St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-02
HERDS Of REINDEER.
Strange Story of a Missionar
From Porcupine River.

Strange Story of Missionary
From Porcupine River.
A remarkable story is told by Rev. E.
c. Wallis. missionary of the Episcopal
church, who arrived in San Francisco
last Saturday from the POrcupine 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 reindeer and the
sublime magniticence of the aurora bo-
reals. DIR. Wallis has been seven years
in the wilds of the Porcupine river, and
for the past eighteen 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 IN that part of the country. DR..
Sheldon jackson, superintendent of ed
ucation for Alaska, and Capt. Heaiy, of
the Bear, have for a 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
ern, southwestern and northern coasts.
In the interior there are myriadS of
them.
"rhey are remarkably numerous
everywhere about my mission near the
mouth of the Porcuplne river" said the
reverend gentleman. Back toward the
mountains fIom my house L have seen
great bands of them. and almost every
where 1 looked / could see them. This
summer when the ice broke up on the
river l remember seeing six or seven of
them on a cake of ice floating down,
and | t1nofinr IVA
ice.
For much of the time l have lived at
the mission, [ have subsisted almost
exclusively on reindeer meat. 1t is very
good, and [ may say it is about the only
kind OF meat you don't get tired of. l
think it is better, all things considered,
than beef, and that you can eat it longer
without its palling on you. 1t is vent
son more than anything else. The In
dianS eat it almost exclusively, ana they
are very big ana strong. Some CT them
are six feet in height, and the average
is about five feet ten inches. They are
genuine North American Indians, and
not the Aleuts, ESquimauX or mixture
of the two.
Il keep an Indian hunter, and he sup
plies ME with all the reindeer meat
want. He also brings in grouse. ducks,
bear ana other game as l need 1t. l
Lave learned 10 shoot pretty we'll my
self, as the white men do in that region
or anywhere contiguous to 1t. The
ducks and grouse, like the reindeer, are
remarkably good eating.
1T is fearfully cold there. Last win
ter the thermometer was for week at
time down to ~ deg, and | have seen
it 20 even considerably lower. At no
time in the winter, nor during other
winters that have been there, was it
higher than 10 deg. This cold is eX-
crLciating. We lived in a solid log
house, 4 good warm one, but many a
time L have awakened In the night and
| found the blankets, which were kept
well up under the nose, frozen into a
| cake of ice. Sometimes the intense cold
cakes the blankets for long distance
down.
Meats and everything froze, and
] you would throw them anywhere with
out thinking. The worst experience
| was trying to make bread. The yeast
| would freeze i'll spite of you, oftentimes
even if the greatest care was exercised
! Ii you stepped out everything was sc
! ill and SO intensely cold you could
! hear yourself breathe. 1t had a rusting
| sound.
81 discovered queer thing about the
co d, and it was this: Below 40 deg you
! didn't notice it anymore than 40. II
might go to 90. or even more, bnt il
made so little difference that you didn't
tice it. 1t was practically the same t.
V,Iti ~