302 THE REINDEER. 



Hardi, showed that, though his expression is a little ambi- 

 guous, he probably intended to say exactty the reverse, his 

 words being 



" J'en ay veu en ISTourvegne et Xuedene et en ha oultre 

 mer, mes en Eomain pays en ay je peu veu."* 



Eemains of the reindeer have been found in Scotland in 

 beds of marl and till, and also, though very rarely, in peat.-)- 

 Hibbert,^ Brandt, Boyd Dawkins, J. A. Smith, and other 

 good authorities, consider that it survived in the extreme 

 north clown to the twelfth century ; relying on the statement 

 of Torfceus, that the Norwegians used to make incursions from 

 the Orkneys into Caithness for the purpose of hunting rein- 

 deer (hreina) and other game.|| 



While, however, fully admitting the high authority of 

 Torfseus, I cannot regard a casual statement of this charac- 

 ter as conclusively deciding the question, and I may add that 

 Sir G. Dasent, who is so great an authority on all questions 

 connected with Scandinavian literature, is convinced that the 

 reindeer was extinct in Scotland at the period in question. 

 It may also be remarked that several attempts which have been 

 made to introduce the reindeer into Scotland have completely 

 failed, the animals dying without any very apparent reason, 

 while, on the contrary, in Iceland they have become numerous. 

 I admit that these experiments are far from conclusive ; but, 

 on the other hand, in Scandinavia the deer are said to be 

 larger in the northern districts than in the southern, while the 

 Spitzbergen specimens are the finest of all. 



If, indeed, Torfseus had distinctly stated that the reindeer 

 existed in northern Scotland during the twelfth century, the 

 state of the case would have been very different ; the passage 



* Recherches sur les Ossements Edinburgh Journal of Sci., 



Fossiles, vol. vi. p. 125. 1831. 



f See Dawkins, Popular Science Zoogeogr. und Palaeont. Bei- 



Review, Jan. 1868. Smith, Proc. trage, 1867, pp. 62, 256. 



Soc. Ant. Scot., 1869, p. 186. || Keram Orcadensium His. i. 36. 



