Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-13
STORIES OF INTERIOR ALASKA.
A Missionary Tells Wonderful Tales
OF Reindeer, the Aurora and the Cold.


OF Reindeer. the Aurora and the Cold.
A remarkable story, says the San Fran
cisco Examiner. is told by the Rev. E. c..
Wails, missionary of the Epicopal
Church. who arrived here recently from
forcupine river, In the British possessions
just over the line of Alaska, on the edge of
the Rocky Mountains. 1t is mainly about
the intense cold, the immense herds of rein
deer and the sublime magnifcence Of the
aurora borealis. DIR. Wallis has been seven
years in the wilds of the Porcupine river.
snd for the last eighteen months his wife
has been with him assisting In teaching the
Indians
II does not appear to be generally known
mat there are vast herds Of reindeer in that
part or the country. DIR. Sheldon Jackson
superintendent of education for Alaska, and
Capt. Healy Of the Bear have for a couple
OF years been importing reindeer from
siberia, and this Is the reason for the sup
posed scarcity throughout that region. but
the scarcity appears to be toward the south
EN-. southwestern and northern coasts In
the far interior there are myriads of them.
TneJ are remarkably numerous every
where about my mission near the mouth Of
the Porcuplne river" said the reverend gen.
tieman. Back toward 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 1 remember seeing six or seven
OF them on cake of ice floating down, and
saw many others floating on -he ice
For much of the time have lived at the
mission have subsisted almost exclusive
on reindeer meat. 1t is very good. and
may say it Is about the only kind Of meat
you don't get tired Of I think 1t is better
all things considered, than beef and you can
eat II longer without it's 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 hve feet ten inches. They are gen
uine North American Indians. and not the
Aleuts Esquimaux. or a mixture of the two
Il keep an Indian hunter. and he supplies
me with all the reindeer meat / want He
also brings in grouse. ducks. bear and other
game as need it. / have learned to shoot
that region. The ducks and grouse, like the
reindeer, are remarkably good eating
TT Is fearfully cold there. Last winter
the Thermometer was for a week at a time
down to sixty degrees. and have seen it go
even considerably lower. At no time in the
winter, nor during other winters that have
been there, waS 1t higher than forty degrees.
This cold Is excruciating. We lived in a
solid log house. good warm one, but many
time have awakened in the night and
found the blankets. which were kept up wei
under the nose. frozen into a cake Of ice
sometimes the intense cold cakes he blank
cts for a long distance down.
Meats and everything froze, and you
would throw them anywhere without think
Ing. The worst experience was trying to
make bread. The yeast would freeze in
spite of you, oftentimes even when the
greatest care was exercised If you sterped
out, everything was so still and 30 intensely
cold YOU could hear yourself breathe II
had a rustliny sound.
II discovered queer thing about the cold
and II was this: Below forty degrees YOU
didn't notice it any more fhan forty degrees
1t might go to sixty degrees. or even more
but 1t made so little difference that YOU
didn't notice 1t. 1t was all practically the
same to you.
THE wonders Of the aurora boreaIis in
that region cannot be told. The heavens oil
winter long are lit up with a golden glow
Indeed, / may say the colors-the spa-kles
and hashes-are so many, contant and
There is practically no day during the year.
For two or three months, up to December
Is. from to IL o'clock. there is a sort Of
dawn, but the rest of the time 1t Is night.
1t is so clear that yop can go out and read
a newspaper anywhere.
THE 400 or 800 Indians at my lion are
bright, and good progress has been made in
instructing them. Nearly all of them can
read in their own language. / have trans
lated various religious 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 there down to the mouth of the
Yukon. and no one tribe can understand the
other The ladgItges are all as different as
French Is from German