THE DEER KIND. 



277 



skins, and kept under ground to be eaten in 

 winter. 



The skin is even a more valuable part of 

 this animal than either of the former. From 

 that part of it which covered the head and 

 feet, they make their strong snow-shoes with 

 the hair on the outside. Of the other parts 

 they compose their garments, which are ex- 

 tremely warm, and which cover them all over. 

 The hair of these also is on the outside; and 

 they sometimes line them with the fur of the 

 glutton, or some other warm-furred animal of 

 that climate. These skins also serve them 

 for beds. They spread them on each side of 

 the fire, upon some leaves of the dwarf birch- 

 tree, and in this manner lie both soft and 

 warm. Many garments made of the skin of 

 the rein-deer are sold every year to the in- 

 habitants of the more southern parts of Eu- 

 rope ; and they are found so serviceable in 

 keeping out the cold, that even people of the 

 first rank are known to wear them. 



In short, no part of this animal is thrown 

 away as useless. The blood is preserved in 

 small casks, to make sauce with the marrow 

 in spring. The horns are sold to be convert- 

 ed into glue. The sinews are dried, and 

 divided so as to make the strongest kind of 

 sewing thread, not unlikecatgut. Thetongu.es, 

 which are considered as a great delicacy, 

 are dried, and sold into the more southern 

 provinces. The intestines themselves are 

 washed like our tripe, and in high esteem 

 among the natives. Thus the Laplander 

 finds all his necessities amply supplied from 

 this single animal, and he who has a large 

 herd of these animals has no idea of higher 

 luxury. 



But although the rein-deer be a very hardy 

 and vigorous animal, it is not without its dis- 

 eases. I have already mentioned the pain it 

 feels from the gnat, and the apprehensions it 

 is under from the gadfly. Its hide is often 

 found pierced in a hundred places, like a 

 sieve, from this insect, and not a few die in 

 their third year from this very cause. Their 

 teats also are subject to cracking, so that 

 blood comes instead of milk. They some- 

 times take a loathing for their food ; and, in- 

 stead of eating, stand still and chew the cud. 

 They are also troubled with a vertigo, like 

 the elk, and turn round often till they die. 



The Laplander judges of their state by the 

 manner of their turning. If they turn to the 

 right, he judges their disorder but slight; if 

 they turn to the left, he deems it incurable. 

 The rein-deer are also subject to ulcers near 

 the hoof, which unqualifies them for travel- 

 ling, or keeping with the herd. But the most 

 fatal disorder of all is that which the natives 

 call the suddataka, which attacks this animal 

 at all seasons of the year. The instant it is 

 seized with this disease, it begins to breathe 

 with great difficulty; its eyes begin to stare, 

 and its nostrils to expand. It acquires also 

 an unusual degree of ferocity, and attacks all 

 it meets indiscriminately. Still, however, it 

 continues to feed as if in health, but is not 

 seen to chew the cud, and it lies down more 

 frequently than before. In this manner it 

 continues, every day consuming and growing 

 more lean, till at last it dies from mere inani- 

 tion : and not one of these that are attacked 

 with this disorder are ever found to recover. 

 Notwithstanding it is but very lately known 

 in that part of the world; although, during 

 the last ten or fifteen years, it has spoiled 

 whole provinces of this necessary creature. 

 It is contagious ; and the moment the Laplan- 

 der perceives any of his herd infected, he 

 hastens to kill them immediately before it 

 spreads any farther. When examined inter- 

 nally, there is a frothy substance found in the 

 brain, and round the lungs ; the intestines 

 are lax and flabby, and the spleen is dimin- 

 ished almost to nothing. The Laplander's 

 only cure in all these disorders, is to anoint 

 the animal's back with tar ; if this docs not 

 succeed, he considers the disease as beyond 

 the power of art ; and, with his natural 

 phlegm, submits to the severities of fortune. 

 Besides the internal maladies of this animal, 

 there are some external enemies which it has 

 to fear. The bears now and then make de- 

 predations upon the herd ; but of all their 

 persecutors, the cretuare called the glutton is 

 the most dangerous and the most successful. 

 The war between these is carried on not less 

 in Lapland than in North America, where 

 the rein-deer is called the carribou, and the 

 glutton the carcajou. This animal, which is 

 not above the size of a badger, waits whole 

 weeks together for its prey, hid in the 

 branches of some spreading tree ; and when 

 2 Y* 



