EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI EIVER. 17 



rivers, and thence northwesterly to the vicinity of the Arctic coast, 

 near Cape Lisburne and elsewhere. The Kotzebue Sound Eskimo also 

 claim that these sheep are very numerous up the Nunatog, and when 

 asked where they are to be found they invariably point to the low 

 range of mountains a few miles back from the coast. They also occur 

 on the Siberian side of Bering Straits. 



The flesh of this animal is eaten by the Indians; garments are made 

 of its skin, and its horns are made into spoons, ladles, and ornaments of 

 various kinds.* 



From the material now in the National Museum at Washington, D. C, there is suf- 

 ficient reason to the claim being valid that the Northern mountain sheep is entitled 

 to rank at least as a subspecies. It is more than probable that it may prove, when 

 additional information is obtained, of specific rank. The range of this mammal is 

 even to the low hills of the interior lying as far north as latitude 68°, in this ex- 

 treme range approaching just near the western coast. The southern limit has not 

 yet been defined.t 



Before leaving this extreme northwestern section of our country and 

 continent, it may be remarked that when the United States came into 

 possession of it the domesticated sheep was not knc/wn there, or was so 

 rare in occurrence that it was not noticed by the early explorers and 

 writers. Efforts to establish the breed iu that country have not been 

 crowned with success. 



Impressed with the idea that certain sections of the Kadiak region 

 would serve admirably for sheep husbandry, a San Francisco merchant 

 firm shipped a flock of rams and ewes — one hundred of them — sheep of 

 the hardiest breed, to Kolma, a spot not far from St. Paul Harbor, 

 Kadiak. They were in charge of a trained Scotch shepherd; but while 

 the flock did remarkably well in the summer, yet most of them perished 

 during the following winter, not from exposure nor want of food, but 

 the long continued and frequent intervals when the sheep are obliged 

 to be shut up tightly from the fury of wintry gales laden with sleet and 

 rain and snow causes their wool to sweat and fall from the skin in 

 large patches, producing an emaciation and debility from which the 

 animal seldom fully recovers. Also, the general dampness everywhere 

 under foot during the summer season in many good grazing sections of 

 Alaska is such as to cause an abnormal increase of the hoofs, so that the 

 horny toes turn and grow upward, destroying the peace and comfort 

 of a sheep and literally confine its movements and destroy its thrifty 

 life.l 



INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTICATED SHEEP. 



The domesticated sheep were first introduced on the American conti- 

 nent by the Spanish discoverers and conquerors. On the second voy- 

 age of Columbus to the New World he stopped at Gomera, one of the 



* Proceedings of U. S. National Museum, Vol. 7, 1884, and E. W. Nelson's Report 

 on the Natural History of Alaska. 

 t " Contributions to the Natural History of Alaska." L. M. Turner, 1886. 

 t " Our Arctic Province." Henry W. Elliott, 1886. 

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