Captain Brooke on the Economy of the Rein-deer, 31 



ner, which it certainly merited, I feel little doubt, that, instead 

 of the herd having been so unfortunately reduced to nothing, 

 its number would now have been trebled, and the success of the 

 undertaking fully established. 



Should a future trial ever be made, it would be desirable, as 

 the most likely means of rendering it efficient, to land the deer 

 directly upon the northern part of Scotland, where the country 

 is least inhabited, and possesses a wide, uninterrupted mountain 

 range, in the vicinity of the coast, that, if necessary, the deer 

 might be driven during the summer to the sea side. It is also 

 a circumstance of the greatest importance, though it has never 

 yet, I believe, been attended to, that Laplanders should them- 

 selves accompany the deer, and have the personal care of them 

 at all times, instead of this office being entrusted to persons un- 

 acquainted with the nature and habits of the animal, as well as 

 its diseases. The experiment should be upon a scale sufficient- 

 ly large to guard against the casualties that might occur in 

 bringing the deer over, as well as subsequent accidents and con- 

 tingencies. It has been sien that they will remain healthy in a 

 state of confinement ; it would, therefore, be advisable that one- 

 half of the number brought over should be kept up, that they 

 might replace the others from time to time, according to circum- 

 stances, and be turned out when their numbers became so strong 

 as to leave no cause for apprehension. It would also be desir- 

 able, that the other half, on being turned out on the mountains, 

 should be kept in two separate herds, each under the care of a 

 Laplander, who, without intermixing the deer, might be suffi- 

 ciently near to assist each other, and have one tent common to 

 both. This farther division would guard against any sudden 

 accident, and the spreading of any contagious disease, that 

 might threaten the safety of the deer ; and one part might thus 

 fill up the deficiencies of the other. 



Should the experiment fail, after it has been tried in the man- 

 ner now recommended, it m.ight, with the greatest confidence, be 

 asserted that the rein-deer will not exist in the climate of Scot- 

 land : though the trials hitherto made, however decisive they 

 may appear to some, will, I am persuaded, if carefully looked 

 into, be found not sufficiently conclusive to warrant an absolute 

 decision as to the fact. 



