THE REIN-DEER. 57 



and fondled on him, in the same manner as the most domestic 

 animal would have done, and never offered to stray from the 

 tents. He did not, however, possess these animals long ; for 

 he one day crossed a deep bay, in one of the lakes, in order to 

 save a very circuitous route along its bank, and expected the 

 creatures would as usual follow him round ; but, unfortunately, 

 at night, they did not arrive ; and as the howling of wolves was 

 heard, in the quarter where they were, it is supposed they had 

 been devoured by them, for they were never afterwards seen. 



THE REIN-DEER 



Must be considered as an animal which merits, in the highest 

 degree, the attention of the naturalist, as it exhibits an evident 

 and most striking instance of the beneficence of that Being, 

 whose omnipotent fiat called all creatures into existence. This 

 extraordinary quadruped is a native of the icy regions of the 

 north, where, by a wise and bountiful regulation of Providence, 

 which diffuses the blessings of creation, in some degree, over 

 every part of the habitable world, it exists for the support and 

 comfort of a race of men, who, inhabiting a country where the 

 beauties of Nature are unknown, and dreary sterility ever reigns, 

 would find it impossible to subsist among their frozen lakes and 

 snowy mountains, without the advantages which they derive front 

 this inestimable domesticated animal. In temperate regions, 

 the unbounded liberality of Nature furnishes a profusion of con- 

 veniences and comforts, and a variety of supplies for almost 

 every want ; but to the Laplander, in his hyperborean abode, 

 the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the goat, are all unknown. 

 The rein-deer, however, supplies the place of all these useful 

 animals. From this single quadruped, the Laplanders, and other 

 inhabitants of these frozen regions, derive all those comforts 

 that can render existence supportable in that inhospitable climate. 

 It' supplies the place of the horse, in conveying them over tracts 

 that would otherwise be impassable ; that of the cow, in afford- 

 ing them milk ; and that of the sheep, in clothing them, not with 

 its fleece, but with its skin : its very sinews supply them with 

 thread, and there is scarcely any part of this animal that is not, 

 in some degree, conducive to their comfortable existence. 



The rein-deer, in Lapland, are of two kinds the wild and the 

 tame ; and the former being the strongest and most hardy, the 

 latter are frequently turned into the woods, in order to produce 

 a mixed breed ; which is generally preferred, especially for 

 drawing the sledge, to which they are trained at an early age. 

 They are yoked by a collar, from which a trace passes under 

 the belly to the fore-part of the vehicle. These carriages are 

 extremely light, and covered at the bottom with a rein-deer's 



