54t THE REIN-DEER. 



glue; the sinews are dried, and converted into thread; 

 the intestines themselves are cleaned like tripe, and are 

 Considered as an excellent, if not a delicate kind of 

 food. Thus the Laplander finds all his necessities 

 amply supplied from the means of an animal he has 

 -so much reason to prize ; and those who are in pos- 

 session of a herd of these creatures, envy not the ho- 

 nours or riches of the great. 



The fatigue which the rein-deer is able to undergo, 

 increases the estimation in which it is held, for it can 

 trot fifty miles upon a stretch, without requiring either 

 to stop or bait ; though sometimes its strength is so 

 far exhausted that, at the close of a journey, it falls 

 s>ick and dies. 



Though the appearance of the country is barren and 

 uncultivated, it naturally produces the rein-deer's food; 

 and as far as the eye can reach, even in the midst of 

 summer nothing is to be seen but fields covered with 

 white moss, on which the animal totally subsists. The 

 inhabitants, who, during summer, reside upon the 

 mountains, in the winter drive their cattle into the 

 plains, which, during the warm weather, they are un- 

 able to reside in from the immense swarms of gnats and 

 flies. If these insects prove an annoyance to the na- 

 tives, they are still much more so to the poor deer ; 

 and, at the annual period of shedding their horns, 

 settle in myriads upon their head. The glutton, a little 

 animal about the size of a badger, frequently proves a 

 most formidable foe, for, concealing itself amongst 

 the thickest branches of the trees, it springs suddenly 

 from thence upon the rein-deer's neck, and, fixing its 

 teeth and claws just below the horns, never quits its 

 hold till the animal dies. 



