ALASKA AS IT WAS AND IS. 
135 
heard in the land. Tame reindeer have been imported from 
Siberia with a view to their domestication by the Eskimo 
of the Arctic coast, who are on the verge of starvation at 
frequent intervals, owing to the destruction of their food 
supply by the whalers and walrus-hunters and the intro¬ 
duction of Winchester rifles for killing the wild deer. With 
the alternative of starvation as a stimulus, the chances of 
success ought to be good. 
In carrying out the plans which Kennicott had medi¬ 
tated, but which death had stayed, I had succeeded in gath¬ 
ering rather abundant material for my friends, the orni¬ 
thologists, botanists, ethnologists, and so on, but to do it I had 
to put aside the work in the department in which I person¬ 
ally was most interested. The shores of Norton sound and 
the tundra of the Yukon valley offered little in the way of 
mollusks or other invertebrates. The desire to extend our 
knowledge of the geographical distribution of the sea fauna 
led me to propose a further exploration of the coasts of the 
territory, especially of the Aleutian chain, under the aus¬ 
pices of the United States Coast Survey. A geographical 
reconnaissance was undertaken and carried on during five 
years, investigating magnetism and hydrology, making 
charts, tidal observations, meteorological and hypsometric 
notes. In all this I was ably seconded by my companions, 
Mark W. Harrington and Marcus Baker, who need no in¬ 
troduction to this audience. At the same time and without 
interfering with the regular work the dredge was kept con¬ 
stantly busy, and on my return from field-work the material 
for the studies I had so long looked forward to was actually 
gathered. 
The region which includes the Aleutian chain and other 
islands west of Kadiak presents a striking contrast to the 
densely wooded mountains and shining glaciers of the Sit- 
kan region to the east and the rolling tundra cut by myriad 
rivers in the north. Approached by sea, the Aleutian islands 
seem gloomy and inhospitable. Omnipresent fog wreaths 
hang about steep cliffs of dark volcanic rock. An angry 
