104 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [chap. 



then pastured in company with wild reindeer, and were, Kke 

 them, very fat. It is remarkable that the reindeer, notwith- 

 standing the devastating pursuit to which it is exposed on 

 Spitzbergen/ is found there in much larger numbers than on 

 North Novaya Zemlya or the Taimur peninsula, where it is 

 almost protected from the attacks of the hunter. Even on the 

 low-ljdng part of South Novaya Zemlya, the reindeer, notwith- 

 standing the abundance of the summer pasture, is so rare that, 

 when one lands there, any reindeer-hunting is scarcely to be 

 counted on. It first occurs in any considerable numbers farther 

 to the north, on both sides of Matotschkin Schar. 



It deserves to be mentioned here that three hundred years 

 ago, when the north part of Novaya Zemlya was for the 

 first time visited by man, reindeer do not appear to have 

 been more numerous there than now. In the narrative of 

 Barents' third voyage (De Veer, Diarium Nauticum, 21st 

 June, 1.596) it is expressly stated : " Here it may be remarked 

 that, although the land, which we consider as Groenland (the 

 present Spitzbergen), lies under and over the 80th degree of 

 latitude, there cjrow there abundant leaves and grass, and 

 there are found there such animals as eat grass, as reindeer, 

 while on the other hand, on Novaya Zemlya, under the 76th 

 degree of latitude, there are neither leaves nor grass nor any 

 grass-eating animal." After this, however, traces of reins were 

 found even at the winter station ; a bear, for instance, was 

 killed that had devoured a reindeer. 



On Spitzbergen the reindeer have been considerably diminished 

 in numbers by the hunting, first of the Dutch and English, 

 and afterwards of the Russians and Norwegians. In the north- 

 western pail, of the island, where the Dutch had their train-boiling 

 establishments, the animal has been completely extirpated.^ 



1 The liunters from Tromsoe brought home, in 1868, 996 ; in 18G9, 975 ; 

 nnd in 1870, 837 reindeer. When to this we add the great number of 

 reindeer which are shot in spring and are not included in these calculations, 

 and when we consider that the number of walrus-hunting vessels which 

 :'re fitted out from Tromsoe is less than that of those which go out from 

 H immerfest, and that the shooting of reindeer on Spitzbergen is also 

 carried on by hunters from other towns, and by tourists, we must suppose 

 that at least 3,000 reindeer have been killed during each of those years. 

 Formerly reindeer stalking was yet more productive, but since 1370 the 

 number killed has considerably diminished. 



- When Spitzbergen was first mapped, a great number of places were 

 named after reindeer, which shows that the reindeer was found there in 

 large numbers, and now just at tliese places it is completely absent. On 

 the other hand, the Dutch and English explorers during the sixteenth 

 century saw no reindeer on Novaya Zemlya. During the Swedish expedi- 

 tion of 187.5 no reindeer were seen on the west coast of this island south of 

 K:irniakul Bay, while a number were shot at Besimannaja Bay and Matot- 

 schkin. Schar. When some of the companions of the well-known walrus- 



