ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 481 



tioned as an indirect reason, that the polar wolf does not occur in Spits- 

 bergen. . . . 



Extensive hunting of the reindeer during recent years has driven it 

 from the easily accessible /west coast of Spitsbergen. On the other hand, it 

 is still, according to Hoel (1916), abundant on the north coast (west of Wood 

 Bay and eastward), on the east side of the main island, as well as in Barents 

 Land and Edge 0y. 



At this point Wollebaek (1926, pp. 53-55) quotes at length from 

 a manuscript of Hoel's, dated 1921: 



Until 50 or 60 years ago the reindeer was distributed over the whole of 

 Spitsbergen. To the end of last century the Spitsbergen reindeer was 

 hunted chiefly by sealers, who occasionally went ashore and also by hunting 

 expeditions wintering there. . . . Hunting took place in summer, and 

 the hunters had to carry the reindeer on their backs to the coast, which 

 in itself limited their invasion inland. 



Reindeer-hunting has lately, however, completely changed as the wintering 

 Arctic hunters have added polar-sledges and dogs to their equipment, and 

 by these means of transport they can cover almost unlimited distances and 

 search out and kill reindeer in their most secluded places of refuge. Further- 

 more, on account of shortage of meat and the high prices ruling in Norway 

 during the war, sealing vessels have in increasing numbers visited the coasts 

 of Spitsbergen, where they have killed reindeer in hundreds, partly for their 

 own requirements and partly for sale in Norway. 



In addition, there is the growing exploitation of Spitsbergen's coal deposits 

 and the resultant increase of population just in the best reindeer district, 

 between Isfjorden and Bellsund. . . . These [mining] companies keep also 

 dogs and polar-sledges, with which they can make extensive hunting expedi- 

 tions and load up on one sledge 8-10 reindeer. Some of these companies 

 have spared the reindeer as much as possible, whilst other[s] have hunted 

 extensively. . . . 



Statistics for the last few years show that the Spitsbergen reindeer is 

 taxed too heavily. At the Troms0 Custom House the following numbers of 

 Reindeer were registered during the years 1915-1925: 



1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 

 159 499 535 993 268 293 61 115 55 68 90 



But besides the reindeer which have been brought to ports in the north 

 of Norway, a considerable number have been shot for local consumption, 

 one may reckon at least a couple of hundred a year up to 1920. 



There is only a single year in all the time Norwegians have hunted on 

 Spitsbergen, i. e. for over a hundred years, that so many reindeer have been 

 shot as in 1918; this was in the year 1878, when 1491 animals were killed. 



These numbers prove that the Spitsbergen reindeer has until lately been 

 quite numerous. . . . But ... it is clear that the reindeer stock in that 

 region cannot bear such heavy inroads upon their numbers. . . . The rein- 

 deer has been heavily decimated everywhere in Spitsbergen during the 

 last few years. If this is continued for 3 or 4 years more the reindeer will 

 be entirely exterminated, in any case in the Isfjorden and Bellsund districts. 



Wollebaek then continues (1926, pp. 55-65) : 



In the same proposal Hoel mentions the following places in Spitsbergen 

 where the reindeer is found at present: 



1. On the north and west coast of the Nordostland. 



