92 REPORT ON INTRODUCTION OF 



Some attention is paid in this part of Siberia to dairy products. Milk of reindeer 

 is said to be rich, but much inferior to cow's milk. The does give only a teacupful 

 each night, but regularity in milking would doubtless increase the flow. The'flesh in 

 early fall is better flavored than that of the American red deer, and but little inferior 

 to the best beef. 



In this region the tame deer are spotted and piebald, of a uniform reddish brown 

 and drab. Wild ones are seal brown generally. Some are spotted with white, and 

 others are almost white. In Lapland, Mr. Vincent tells us, reindeer are of a dark 

 slate color (in August) with white breasts and tails; a few are brown and some 

 white. They stand only about 3 feet high, and are 4 or 5 feet in length; but the 

 antlers are often 4 feet long. Fawns have spike horns. Traiued deer are gentle 

 except iu fall and winter, when they frequently will turn iu harness and attack the 

 occupants of sleds (pulkhas), in which case the rider simply turns the sled over ami 

 gets under it. When the deer has vented its rage, it turns it upright again and 

 goes on as if nothing had happened. The cows, or does, give a half pint at a milking. 

 Milk tastes like our butter; the butter tastes like suet; and the cheese is oily and 

 strong. Mountain venison is especially tender and delicious, and the tongues good. 



The two constitute important commodities in trade. Laplanders drive their deer 

 in summer to the hills near the coast to escape gadflies, and the like, being then also 

 within the reach of traders. In winter, on the interior plains, the moss is more 

 abundant and the animals are safe from beasts of pre} 7 . Two hundred deer are 

 enough to support a family of Lapps. Rich Lapps own 5,000 apiece. A deer is 

 worth $7. Deer dig the moss with their brow antlers, feet, and nose. Four pounds 

 of moss per day are required for an animal on a journey. On this slim allowance they 

 will make 8 or 10 miles an hour right along. An extreme speed of 20 miles an hour 

 is of record. In 1099 a reindeer, under stress of a Government exigency, accom- 

 plished 800 miles in two days, a feat which killed the animal; but his portrait hangs 

 in the summer pa. ice near Stockholm, Sweden. 



In Norland the reindeer are of a dun color, with occasionally a white one. When 

 lying down in large herds the congregation of antlers looks like winter underbrush 

 in a forest. Iu Norway wild reindeer generally inhabit circumjacent islands and 

 even the mainland. Domesticated deer are smaller than wild ones. Their life is 

 but fifteen years; the wild ones, thirty. They draw 250 pounds and carry 130. 

 Their range is from southern Norway to the North Cape. 



Reindeer moss may be utilized for the table and is not unpalatable when boiled 

 with reindeer milk. Its nutritive properties are lichenin and starch. It is more 

 abundant in Sweden than in Norway, but flourishes only on elevated regions. All 

 the Siherian tribes make spoons from the horns of the reindeer. The Koraks use 

 the main antlers for the arches of sled frames. 



