CLASS MAMMALIA. 



227 



summer, it subsists upon Arctic shrubs, and in winter, 

 upon moss, which it detects under the snow by its keen 

 smell, and digs up with the palmated tips of its antlers.* 



FIG. 392. 



Al' els inal'cfiis. Moose. ( 5 'o.) 



The Moose, once abundant in the northern parts of 

 North America, is now becoming extinct. Its broad, 

 palmated horns, weighing fifty to sixty pounds, are used 

 in bending down boughs and plowing up the snow. The 

 tender branches of small trees are often obtained by the 



* Harnessed to a sledge, with only a collar and a trace passing between its 

 legs, and guided by a single rein attached to its neck, the Reindeer easily draws 

 its master over the snow a hundred miles a day. It has been known to run 

 nearly 19 miles in an hour and 150 in 19 hours. To the Laplander, it is at once 

 horse, cow, and sheep. Its horns supply tools ; its hide and hair, clothing ; and 

 its flesh and milk, food. Without it Lapland would be uninhabitable. The 

 inhabitants reckon their wealth by their reindeer, as the Arabs do by their 

 camels. A rich Laplander owns one thousand or more. 



