CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 117 



are easily transported. They are composed of a covering of skin stretched over a number of poles, 

 forming a frame, their lower ends resting on the ground and curved so that the upper ends unite, 

 giving the house the appearance of a large umbrella of from 25 to 50 feet in diameter by 12 or 15 

 feet high ; the whole is fastened together by leather thongs. Inside the houses are square sleep- 

 ing rooms, called by the Koraks pologs, from two to six in number, according to the number of 

 people in the band. These sleeping-rooms are made of deer-skin drawn over a frame and sus- 

 pended by thongs from the top of the house like an inverted house. They have no door, and are 

 entered by raising the edge and crawling under. They are almost entirely air-tight, and are 

 warmed and lighted by a bit of moss which is burned in oil in a vessel either of wood or stone. 



The space between the sleeping rooms and the walls of the house is used to store food, spare 

 garments, furs, aud in fact everything belonging to the family except the deer and sleds. The 

 deer are uever allowed to approach the houses near enough to smell the smoke, for which they 

 have a great aversion. The sleds are stored upon end against the outside of the house or some 

 convenient rock, to avoid the necessity of digging them out of the snow when required for use. 

 When the food for the deer becomes scarce the house is taken down, and with everything it con- 

 tains is packed upon sledges and drawn by the deer to the location decided upon, where it is 

 again put up, and the people feel as much at home as if they had never known another. The 

 wandering reindeer tribes are probably the only people on the face of the globe who have abso- 

 lutely no patriotism, no place which they regard as home, aud who have never said, " This is my 

 own, my native laud." 



But a small portion of the larger herds are used in sledges or as pack animals; ouly a few of 

 the males are used. These are selected when young and emasculated to make them perfectly 

 docile. In some of the smaller herds it is not unusual to find that nearly all of the males have 

 been subject to this operation, a few only being kept for breeding purposes. In a herd of about 

 two hundred and fifty seen by the writer on the Tchuktchi Peninsula, but two males remained 

 entire. 



The harness is a very simple affair, consisting of a stout collar, to which a strap is fastened at 

 the breast. This passes between the fore legs and under the belly, and is long enough to allow 

 the deer to be several feet from the sledge. They are harnessed single or in pairs. When in 

 pairs one of the antlers is cut from each animal to prevent their becoming entangled, and a rein 

 is attached to the remaining antler, which, however, appears to be less relied upon than words in 

 the guidance of the animal. The Siberiau deer sledge is a rough, clumsy affair, and as it is tied 

 together with thongs, it is constantly working loose and falling apart. Very different is it from 

 the broad-backed, graceful, and comfortable looking sled of the Laplander. 



The trained deer are allowed to graze with the rest of the herd ; their ears are split so that 

 when wanted they are easily recognized, and as they are very tame and gentle, they are easily 

 caught and harnessed. 



The reindeer is not domesticated by the Greenlanders. So rough and impassable is the 

 interior of that country that travel is confined to the sea-coast and performed either by water or 

 over the ice along the shore, according to the season, aud as traveling over hard ice is as difficult 

 to the deer as it would be to our own domestic cattle if not shod, they are useless under such 

 circumstances as beasts of burden. 



Parry, in his attempts to reach the North Pole by boats and sledges over the ice from 

 Spitzbergeu, tried to utilize the deer in this way. The following interesting reference to them is 

 found in his narrative of the cruise : 



In the afternoon (April 23, 1827) Lieutenant Crozier returned in the hoat from Alten and was followed the next 

 day by Mr. Woodfall, who brought eight reindeer for our use, together with a supply of moss for their provender. 

 As, however, the latter required a great deal of picking so as to render it tit to carry with us over the ice, and as it 

 was also necessary that we should be instructed in the manner of uiauagiug the deer, I determined on remaining a 

 day or two longer for these purposes. Nothing can be more beautiful than the training of the Lapland reindeer. 

 With a simple collar of skin round his neck, a single trace of the same material attached to the " polk," or sledgei 

 and passing between his legs, and one rein fastened like a halter about his neck, this intelligent and docile animal is 

 perfectly under command of an experienced driver and perforins astonishing journeys over the softest snow. When 

 the rein is thrown on the off side of the animal, it immediately sets off at full trot and stops shnrt the instant it is 

 thrown back to the near side. Shaking the rein over the back is the only whip that is required. In a short time 



