REID 



4964 



REINDEER 



her of the House of Commons. Thereafter he 

 served without interruption, rising steadily in 

 influence, until his appointment as Minister 

 of Customs in 1911. 



REID, [THOMAS] M\YM: (1818-1883), a 

 British writer of stories of adventure. He was 

 born at Ballyroney. County Down. Ireland, and 

 for the Presbyterian ministry, in 

 which his fatl rvirip. The boy's crav- 



ing for novel experiences, however, caused him 

 to leave home for the United States, where 

 he traveled extensively and as hunter and 

 trader became acquainted with Indian life. In 

 1846 he took part in the Mexican War. In 

 his travels and adventures he acquired a store 

 of exciting incidents which, after his return 

 to Europe, he used in writing his popular sto- 

 ries. He made a second visit to America and 

 attempted unsuccessfully to establish in New 

 York the Onward Magazine. His novels in- 

 clude The Rifle Rangers, Scalp Hunters, The 

 Boy Tar, The War Trail, White Chief and 

 The Castaways, all of which have been ex- 

 tremely popular with boys. 



REID, WHITELAW (1837-1912), a man who 

 held a high position in American journalism 

 and the most honored post in American diplo- 

 matic service. Born in Xenia, Ohio, the son of 

 poor parents, he was graduated from Miami 

 University at the age of nineteen and for a 

 time taught school. His journalistic career be- 

 gan with the purchase of the Xenia News, 

 which he edited for three years. When the 

 War of Secession began Reid acted as war cor- 

 respondent for the Cincinnati Gazette, and was 

 later sent to Washington as correspondent for 

 the same paper. In 1868 he took the position 

 of chief editorial writer for the New York 

 Tribune, and in 1872 acquired control of the 

 paper, of which he was part owner when he 

 died. With the erection of the Tribune Build- 

 ing in 1873, he began the tall-building move- 

 ment in New York. 



From 1889 to 1892, under President Harrison, 

 Reid served as United States minister to 

 France, and at the expiration of his term was 

 the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Vice- 

 President of the United States. He went as 

 special United States ambassador to Queen 

 Victoria's Diamond Jubilee and to the corona- 

 tion of Edward VII, and was a member of the 

 Peace Commission at Paris in 1898. In 1905 

 President Roosevelt appointed him United 

 States ambassador to England, a position which 

 he held until his death. England honored him 

 with a state funeral in Westminster Abbey, and 



his body was conveyed to America in a British 

 warship. Reid received honorary degrees from 

 leading American and English colleges. Nota- 

 ble among his numerous publications is his 

 Ohio in the War, an exceedingly valuable state 

 history of the War of Secession. 



REIGN, ranc, OF TERROR, a period of about 

 fifteen months during the French Revolution. 

 It is discussed under the heading FRENCH REVO- 

 LUTION. 



REINDEER, ranc' deer, one of the most 

 valuable animals to man in the Arctic regions. 

 In ages past reindeer ranged over Europe and 

 Asia, but to-day they are found only in the 

 extreme northern parts of those two continents. 

 The animal has a thick body, short legs and 

 broad feet that carry it easily over the snow. 

 The antlers, which are common to both sexes, 

 are large and branched and are slightly flat- 

 tened at the ends. The wild reindeer lives 

 on moss and seaweed, migrating inland during 

 the short summer season to browse on such 

 scanty vegetation as it can find, and ranging 

 back towards the seashore again in winter. 



If it were not for the reindeer the people of 

 Lapland would have no means of transporta- 

 tion in their cold and barren country. In 

 these animals they have steeds that can draw 

 their sledges over the snow at the rate of 

 twelve to fifteen miles an hour. They also 

 have endurance as well as swiftness, for they 

 can travel with a load of from 250 to 300 

 pounds for hours at a time. To the lowland 

 Laplanders the reindeer is their horse, sheep 

 and cow, all in one. These animals furnish 

 the people with clothing and food, and if they 

 live in tents, with shelter. " In the summer rein- 

 deer meat is cured, and great quantities of 

 cheese are made from the surplus milk and 

 stored for use through the long winter. 



The reindeer is coming to be of as much 

 importance to the Eskimos of Alaska as it is 

 to the Laplanders. When the white settlers 

 went into Alaska and killed large numbers of 

 the wild animals, particularly the moose and 

 caribou, the Eskimos were threatened with 

 starvation. The United States government, 

 however, working through the Bureau of Edu- 

 cation, began importing reindeer from Siberia 

 in 1892. The government brought in Lapps, 

 too, to show the Indians how to care for the 

 animals. In 1916 the original 1,200 reindeer 

 which had been imported from time to time 

 had increased to 64,000 head, valued at about 

 $1,600,000. Domestic reindeer increase in num- 

 bers much more rapidly than wild deer because 



