14 



HAMLYVS MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



The house brought in a favourable report 

 from the explorer's scheme, and expressed their 

 readiness to promote the undertaking. Melville 

 Island was suggested as a good base from 

 which to start, and it was intended for the time 

 being to deal only with the caribou, though the 

 musk ox are similarly capable of domestication. 

 Their numbers, however have decreased con- 

 siderably during recent years, owing to the 

 hunting activities of the Indians and the 

 Eskimo, and the ranching of these animals 

 presented difficulties not so easily surmounted. 

 At the same time the musk ox is a valuable 

 beast, as it possesses a heavy under-wool, 

 which is of very high quality, and which is 

 supposed to rival that of the Kashmir goat. 



Following Stefannson's speech which was 

 made in May, the proposition was speedily 

 forgotten by most of those who had read the 

 reports with so much interest. Then, during 

 the last week of last November, the news came 

 from the little town of La Pas, on the Hudson 

 Bay Railway, in Northern Manitoba, of the 

 formation of the " North American Reindeer 

 Company." The company is capitalised at 

 750,000 dollars, probably the biggest ranching 

 concern that has ever existed, and though the 

 personnel has not as yet been given out, it is 

 known that some of the biggest bankers and 

 financial men of Canada and the United States 

 are concerned in the scheme. 



The syndicate has leased from the 

 Canadian Government at four cents an area 

 of 75,850 square miles in the Hudson Bay 

 Territory north of Churchill River. The 

 company, in addition, is to give to the Canadian 

 Government one-twentieth of the total of its 

 yearly herds, and those animals are to be 

 turned over to the Eskimo and Indians of the 

 of the territory, thus making them safe against 

 starvation in times when other game fails ; also 

 it is hoped that the scheme will place the 

 natives in the way of making additional money, 

 for the caribou, besides yielding good milk and 

 meat, possess excellent hides, which in 

 civilisation is worth five dollars a pound. 



Moreover, the caribou has other uses. As 

 a beast of burden it is far more superior to dogs 

 owing to its great strength, and owing 

 particularly to the fact that it can live on the 

 land. The animal is possessed of huge 

 spreading hoofs, which enable it to negotiate 

 the deepest drifts without sinking, and it goes 

 without saying that one caribou would be 

 capable easily of drawing a sledge which would 

 require a whole team of dogs. 



The first undertaking of the great scheme 

 is one which, considering the vastness of the 

 territory concerned, and the vastness of the 

 herds to be handled, seems almost incredible, 

 and only those who have had anything to do 

 with the driving of wild deer will appreciate 

 the difficulties it presents. Deer of all kinds, 

 particularly the caribou, adhere to one un-wav- 

 ering law — that the herd must follow its leader. 

 If the leader turns, then the rest follow, and no 

 obstacle will check the headlong plunge that 

 ensues. Yet the new company intend to drive 

 the vast herds of reindeer over land from Alaska 

 to the Churchill River country, a distance of 

 2,000 miles, consisting chiefly of utter wilder- 

 ness, over the main portion of which the feet of 

 white men have never yet been set. If this 

 undertaking is successful it will stand out as 

 by far the most remarkable achievement of its 

 kind in the history of the world. 



H. MORTIMER BATTEN. 



Report on the Zoological 

 Service 



for the Years 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 



By Major S. Flower. 



I.— PREFACE. 



1. — Duties of the Zoological Service. 



The duties of the Zoological Service are 

 threefold : — 



1. Giving technical assistance to other Gov- 

 ernment services in the ever-increasing number 

 of questions in which the animal kingdom is 

 found to be involved, especially in matters of 

 public health, agriculture, and fisheries. 



2. Conservation, not only of the actual 

 fauna of the country, but of all records and 

 observations bearing on the subject, for the 

 benefit of future generations. 



3. Ptcblic Instruction, by properly labelled 

 collections of specimens, both alive in Zoological 

 Gardens and Aquariums and preserved in the 

 exhibition halls of Museums, and by lectures, 

 classes, and the answering of questions received 

 from individual members of the people. 



"In this instance, as in the case of the 

 other sciences, the man of science endeavours 

 to acquire and pass on abstract knowledge, 

 which the man of affairs can confidently apply 

 in the daily business of practical life." 



