142 The National Geographic Magazine 



Copj'right, 1899 Charles Scribuer's Sons 



Reindeer Digging Up the Snow to Get the Moss Beneath 



Republished from "Land of the Long Night," by Paul du Chaillu, by courtesy of the 



publishers 



homes and congregate in the American 

 villages at the mines, where they live 

 by begging and immorality and soon 

 disappear from the face of the earth. 



Second. It affords the missionary 

 the opportunity of rewarding and en- 

 couraging those families that give evi- 

 dence of being teachable by establish- 

 ing them in the reindeer industry, and 

 thus greatly promoting their material 

 interests. 



Third. With the increase of the herd 

 it becomes a source of revenue through 

 the sale of the surplus males at remu- 

 nerative prices to the miners and butch- 

 ers. In a few years this revenue should 

 be sufficient to entirely support the mis- 

 sion and thereby relieve the treasury of 

 the central Missionary Society. 



Fourth. The possession of a herd in- 

 sures to the mission famil}' a continuous 

 supply of fresh meat. This to a family 

 which is compelled to live largely upon 

 salted and canned meats and canned 

 vegetables is of no small benefit, pro- 

 moting their comfort, health, and use- 

 fulness. 



Fifth. Reindeer trained to harness and 

 sleds greatly increase the efficiency and 

 the comfort of the missionary in minis- 

 tering to outtying native settlements. 



REINDEER FROM LAPLAND 



The vast majority of the American 

 people have an idea that the reindeer 

 experiment in Alaska proved a failure 

 long ago, simply because of the widety 

 advertised unsuccessful attempt in 189S 



