REINDEER 



WHEN in 1904 I visited Spitzbergen for the first 

 time in my yacht Maroussia, herds of reindeer 

 were still to be found on the mountain sides of 

 the ice fjords, and on landing at the mouth of 

 the Sassendahl Valley I shot a dozen in three 

 or four hours. This fresh meat was most 

 welcome to the crew. Had I so wished, 

 I am sure I could have shot forty ; for it is 

 the simplest thing in the world to approach 

 reindeer in these regions. Even when fright- 

 ened they often run directly towards the 

 hunter. 



Nowadays, few are to be encountered. The 

 tourists landed here each summer by the German 

 steamships have almost completely destroyed 

 them, the more easily because the reindeer 

 always remain near the fjords. In the same 

 way the coal miners of Advent Bay will soon 

 have denuded the higher valleys of reindeer, 



as in the Giers Valley, where the animals are 



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