Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-11-03

A Missionary Tells Wonderful Tales of
Reindeer

n Missionary Tells Wonderful Tales of
Reindeer.
\ remarkable story, SAYS the San
Francisco Examiner. is told by the Rev.
+. G. Wallis, Il missionary of the Epis-
copal church, who arrived here recently
! from the Porcupine river, i'll the Brit
lSh possessions, just over the line OF
Alaska. on the edge of the Rocky
mountains. 1t is mainly about the in
tense cold, the immense herds of rein
deer, and the sublime magniticcnce OF
the aurora borGliS. DR.. Wallis has
been seven years i'll the wildS Of the
Porcupine river, and for the last eight
cen months his wife has been with him
assisting in teaching the Indians.
1t does not appear to be generally
known that there are vast herds of rein
| deer i'll that part Of the country. DR..
Sheldon jackson, superintendent OF
education for Alaska. and Capt. Healy,
of the Bear, have for Il couple of years
been importing reindeer from Siberia,
and this is the reason for the supposed
scarcity throughout that region; but the
scarcity appears to be toward the south
crn, southwestern and northern coasts.
In the far interior there are myriads Of
! them.
They arc remarkably numerous
everywhere about my mission near the
mouth of the Porcupinc river" said the
reverend gentleman. Back towards
the mountains from my house | have
seen great bands of them, and almost
everywhere | looked | could see them.
This summer when the ice broke up on
the river | remember seeing six or Scv-
en- Of them on a cake of ice floating
down, and l saw many others floating
on the ice.
! For much of the time | have lived
ut the mission | have subSiStcd almost
exclusively on reindeer meat. 1t is
very good, and l may say it is the only
kind of meat YOU don't get tired of. L
think it is better, I'LL things considered,
/ than beef and you c;ln eat longer with
out its palling on you. The Indians eat
it almost exclusively, and they are very
! big and strong. Some of them are six
/ feet in height and the average is about
|
North American Indians. and not
AleuS, EsqrimauX, or Il mixture of the
two
Il keep an Indian hnunter, and he
supplies me with all the reindeer meat
! | want. He also brings i'll grouse,
ducks, bear and other game as | need
! it. I have learned to shot pretty well
Ia Il h.,t
region. The ducks and grouse, like the
I reindeer, are remarkably good eating.
/ 1T is fcarfully cold there. Last
winter the thermometer was for Il week
at time down to 90 degrees, and /
have seen it 90 even considerably lower.
At no time in the winter, nor during
other winters that | have been there,
WaS it higher than 10 degrees. The
cold is eXcruciating. We lived Ill u
solid log house, Il good warm one, Dut
many II time | have awakened in the
night and found the blankets, which
were kept up well Endcr the nose,
frozen into Il cake Of ice. Sometimes
the intense cold cakes the blankets for
a long distance down.
Meats and everything froze, and you
would throw them anywhere without
thinking. The worst experience was
trying to make bread. The yeast would
freeze in spite Of you, oftentlmcS even
when the greatest clre was exercised.
If you stepped out, everything was so
still and so intensely cold you could
hear yourself breathe. 1t had a rust
ling sound.
Il discovered a queer thing about
the cold, and it was this: Below 10 de-
greeS you didn't notice it any more
than 40 degrees. 1t might go to GO de-
grees, or even more, but 1t made so lit
tie difference that you didn't notice it.
1t was all practically the same to you.
'I1he wonders Of the aurora boreahS
in that region cannot be told. The
heavens all winter long are lit up with
a golden glow. Indeed, | may say the
colors-the sparkles and fiasheS-are so
many, constant and varied, that no one
can describe them. There is practically
no day during the year. For two or
three months, UP to Dec. ID, from to
II o'clock, there is a sort Of dawn, but
the rest of the time it is night. 1t Is
so clear that you can go out and read a
newspaper anywhere.
THE 400 or 500 Indians at my mis-
sion are bright, and good progress has
been made in instructing them. Nearly
all Of them can read in their own Ian
guage. / have translated various rei-
gious and other books, which have been
printed in England, for their use. They
have an entirely different language
from any other Indians. There are five
different languages, for instance, from
Their down to the mouth Of the Yukon,
and no one. tribe can understand the
other. The languages are all rs differ
emit as French is from German"
A boy named Frantz had his skull
fractured by piece Of the machinery
Of horsepower which he was operat-
ing at Tomah. A wheel broke and q
1 fra Cnonf afrrlolx him in the head.