166 THKOUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



and other suitable skins are made into deer snares and parch- 

 ment for windows, while the tendons of all are split and 

 twisted into fine and excellent thread for general use. 



The remarks made under R. caribou in respect to the 

 number and appearance of the young at birth, etc., are 

 equally applicable to this species. I may here remark that 

 albinos are very rare among the northern deer. In 1886 I 

 obtained a fine example, which was forwarded to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution at Washington. It had been killed the 

 previous winter by an Indian near Eort Chipewyan, Lake 

 Athabasca, but, although I heard of a few instances else- 

 where, I think this was the only one I ever saw in the inter- 

 ior. The Company generally exports a number of reindeer 

 skins in a parchmentary and Indian-dressed state, which sel- 

 dom realize more than their actual cost. In the years 1902 

 and 1903, respectively, they sold in London 321 and 267 

 reindeer skins. 



Doctor Armstrong, of the Investigator, writes that be- 

 sides several white bears, musk oxen, and other polar animals 

 herein referred to, the hunters of that ship, while wintering 

 in Prince of Wales Strait, saw a number of reindeer, though 

 they failed to secure even one. In Mercy Bay, latitude 76" 6' 

 north and longitude 117° 55' west, however, where it was 

 finally abandoned on June 3, 1853, the total number of 

 reindeer killed between October, 1851, and April, 1853, was 

 112. After reaching Melville Island, about latitude 75° 

 north and longitude 109° west, the doctor, with several ofii- 

 oers and men of Her Majesty's Arctic ships Resolute (Cap- 

 tain Kellett) and Intrepid (Captain McClintock), shot a 

 large number of reindeer and several musk oxen, the meat 

 of which weighed over 10,000 pounds. After four seasons' 

 experience. Doctor Armstrong came to the conclusion that 

 the reindeer inhabiting Baring Island do not migrate to the 

 southward thereof. In Mercy Bay and Prince of Wales 

 Strait many individuals and small herds were seen and a 

 number shot during the severest months of the winter. " In 



