarj?^ 25: School. —19°; Northeast wind strong; fair. The 

 thumb of my left hand is greatly inflamed owing to a frostbite. 



.January 28: Saturday. 30°; moderate south wind; snow a.m. As 

 the Japan current warms the region in the vicinity of the Aleutian 

 Peninsula and adjacent islands, a south wind, which is rare, invariably 

 brings us warm weather. 



January 30: Abrahamsen cut out seal skins in order to make a coat 

 for himself. He was encouraged to do this by his success recently in 

 making a pair of seal-skin trousers. 



Januarjr 31: School. 30°; south wind; light snow in afternoon. 

 xA-Ssoone began another five days' festival, called " Kazavaghalekyyake." 

 The men wrestled out of doors, bare to the waist. 



February 3: 15° and later 35°; snow. For the first time since win- 

 ter set in the thermometer registered to-day above the freezing point. 

 The maximum low temperature as observed on the coldest day was 

 20° below zero. As the thermometer has not an automatic register, 

 it is possible that during the night following that day a slightly lower 

 temperature escaped my observation. The temperature during the 

 months of December and January and generally in the first half of 

 February remained quite constant all day long, as far as I was able to 

 observe the register. The heat of the sun during these months was 

 scarcely appreciable, as the orb was very low toward the horizon dur- 

 ing the brief interval of its daily appearance. Thick clouds usually 

 concealed the sun altogether. After spending a winter in the heart of 

 the Adirondack Mountains last year, when the thermometer registered 



