VOYAGE TO SPITZBEItGEN. 69 



The Cervus tarandus, or rein-deer, comes next 

 in order. This useful and beautiful animal is 

 found in every part of Spitzbergen. It has long, 

 slender, branched horns, bending forwards, and 

 palmated at the top, and broad palmated brow 

 antlers. 



Its body is thick, and rather square ; tail short ; 

 legs not so long as those of a stag ; hoofs large, 

 concave, and deeply cloven ; hair very thick, and 

 under the neck long and pendent : before the first 

 coat is shed it is of a dark cinereous colour, but af- 

 ter that period it changes to white, except a large 

 space round each eye, which is always black.* 

 Some rein-deer are four feet six inches high ; and 

 a pair of their horns has been found which were 

 three feet nine inches long, two feet six inches 

 from tip to tip, and weighed nine pounds and three 

 quarters. The horns of the females are less than 

 those of the male, and not altogether of the same 

 form. She has six teats, four of which only give 

 milk. 



The principal food of the rein-deer is the lichen 

 (or liverwort) which it frequently raises from below 

 great depths of snow by means of its feet and 

 antlers. The female goes about eight months with 



* Hieme eiiam barbam albam, ut hircus habet. Fab. de Cerv. 

 Tarand. 



6 





