Reindeer, — Barren Ground Caribou^ 73 



broad, flat, concave beneath, and adapted for dig-g'iug ia the snow. The 

 tail is of moderate length, the hair in winter being long and coarse, in sum- 

 mer short and smooth. The general colour is greyish brown, with the belly, 

 insides ft" legs, and under part of the neck white. The caribou is a true 

 reindeer, and in the descriptions given by various authors, it is usually spo- 

 ken of as so closely allied to the European species Tarandus furcifer, that 

 tlie two cannot be well separated. The more recent works, however, shew 

 that not only are the American reindeer distinct from those of the old 

 world, but that upon this continent we have two species which differ greatly 

 in their size — occupy different regions, and when they meet on common 

 ground do not commingle or associate with each other. The species of the 

 two continents are the representatives of each other, or the one occupies the 

 same place in the general economy of nature in one part of tbe world that 

 the other does in another quarter, and yet they are distinct species. 



Sir John Richardson, the celebrated explorer of the northern portion 

 of America, says, in his work upon the animals of the country . — • 



" In the month of July, the Caribou sheds its winter covering, and 

 acquires a short coat of hair, of a colour composed of clove brown, mingled 

 with deep reddish and yellowish-brown, the under surface of the neck, the 

 belly, and the inner sides of the extremities, remaining white in all seasons. 

 The hair at first is fine and flexible, but as it lengthens it increases gradually 

 in diameter at its roots, becoming at the same time white, soft, compressible, 

 and brittle, like the hair of the moose deer. In the course of the winter the 

 thickness of the hairs at their roots becomes so great that they are exceed- 

 ingly close, and no longer lie down smoothly, but stand erect, and they are 

 then so soft and tender below, that the flexible coloured points are easily 

 rubbed off, and the fur appears white, especially on the flanks. This occurs 

 in a smaller degree on the back ; and on the under parts, the hair, although 

 it acquires length, remains more flexible and slender at its roots, and is con- 

 sequently not so subject to break. Towards the spring, when the Deer are 

 tormented by the larvae of the gad-fly making their way through the skin, 

 they rub themselves against stones and rocks until all the colored tops of the 

 hair are worn off, and their fur appears to be entirely of a soiled white co- 

 lour. 



'' The closeness of the hair of the Caribou, and the lightness of its skin, 

 when properly dressed, render it the most appropriate article for winter 

 clothing in the high latitudes. The skins of the young Deer make the best 

 dresses, and they should be killed for that purpose in the month of August 

 or September, as after the latter date the hair becomes too long and brittle. 

 The prime parts of eight or ten Deer-skins make a complete suit of clothing 

 for a grown person, which is so impervious to the cold that, with the addi- 

 tion of a blanket of the same material, any one so clothed may bivouack on 

 the snow with safety, and even with comfort, in the most intense cold of an 

 Arctic winter's night. 



" The Barren ground Caribou, which resort to the coast of the Arctic 

 Bea in summer, retii-e in winter to the woods lying between the sixty-third 



