under the auspices of the District 
Superintendent. Here, the reindeer 
men—chief-herders and apprentices of 
the Government herds and many Lap¬ 
landers who are owners of private 
herds—from Hooper Bay to the Koyuk 
and as far East as 156, meet in friend¬ 
ly rivalry as to field-sports (winners 
in all contests receiving ribbons and 
prizes) and in open convention, where 
promotions are made, misunderstand¬ 
ings settled, and ways and means of 
benefit to them and their work dis¬ 
cussed. It is half round-up, half con¬ 
vention, with “another half” thrown in 
for good measure—a display of handi¬ 
craft in articles made from the rein¬ 
deer—all of which were judged and 
awarded prizes. You are wondering 
what such articles could be. By and 
by; I am already ahead of my story. 
The St. Michael party that traveled 
by reindeer, consisted of Supt. John¬ 
son; Mrs. Allen, of the local 
Government school force; Mrs. 
Petrie, Government district 
nurse; Miss Snyder, teacher 
in the local public school; and 
Mrs. Williams and myself, who 
trailed along in an unofficial 
capacity,—just “good-fellows.” 
After a week of excited prepa¬ 
rations we got our traveling 
outfits together, and, on a cold, 
shivery morning in early Feb¬ 
ruary, assembled at the “tryst- 
ing-place” — a sheltered nook 
on the bay in the lee of a big 
river-boat. There, awaiting 
us, were the reindeer — each 
hooked to a lightly - packed 
A PRIZE WINNER 
heavy flannel shirts; then fur trousers 
and sweaters; then, heavy german 
socks lined with swansdown were 
drawn over our ordinary cashmere hose 
and trouser-legs, and native mukluks 
made of reindeer or hair-seal, with 
straw in the bottom, were drawn over 
these and tied firmly at knee and 
/ 7 :■: . . . - C- ’ /<G < < 
% 
V*’ *<• 
NOT ONLY PICTURESQUE BUT ALSO HIGHLY UTILITARIAN 
traveling sled, watching our arrival in 
curious wonder, and each attended by 
an Eskimo driver, equally curious, but 
as solemn as the Sphinx! It was our 
first glimpse of a real, flesh-and-blood 
reindeer—most of us—and our gushes 
of admiration for the pretty animals 
were cut short by the peremptory com¬ 
mand of the “Super” to “cut out the 
noise, and let’s get started.” The deer, 
being somewhat doubt¬ 
ful as to the nature of 
the queer, noisy bun¬ 
dles that were evident¬ 
ly designed as “cargo,” 
were becoming nervous 
and anxious to be off; 
and no wonder! for we 
were fearfully and 
wonderfully made - up 
for the occasion. 
Our most intimate 
articles of wearing 
apparel were those 
usually worn in this 
climate; over this layer 
were sateen bloomers 
and quilted vests; then 
khaki trousers and 
ankle; then, a silk scarf draped around 
head and throat so as to leave as little 
of the face exposed as possible and 
over that a tight-fitting wool cap; then 
knitted mittens with wrists drawn well 
over sweater cuffs, and lastly, over all, 
the long, hooded fur-parka of the Es¬ 
kimo women, and big fur mittens! 
Freeze to death? Hardly! 
Now we are instructed to mount the 
pack, cross-saddle fashion, and get a 
good grip on the lash-rope; the driver 
gives the word, springs to his place on 
the runners behind, and away we go! 
Five swiftly-moving blurs across the 
whiteness, a little scared, altogether 
breathless, and hanging on for dear 
life—but GAME! And, gradually we 
relax to an easy posture, a full appre¬ 
ciation of the novelty of the situation, 
the thrill of adventure, and the Joy of 
Living! 
From my brief intercourse with the 
native population I had concluded that 
the Eskimo, as a type, was stolid and 
taciturn—little given to sociability. If 
this is true, then Maska, my driver and 
personal attendant, proved the rule by 
being a notable exception. While, as a 
party, we arranged to keep together— 
that is, within visiting distance—yet I 
shall always feel specially favored in 
having “drawn” Maska, as my own; 
for, aside from being a care¬ 
ful driver, considerate of my 
comfort as any product of 
civilization could have been, 
and courteous according to his 
understanding, he was cer¬ 
tainly a fluent and ready con¬ 
versationalist; and as for gos¬ 
sip —nay, scandal even!—the 
proverbial New England 
spinster at the “Ladies Aid” 
has nothing on Maska! 
I wish I had time, space and 
talent to go into the details of 
this “wonder-journey” and 
make it real, but I must sketch 
it briefly—hit the high places, 
as it were—and trust that 
your imagination is equal to “filling- 
Owing to the short days at this 
1 
if 
m. 
* 3 ^ 
T-’ 
REINDEER. THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF 
THE ALASKAN NATIVE 
season, the “Super” decided to make 
the trip by easy stages and all by 
daylight; so we were five days on the 
Trail to Shaktoolik—(we made the re¬ 
turn trip in three). We went prepared 
to “rough it”—camp out in any kind 
of weather we might encounter, eat 
hard-tack and beans when our com¬ 
missary ran low, run 
alongside to keep 
warm, help ourselves 
over dangerous places, 
turn turtle on the 
rough ice, be buried in 
a snowslide, or per¬ 
form cheerfully any 
stunt indigenous to the 
trail; but both weather 
and trail being reason¬ 
ably good, we were de¬ 
nied any of the thrills 
of adventure. 
The Superintendent 
visits every school and 
reindeer - camp in his 
District — five hundred 
(Contd on page 716) 
Page 677 
