THE CARIBOU. 17 



America, and that thus the loss of time in attempts to domesticate a 

 wild species might be avoided. After the purchase of. Alaska by the 

 United States, the introduction of firearms among the natives led to 

 such slaughter of game that actual starvation threatened some of the 

 tribes. In 1887 Charles H. Townsend advised that the Government 

 should import the reindeer and teach the natives how to care for 

 and use the animals. In 1891 the late Dr. Sheldon Jackson, gen- 

 eral agent in Alaska of the Bureau of Education, aided by dona- 

 tions from private sources, purchased a small herd of reindeer 

 abroad. They arrived in Alaska in 1892. Since 1894 Congress has 

 made annual appropriations for continuing the experiment. Up to 

 and including 1904, the total number of reindeer imported from 

 Siberia and Scandinavia was 1,280, and at that time the herds num- 

 bered over 8,000. The net annual increase since importations ceased 

 has been about 25 per cent. In 1907 the herds numbered 15,839 

 animals and the present number is probably not less than 23,000. 

 The introduction of these animals has already proved to be of im- 

 mense benefit to the natives, who have been taught how to manage 

 them by herders from Lapland and Finland, brought to America for 

 this service. 



Through the efforts of Doctor Grenfell, Lapland reindeer have re- 

 cently been introduced into Labrador and northern Newfoundland, 

 and the experiment promises great success. W. J. Carroll, of St. 

 Johns, Newfoundland, in commenting on the work of Doctor Gren- 

 fell, says : 



" It is to be hoped that the introduction of reindeer will be the 

 first step toward the domestication of our own caribou. With a 

 quarter of a million of caribou running wild in the interior, increasing 

 at the rate of 10,000 yearly, it will be seen that when Newfoundland 

 wakes up to the possibilities of its caribou herds we will not only be 

 able to have thousands of deer for commercial purposes, but also will 

 have enough to keep this island a paradise for hunters when hunting 

 big game on the continent becomes a thing of the past. As an in- 

 stance of how they increase and multiply, Doctor Grenfell thinks 

 his herd will be increased by 200 fawns this spring." a 



While the domestication of the American caribou has been made 

 less important by the introduction of the reindeer, good reasons for 

 breeding the native animals still remain. They would probably be 

 especially useful for crossing with the Old World species. The cross 

 with the woodland caribou would doubtless produce animals of 

 greater size and strength, and the native caribou could constantly 

 be drawn upon for new blood, just as has often been done in the case 

 of the wild reindeer of northern Europe and Siberia. 



a Forest and Stream, LXX, 611, April 18, 1908, 

 63030°— Bull. 36—10 3 



