of the dog eliminating the reindeer; and the professed dog
lover, indignant at the opprobrious term applied to a whole race of
dogs, may be disposed to echo Lady Macbeth's wish: "May good digestion
wait on appetite."

So far as substituting another draught animal for the dog is concerned,
if the whole equine tribe, even down to Manchurian ponies should for
some strange reason be out of the question, the Canadian Government had
better import the polar ox or the yak. It is only amongst a nomadic
people, whose main quest is pasturage, that the reindeer is a
satisfactory draught animal. When introduced into Alaska there was
doubtless expectation that he would be generally useful in this
capacity. For a while certain mail-routes on the Seward Peninsula were
served by him, and here and there a deluded prospector put his
grub-stake on a reindeer sled. It is safe to say that no reindeer are so
employed to-day. They were soon abandoned on the mail trails, and the
prospector, after one season's experience, slaughtered his reindeer and
traded its meat and hide for a couple of dogs.

Consider that the reindeer feeds upon one thing alone, the moss that is
named after him, and that while this moss is very widely distributed
indeed, throughout Alaska, it is not found at all in the river valleys
or the forests, but only upon the treeless hills at considerable
elevation. Now the rivers are the highways. It is on their frozen
surface, or on "portage" trails through the woods, that the greater part
of all travelling is done and, in particular, that established routes of
regular communication are maintained. To leave the trail after a day's
journey, to wander miles into the hills, to herd the deer while they
browse from slope to slope, digging the snow away in search of their
provender, is wholly incompatible with any sustained or regular travel.
The reindeer is a timid and almost defenceless creature. Wolves and
lynxes prey upon him. One lynx is thought to have killed upward of
twenty head in one season out of the herd that was stationed at Tanana,
leaping upon the backs of the creatures, cutting their throats, sucking
their blood, and riding them until they dropped and died. A few dogs
will soon work havoc in a herd. So the reindeer must be constantly
protected and at the same time must have range over a considerable scope
of country. The care of reindeer is a business in itself, not a mere
detail of the business of transportation or tr