118 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



after setting off they appear to be gasping for breath as if quite exhausted, but if not driven too fast at first they 

 soon get over this and then go on without difficulty. 



Parry further says that the amount of moss required for each deer was about four pounds, 

 and that no water was necessary as long as the deer could get snow, which they like to eat as 

 they go along. A snow-bank, or even the solid ice, is to them a comfortable bed. 



With such qualifications [he says] it may well be imagined how useful these animals seem likely to prove to us. 

 and the more we became accustomed, and I may say attached, to them the more painful became tne idea of the 

 necessity which was likely to exist of ultimately having recourse to them as provisions for ourselves. 



Upon embarking on his venturesome voyage Parry discovered that owing to the rough nature 

 of the ice over which he was compelled to travel, his reindeer would be useless, and although he 

 makes no further mention of them it is presumable that they met the fate which he predicted for 

 them. 



Singularly enough the natives of Northern Alaska do not domesticate the reindeer, although 

 they have abundant opportunities to capture the young. This appears the more remarkable when 

 we consider that they are yearly in communication with the reindeer people of Siberia, and 

 fully realize the superiority of the skin of the domestic animal for garments, often crossing 

 Bering Strait and making long and dangerous journeys along the coast and islands to secure 

 them, and paying for them many times the value of the skin of the wild deer. 



The Innuits also make long journeys iu their own laud in search of game and for the purpose 

 of trading, using sledges drawn by dogs, which must be fed daily, while with deer they could make 

 longer distance, carry larger loads, and, above all, it would not be necessary to transport food for 

 their animals, as the deer could obtain its own. The milk of the deer is used by the Laplanders 

 but the amount obtained is small, seldom exceeding one pint at a milking. Catou says the female 

 deer dislikes greatly to be milked, and will never submit except by actual force. It is necessary 

 to tie her while it is being done. It is probably for this reason that the reindeer people of Siberia, 

 with possibly few exceptions, make uo use of the milk. 



The utmost care is observed by them to avoid alarming or annoying the deer in any way. 

 Dogs are never allowed to approach the herds, although, as they are in reality only wolves, with 

 all their savage instincts, the greatest vigilance is necessary to keep them away. 



The reindeer men are also much averse to allowing strangers to approach their herds, and 

 although they do not positively refuse, they try by every means in their power, including a vast 

 amount of lying, to dissuade one from going near them. They have a superstitious dread of 

 selling live deer, while dead ones are sold for a trifle. Efforts to purchase the live ones are 

 invariably met with a shake of the head, and the assurance that the loss of the rest of the herd 

 would be sure to follow; and numerous instances are cited where the too-yielding natives have 

 been persuaded by the arguments of the whites, backed by presents of whisky, tobacco, beads, 

 &c, to prove recreant to the traditions of their fathers, and by selliug a few live deer have entailed 

 endless bad luck upon their band, lost their herds, and had to settle upon the sea-shore and 

 become fishermen, which to the mind of the proud deermau is the worst that could befall them. 

 The killing of deer, either for their own food or for sale, is conducted very quietly and with certain 

 ceremonies, in order to avoid giving fright to the deer or offense to the god which presides over 

 them. The deer to be killed are selected by the owner of the herd, but the slaughtering is done 

 by the younger men. Upon making a selection the old man, without pointing or even looking in 

 the direction of the doomed animal, carefully describes him and his location in the herd to the 

 younger men, one of whom enters the herd, and approaching the deer designated (which is always 

 a male; the females are not killed for food) seizes him gently by the antlers and leads him away 

 from the herd a short distance ; then, after facing to the four poiuts of the compass and making 

 many gestures which probably signify something, but to the uninitiated appear exceedingly ridic- 

 ulous, he steps directly in front of the deer, seizes an antler in each hand and draws his head so 

 close that surrouudiug objects cannot be seen. An assistant approaches with a knife, which he 

 also points iu the direction of the four points of the compass and flourishes iu a mysterious 

 manner, after which he plunges it into the deer's heart, holding the knife iu the wound until life 

 is extinct to prevent the escape of the blood. 



The task of skinning the deer is always allotted to the women ; they also tan the hides and 



