212 



RUMINANTIA. 



the weight of the Woodland Caribou to be from 200 to 240 Ibs. 

 It has been asserted that some Rein Deer have weighed as much 

 as 400 Ibs., though the correctness of this is questioned. The 

 Rein Deer of Norway and Sweden are small when compared 

 with those Df Finland and Lapland, which; in their turn, yield 

 to those of Spitzbergen, and these again fall short of the Polar 

 races. The Barren Ground Caribous feed, in summer, upon the 

 shoots of grasses growing in the valleys of the north, returning 

 to the woods in September; they there feed upon the tree lichens 

 and mosses found on the rocks and ground. They root for the 

 lichen like swine in a pasture. The forehead, nose, and feet, 

 are covered with a hard skin closely attached to those parts, and 

 are thus guarded against injury by the icy crust which covers 

 the surface of the snow. The Rein Deer of the Eastern conti- 

 nent are sustained by the same kind of food as the American 

 animal. The Caribou is not less necessary for the support of 

 our northern native tribes, than the Rein Deer of the Eastern 

 Continent for that of the Laplander and other people of the north. 

 Of the Caribou horns the Indians make their fish spears ; the 

 hide, dressed with close and compact fur and remarkably imperv- 

 ious to cold, forms their winter clothing, and from it is made a 

 soft and pliable leather for moccasins and summer garments. 

 When sixty or seventy skins are sewed together, they make a 

 tent sufficient in size for the residence of a large family. By 

 pouring one third part of melted fat over the pounded meat, and 

 incorporating them well together, a composition called pemmican 

 is made. This, if kept dry, may be preserved for three or four 

 years, and containing much nourishment in small bulk, is well 

 fitted for use in extensive journeys, as is abundantly proved by 

 the experience of traders and others traversing the northern lati- 

 tudes. Another mixture, called thucchawgan, made of pounded 

 deer's meat and fish, is either eaten raw or made into soup. 



The Caribous travel in herds varying in number from eight or 

 ten to two or three hundred ; their daily excursions being gener- 

 ally towards the quarter from which the wind blows. They are 

 approached with more ease than any other deer found on this 

 continent. A single family of Indians have sometimes destroyed 

 two or three hundred in the course of a few weeks. To the In- 

 dians this animal is solely a beast of chase, not, as among the 

 Laplanders, being used for purposes of draught. It is hunted or 

 taken in traps or pounds, or lured to its fate by other artifice. 

 Sometimes the hunter takes advantage of the animal's inquisi- 

 tiveness, by creeping behind an object affording him partial con- 

 cealment, where he imitates the bellowing of the animal, at the 



