116 CRUISE OF STEAMER COR WIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



would soon become extinct. There is no doubt that the reindeer can and do eat various kinds of 

 leaves and grasses and young sprouts of willow, alder, and dwarf birches. When brought to lower 

 latitudes they browse like others of their class ; yet a certain amount of lichen food is necessary to 

 them. When confined in zoological gardens they are fed each day with moss brought from the 

 north for them, and they do not continue healthy without it. Owing to the great length of time 

 required for this food to digest after being eaten, the deer is able to abstain from food for several 

 days together without feeling hunger, and on this account the owners, when traveling with their 

 herds or in sledges drawn by deer, can make long distances without stopping. 



In the Arctic regions there are but two seasons, winter and summer. These follow each 

 other so closely that spring and autumn may be omitted from the calendar. Scarcely is the snow 

 off from the ground when the flowers spring up and the air is filled with their fragrance, and with 

 the songs of birds and the hum of insects. This lasts but a few weeks, when winter returns with 

 its snow-laden gales, and spreads its mantle over all. In this short time, however, nature has 

 done its work ; plants have sprung out of the ground, and put forth their blossoms, their seeds 

 have been scattered over the tundras by the summer breezes to perpetuate their kind, and the 

 parent stalk has begun to decay. Not so the hardy lichen and fungus of the order Ascomycetes, 

 reproduced by cellular union within itself, subsisting upon and nourished by the lower orders of 

 Alga; ; it does not wither and decay, but retains its nutritious juices throughout the long cold 

 winter, furnishing food for the reindeer when there is absolutely nothing else to sustain life. The 

 wonderful instinct of the deer teaches them to search beneath the snow for food, which is often 

 covered to a depth of several feet. This small, dull looking plant, which hardly raises its head 

 above the frozen soil of this region of ice and snow, occupies a prominent position in the economy 

 of nature. 



The domesticated reindeer forms almost the only subsistence of many of the natives of Kamt. 

 chatka and Siberia. As far back as our knowledge goes, and probably for hundreds, perhaps 

 thousands, of years earlier, these animals have been subject to the control of man. 



Although they become very tame and apparently fond of their master, they retain their timid 

 nature and regard strangers with suspicion. The large herds owned by these people and the 

 quantity of food required by them necessitates constaut changes from place to place in search of 

 fresh pastures. The owners and their families, and, indeed, all their earthly possessions, must be 

 moved also. Years of this kind of life makes roving second nature, and the term "wandering 

 tribes " is fitly applied to them. The mossy plains of Siberia, over which these people roam with 

 their herds, are often thousands of feet above the level of the sea, swept at all times by cold winds 

 and clouds of rain and snow, and have a winter temperature many degrees below zero. It appears 

 almost impossible for human beings to exist and endure exposure to such intense cold. Yet we 

 are assured by George Kennan, in his "Tent Life in Siberia," that these reindeer people spend 

 night after night watching their herds, with no other protection than a little hut built of snow 

 or a few branches of trailing pine. There they wait and watch throughout the long cold hours of 

 the winter night, sleepless and vigilant, armed only with knife and spear, listening for the sound 

 of wolves and bears, and watching for a gleam of their terrible eyes. Many a fierce fight they 

 have and many a scar they carry, bearing testimony to their courage and the ferocity of their 

 foes. But their lives depend upon the safety of their herds, for, in return for the hardships en- 

 dured by the men on their account, the reindeer furnish their owners with food, clothing, and 

 shelter, and all the necessities of life. The flesh, blood, and entrails are eaten, the skin makes the 

 garments, beds, and tents. The skin of the leg, which is covered with fine short hair, makes the 

 boots. From the antlers are made many of their implements, drill bows for lighting fires, knife 

 handles, &c. The sinews of the deer make the native thread, and a most excellent thread it is. 



The bones, soaked in oil, are burned for fuel, and in addition to all this, the deer furnishes 

 his master with the means of transportation, and indeed to a large extent assists in forming the 

 character of the man. This nomadic life, constant vigilance and exposure to hardship and danger, 

 have combined to make the wandering deerman of Siberia, in strength, courage, and endurance, 

 second to no human being. With his herd and a desolate plain he knows no master and no law, 

 and has no want unsupplied. The houses of these people are made also to conform to their 

 migratory habits, being so constructed that they can be taken down and put up again at will, and 



