US HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



numerable are the uses, the comforts, and advantages which the 

 poor inhabitants of this dreary climate derive from this animal. 

 We cannot sum them up better than in the beautiful language of 

 the poet : 



Their Rein-deer form their riches. These their tents, 

 Their robes, their beds, and all their homely wealth 

 Supply, their wholesome fare, and cheerful cups: 

 Obsrquiou at their call, the docile tribe 

 Yield to the sled their necks, and whirl them swift 

 O'er hill and dale, heaped into one expanse 

 Of marbled snow, as far as eye can sweep, 

 Wit. i i blue crii-t of ice unbounded glazed. 



The mode of hunting the wild rein-deer by the Laplanders, the 

 Esquimaux, and the Indians of North America, have been accurately 

 described by various travellers. We select the following accounts 

 from the interesting narratives of Captain Lyon and Captain Frank- 

 lin. Captain Lyon says: 



"The rein-deer visits the polar regions at the latter end of May 

 or the early part of June, and remains until late in September. On 

 his first arrival he is thin, and his flesh is tasteless, but the short 

 summer is sufficient to fatten him to two or three inches on the 

 haunches. When feeding on the level ground, an Esquimaux 

 mak8 no attempt to approach him, but should a few rocks be near, 

 the wary hunter feels secure of his prey. Behind one of these he 

 cautiously creeps, and having laid himself very close, with his 

 bow and arrow before him, he imitates the bellow of the deer when 

 calling to each other. Sometimes, for more complete deception, 

 the hunter wears his deer-skin coat and hood so drawn over his 

 head as to resemble, in a great measure, the unsuspecting animal 

 he is enticing. Though the bellow proves a considerable attrac- 

 tion, yet if a man has great patience he may do without it, and 

 may be equally certain that his prey will ultimately come to ex- 

 amine him; the rein-deer being an inquisitive animal, and at the 

 same time so silly, that if he sees any suspicious object which is 

 not actually chasing him, he will gradually, and after many caper- 

 ings, and forming repeated circles, approach nearer and nearer to 

 it. The Esquimaux rarely shoot until the creature is within twelve 

 paces, and [ have frequently been told of their being killed at a 



