CHAPTER XXIII 



THE ESKIMO DOG 



"T 71 THAT I have just told you will make it plain 

 V V enough that no domestic animal dependent 

 on vegetable food can be kept in that country. 

 Where could one find a supply of forage for the ox, 

 horse, or even donkey, when the ground is covered 

 with a thick layer of snow the greater part of the 

 year, and when during the three or four months of 

 summer all the verdure consists of meager green- 

 sward where a sheep would hardly find enough herb- 

 age to browse! Besides, these animals would suc- 

 cumb to the severity of the winter. There is but one 

 species of this sort that can live in these desolate re- 

 gions, and that is the reindeer, which is about as 

 large as the stag, but more robust and more thick- 

 set. Its horns, or antlers, are divided each into two 

 branches, the shorter one pointing forward, the 

 other, the longer, pointing backward, and both end- 

 ing in enlargements that spread out somewhat like 

 the palm and fingers of an open hand. ' ' 



"According to your description," observed Louis, 

 "the reindeer must be a superb animal and must 

 need plenty of food. Where does it find pasturage 

 when everything is covered with snow?" 



"If it needed the forage to which our cattle are 



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