272 



ANIMALS OF 



lepsy, as it is often found to fall down when 

 pursued, and thus becomes an easier prey ; for 

 tliH reason, an imaginary virtue has been as- 

 cribed to the hinder hoof, which some have 

 supposed to be a specific against all epileptic 

 disorders. This, however, may be considered 

 as a vulgar error ; as well as that of its curing 

 itself of this disorder by applying the hinder 

 hoof behind the ear. After all, this animal is 

 but very indifferently and confusedly described 

 by travellers ; each mixing his account with 

 something false or trivial; often mistaking some 

 other quadruped for the elk, and confounding 

 its history. Thus some have mistaken it for 

 the rein-deer, which, in every thing but size, 

 it greatly resembles ; some have supposed it to 

 be the same with the tapurette," from which 

 it entirely differs ; some have described it as 

 the common red American stag, which scarce- 

 ly differs from our own ; and, lastly, some 

 have confounded it with the bubalus, which is 

 more properly a gazelle of Africa. b 



THE REIN-DEER. 



OF all animals of the deer kind, the rein- 

 deer is the most extraordinary and the most 

 useful. It is a native of the icy regions of tin- 

 north ; and though many attempts have been 

 made to accustom it to a more southern climate, 

 it shortly feels the influence of the change, and 

 in a few months declines and dies. Nature 

 seems to have fitted it entirely to answer the 

 necessities of that hardy race of mankind that 

 live near the pole. As these would find it im- 

 possible to subsist among their barren snowy 

 mountains without its aid, so this animal can 

 live only there, when its assistance is most ab- 

 solutely necessary. From it alone the natives 

 of Lapland and Greenland supply most of 

 their wants ; it answers the purposes of a 

 horse, to convey them and their scanty furni- 

 ture from one mountain to another; it answers 

 the purposes of a cow, in giving milk ; and it 

 answers the purposes of the sheep, in furnish- 

 ing them with a warm, though an homely 

 kind of clothing. From this quadruped alone, 

 therefore, they receive as many advantages as 



a Condamine. b Dapper, Description de 1'Afri- 



que, p. 17. 



c For the greatest part of this description of the rein- 



we derive from three of our most useful crea- 

 tures ; so that Providence does not leave these 

 poor outcasts entirely destitute, but gives them 

 a faithful domestic, more patient and service- 

 able than any other in nature. 



The rein-deer resembles the American elk 

 in the fashion of its horns. It is not easy in 

 words to describe these minute differences; 

 nor will the reader, perhaps, have a distinct 

 idea of the similitude, when told that both have 

 brow-antlers, very large, and hanging over 

 their eyes, palmated towards the top, and bend- 

 ing forward like a bow. But here the simili- 

 tude between these two animals ends ; for, as 

 the elk is much larger than the stag, so the 

 rein-deer is much smaller. It is lower and 

 stronger built than the stag ; its legs are shorter 

 and thicker, and its hoofs much broader than 

 in that animal ; its hair is much thicker and 

 warmer; its horns much larger in proportion, 

 and branching forward over its eyes; its 

 ears are much larger ; its pace is rather a 

 trot than a bounding, and this it can continue 

 for a whole day ; its hoofs are cloven and 

 moveable, so that it spreads them abroad as it 

 goes, to prevent its sinking in the snow. 

 When it proceeds on a journey, it lays its great 

 horns on its back, while there are two branches 

 which always hang over its forehead, and al- 

 most covers its face. One thing seems peculiar 

 to this animal and the elk ; which is, that as 

 they move along, their hoofs are heard to crack 

 with a pretty loud noise. This arises from 

 their manner of treading ; for as they rest upon 

 their cloven hoof, it spreads on the ground, 

 and the two divisions separate from each other, 

 but when they lift it, the divisions close again, 

 and strike against each other with a crack. 

 The female also of the rein-deer has horns as 

 well as the male, by which the species is dis- 

 tinguished from all other animals of the deer 

 kind whatsoever. 



When the rein-deer first shed their coat of 

 hair, they are brown ; but in proportion as 

 summer approaches, their hair begins to grow 

 whitish ; until, at last, they are nearly gray.' 

 They are, however, always black about the 

 eyes. The neck has long hair, hanging down, 

 and coarser than upon any other part of the 



deer, I am obliged to Mr. Hoffberg ; upon whose authori- 

 ty, being a native of Sweden, and an experienced natu- 

 ralist, we may confidently rely. 



