108 REIN-DEER. 



found, that animals transported from temperate latitudes 

 to the more northern are less affected than such as are 

 brought from the latter to the southern. 



This is an awkwardly formed animal, with a very in- 

 elegant gait. The fore-legs are long ; the neck short ; and 

 the horns very large and spreading, plain on the inside, 

 and furnished with several sharp points on the exterior. 

 There are no brow-antlers. Under the throat appears an 

 excrescence. 



The moose-deer stands very high before, and is alto- 

 gether a bulky animal; but its dimensions have been very 

 much exaggerated by some travellers. It is very inoffen- 

 sive, except when wounded, or .in the rutting-season. 

 In Canada, it is hunted during winter ; and its flesh 

 is esteemed very light and nutritive. The nose and tongue, 

 however, are the greatest delicacies, in the estimation of 

 epicures. 



The skin makes excellent buff-leather, and is said to be 

 capable of resisting a musket-ball. The hoof was formerly 

 reputed very efficacious in curing epilepsies ; but, in this 

 view, it has now justly fallen into neglect. 



THE REIN-DEER. 



Of all the animals in the arctic regions, the rein-deer is 

 the most useful, and the most worthy of our attention. 

 It is found as near the pole as man can penetrate ; and, 

 as if intended for the service of the natives in the hyper- 

 borean climates alone, is incapable of existing under a 

 milder sky. 



From the rein-deer singly, the Greenlanders, the Lap- 

 landers, and other inhabitants of the north frigid zone, 

 derive a supply for their most pressing wants. It answers 

 the purpose of the horse in conveying them from one place 

 to another, that of the cow in affording them milk, and 

 that of the sheep in furnishing them with clothing : while 

 the flesh serves for food, as the tendons do for bow-strings ; 

 and which last, when split, supply the want of thread. 



