110 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
To the mountaineer the wild reindeer is of in- 
estimable value, its flesh, hide, antlers, marrow, fat, &c., 
all being employed in several branches of domestic 
economy. When dried in the wind, the flesh is often 
used as a substitute for bread. The learned but not 
very trustworthy bishop, Pontoppidan, speaks of a use to 
which the antlers are put :—* When the reindeer shed 
their antlers, and the new ones begin to appear, 
they are covered with a sort of skin, and are so soft 
that they can be cut with a knife like a sausage, and 
are considered a great delicacy. Hunters eat them raw 
for lack of provision when on the high fjelds.” ‘This is 
not very improbable (as at this period the antlers 
consist of a web of small blood-vessels and stringy 
fibres), especially when it is borne in mind that hunters 
will not unfrequently take a draught of the blood from 
the fresh killed animal in lack of better nourishment. 
But the following remark of the worthy prelate is not 
quite so easily to be swallowed. He says: ‘ There is 
a worm generated under the outer skin of the antlers, 
which it eats off when they have attained their full 
> 
size ;” and that ‘‘they have a peculiar hole in the 
eyelid to peep out of when they cannot hold their eyes 
open on account of the drifting snow; a proof,” adds 
his reverence, ‘‘ of the wise providence of the Creator.” 
Reindeer venison is an extremely wholesome and nu- 
tritious food. In flavour it very much resembles that 
