5o6 TRA VELS OF A NA TURALIST 



escaped, springing right through the open noose. With 

 a quick jerk with the right hand in a direction upward 

 and over his head, he fixed the noose, and to give himself 

 greater power over the struggHng animal, he rapidly jerked 

 back his left hand behind the hip, and brought the weight 

 of his body to bear, and the main strain of the rope upon 

 his hip and side. Sometimes, though the lasso is still 

 thrown with the right hand, the right hand with the same 

 motion seizes the lasso again and is jerked back behind 

 the right hip. The deer now faces round, plants his fore- 

 feet in the snow, lowers his head, and struggles, pulling 

 with all his strength and swinging the head from 

 side to side. The lassoer now approaches hand over 

 hand, and when the deer is strong sometimes requires 

 assistance, which was often given by the Eussian owner, 

 who was also very active. Getting close up to the deer 

 a Samoyede seizes him by one horn, the left hand up 

 and the right down generally, and by knack or sheer 

 strength throws the deer on his side. The Kussian did 

 not appear to be up to this, and generally approached the 

 deer from the side, seized the feet, and shoved the deer 

 over. 



Once down the deer did not struggle much, and the 

 Samoyede actively sprang from the head and sat or knelt 

 upon its side, while the Eussian seized the fore and hind 

 legs, placed them across and as nearly parallel as possible, 

 and lashed them together with three-plaited strands of 

 bass-matting, which he carried slung in the belt of his 

 ' mixlitza.' The deer now either lay helpless or struggled 

 for a few seconds ; some succeeded in reaching a kneel- 

 ing position upon the free knee, and one even succeeded 

 in moving for some distance, owing, doubtless, to 

 the lashing having got loose. After reaching the kneel- 

 ing position they seem unwilling to go down on their 

 sides again, and remain kneeling for some length of time. 



