114 OEUISB OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



most northern point of the continent of Asia, and on the Seven Islands, which are the northernmost 

 islands of the Old World. It inhabits the northern part of Nova Zembla, and has been seen on King- 

 Coil's Land, east of Spitzbergen, and on the north coast of Northeast Laud, and also upon Caslon's, 

 Parry's, Phipps's, and other islands lying still farther north. Notwithstanding the high latitude of 

 these places and consequent extreme cold and almost constant snow and ice, the hardy reindeer finds 

 food and thrives. Barentz says: "Although Spitzbergen lies under and over the eightieth degree of 

 latitude, there are to be found deer and abundant leaves and grasses there." Upon that island 

 alone the annual slaughter of reindeer formerly amounted to fully three, thousand. A party of Cos- 

 sacks who passed six years there are said to have killed two hundred and fifty deer without the 

 aid of guns, so plentiful were they. "Whether the vast numbers yearly killed by hunters exceed 

 the natural increase, and their ranks have been diminished, is not known. It is certain, however, 

 that great herds of them stdl exist, both in the wild and in the domesticated state. These herds 

 vary in size according to locality. On the islands north of the American continent they are small, 

 seldom exceeding two or three hundred, and usually not even so many, while on the continents 

 they r run up into the thousands. 



Among the Koraks and other wandering tribes of Kamtchatka the herds often number from a 

 thousand to four thousand and even eight thousand animals. But among the Tchuktchis inhab- 

 iting the shores of the Arctic Ocean and Bering Strait the herds seldom exceed five hundred, 

 although herds owned by interior bands of the same tribe are much larger. 



There are at least two varieties of reindeer on the American continent, the caribou, a wood- 

 land deer, and the barren-ground deer. The latter is the more numerous, and inhabits the barren, 

 desolate lands within or near the Arctic circle, while the former inhabits the wooded regions 

 farther south. These varieties differ in size, the caribou being the larger ; they also differ in the 

 shape of the antlers, those of the caribou being more palmated. In color they differ but little, each 

 being dark brown in summer, but much lighter in winter. In the domestic deer of Northern 

 Siberia there is not this uniformity of color; they are found in many colors— white, the different 

 shades of brown, and occasionally, though rarely, black ; many are beautifully spotted with pure 

 white and a dark shade almost black, the outlines of the colors sharply defined, as though laid 

 on with a brush. According to J. D. Caton, who made a study of the reindeer while traveling in 

 northern lands, this is not true of the deer of Norway and Lapland. He says none were spotted, as 

 we see our cattle spotted, with well-defined margins to the different colors, but the colors were 

 coufiuent, so that portions would be gray or roan. These animals were undoubtedly, when in their 

 wild state, of the same uniform color as the wild deer now inhabiting those regions, and the change 

 is the result of their domestication. These facts may have a bearing upon the relative lengths of 

 time they may have been subject to the control of man in the two hemispheres. The young of 

 neither wild nor tame reindeer have the peculiar spots of the fawns of the red deer. They change 

 with the seasons, as do the older ones, not only in color, but in the texture of the hair, which in 

 summer is short and flue, while in winter it is coarse and thick, and very brittle. This brittleness 

 of the hair of the reindeer has been attributed to the amount of starchy matter contained in the 

 food upon which it subsists. 



The antlers are long, branching, and slightly palmated, and, contrary to the otherwise inva- 

 riable rule among antlered animals, they are present in the female, and are shed and renewed every 

 year like those of the males; they are smaller, however, and less branched. This is true of the 

 reindeer, wherever found, and is one of its distinguishing characteristics. When the antlers first 

 appear they are covered with a short fine hair, commonly called the velvet, which remains until 

 they attain their full growth, when the velvet is shed, and later the antlers themselves. 



The process of shedding the velvet, although probably painless, presents a most sauguiuary 

 appearance, as it hangs in long bleeding shreds, often covering the entire face and obstructing the 

 sight, causing the deer to keep up a continual shaking of the head. 



Fighting among themselves is usually the immediate cause of the shedding of the velvet and 

 also of the shedding of the antlers, which occurs in early spring. The broken antlers frequently 

 seen among them are doubtless due to the same cause. As fighting is much less frequent as weil 

 as ferocious among the females, they do not shed their antlers until later, usually in May. The 

 young are brought forth about the same time. Then the females are found separated from the 



