Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-08

and couple of bales o. ''senegrass."
done up in nets. the sedge which the
Laps stuff into their deerskin boots and
mitts. instead of socks. which they do
not wear at all. This was piled on the
shore and hauled over to st. Anthony next
day by dog teams, for the Laps decided
not to use the deer for any purpose until
they had recovered from the excitement
of landing and been assembled in one
herd.
A busy and interesting day was ended
by landing part of the remaining reindeer
moss on the ice. after which we all ad-
journed to St. Anthony with all the Lapps.
except one who stayed behind a while to
rustic up some of the stray animals.
AS the captain refused to risk his ship
any longer in the region of ice by going
TO Loisport to fulfill his contract and land
. the deer for the Harmsworth Company,
they had been landed with ours. with the
intention of driving them up the two hun
dred miles in March over the land, which
the Laps said was mere trifie. On our
way back the wind freshened, and soon
1t was blowing gale, as 1t had the pre-
vious night At s o'clock the Lapp who
was collecting the stray deer had not-yet
returned, and, as one of the man said, 1t
was wonderful dirty in on dem hills.
showing and pitch dark. so that one could
hardly see a thing: and as he was un-
familiar with the country we began to be
much worried for fear he should lose his
way, go on and on until exhausted, and
then sink down and freeze to death.
4 rescue party followed the path back
to the ship They found that good deal
of the ice around the ship had been blown
out. taking with it portion OF the
moss, and they could not get aboard.
They could get within shouting distance.
however, by jumping from one piece TO
another. and learned that the Lapp had
not returned to the ship.
They returned by another path, calling
CURED to us that the other Lapps did not
seem at all disturbed because the man
had not come back, and we asked them
about him. but they seemed to think that
he would be all right, even il he had to
sleep unsheltered. for they were accus-
toned to that sort of thing.
Next morning he turned up and report
ed twenty deer added to. the main
herd
He seemed to think nothing OF having
spent the night collecting deer. He had
been ten miles down the coast. and early
in the morning had stopped at fisher
mans house to get something to eat.
Collecting the Herd.
This man is one of the Lapps who was
hired by the American government to in
troduce dome site reindeer into Alaska and
train the Eskimos herders. None OF
the others have ever before left their ma
tive land, on the border between Norway
and Sweden. where they herd the deer on
the hills in winter and fish in the valleys
in summer. The Lapps were quartered
temporarily in a small house. i'll which
all their paraphernalia, was stored. Here
they stayed for week. unpacklng their
stuff and loading their polkas or sleds
with everything they needed in the coun-
try.
Every day some of the Lapps went out
to round up more deer, and tine main
herd gradually grew in size The deer
wera collected either by approaching the n
with the leader. whom they followed as
he was led toward the main herd; or, II
they refused to follow in this way the
whole herd was led to the stray deer land
the latter were absorbed.
b. the middle of the week the Laps
had assembled 2s5 deer. and the next
in one herd Needless to say. this re-
mafkable record of Drawing the voyage
and facing new conditions without the
loss of single deer pleased us exceed
ingly. -,
II was a great surprise. because with
the necessarily rough handling during the
landing, when men and deer were throWn
down and trampled upon: the change OF
the cold plunges of many of the deer who
fell through the ice; the numerous slight
accidents which In the importation o 1be ris 10
to those which swan to the island. put
swan back safely in spite Of the eX-
treme cold and the floating ice; and the
possibility Of the deer that strayed near
neighboring settlements being shot for
wild caribou-with all these dangers
and drawbacks the Laps and deer had
contended successfully. and we felt justly
proud and thankful.
The deer were kept near the shore this
side Of Cremeliere. between two komatik
paths. which was obviously an unsafe po-
sition on account of the dog teams which
would soon be passing daily. 1t was there
fore decided to move the herd further
the White Hills.
Moving I9to the Hills.
Mr. Lindsay went in to show the Laps
the land. taking guide and the inter-
prefer. At first they seemed dissatisfied,
and said that the deer could never live