REINDEER 107 



extremely rare, although at the time of my 

 visit in 1904 they were still numerous. As a 

 result, I am convinced that the reindeer is 

 destined to disappear speedily and completely, at 

 least so far as western Spitzbergen is concerned. 

 On the other hand, as the reindeer seem to 

 thrive admirably in this region, where they 

 seem to escape the parasitical illnesses and 

 epidemics which decimate them in Siberia and 

 Nova Zembla, I think the day is not far distant 

 when Laps will establish themselves on the 

 banks of the ice fjords to breed and raise the 

 domestic reindeer, as is already done in 

 Lapland and the north of Norway. That I 

 am not wholly without reason in making this 

 assertion is evident. Formerly, vast herds of 

 wild reindeer wintered without difficulty on 

 the high plateaux which abound in these regions, 

 where the wind, sweeping away the snow, 

 enables them to find moss and lichens, so that, 

 similar conditions prevailing, to breed the 

 domestic reindeer, which is done with such 

 marked success in Alaska, should be a simple 

 matter in Spitzbergen. 



As I have already said, I shot a dozen 

 reindeer in 1904 in the Sassendahl, by simply 

 walking a few hundred yards over the alluvial 

 plains which lie at the feet of Mounts Maimier 



