THE MAMMALIA OF KOLGUEV 



443 



I was assured by Alexander Samarokoff and his cousin that in the 

 days before the reindeer plague there were no less than 25,000 reindeer 

 on Kolguev. Most of these were owned by Russians. At the present 

 time there are on Kolguev 2740 adult deer, and they are owned as 

 follows : 



Alexander the Russian and Uano the Samoyed jointly own 



Uano himself owns 



Alexis the Russian and On Tipa the Samoyed jointly own 



Alexis himself owns 



On Tipa himself owns . 



Yelisei the Samoyed owns 



Alexander's nephew and Vasili Popoff (a Russian) jointly own 



The brothers Bulchikoff (Samoyeds) own . 



400 

 200 

 200 

 500 

 800 

 100 

 500 

 40 

 2740 



The value of a live reindeer is 10 roubles=^i. 'He who has 

 reindeer has everything,' says a Russian proverb. It is true. Without 

 their reindeer these Samoyeds could not exist ; with them they cannot 

 want. Almost every part of the animal is of use. The hide makes 

 clothes, bedding, and parts of harness. The bone makes arrow-heads, 

 buttons, and thimbles. The sinew is used for cotton and thread. The 

 horn makes arrow-tops (grooved for the string), powder measures, parts 

 of harness, and buttons for toorrs (toorr-mahl). The flesh is eaten, and 

 the animal and its parts have an exchange value. 



Travellers in Siberia and the east of the mainland tundra have 

 assumed that a practice with which they are familiar there is general. 

 I refer to the removal of one of the horns of each draught reindeer. 

 This practice does not obtain on Kolguev, nor is it to be met with, I 

 believe, to the west of the Petchora. Out of the very many hundreds 

 of reindeer which I saw on the mainland not one steer had a horn 

 removed ; or only in exceptional cases of ' snow-shovels ' of abnormal 

 growth. There is indeed no good reason for the practice. For the 

 deer of a team have no difficulty in so carrying their heads that their 

 horns shall not be entangled. Only very exceptionally does a deer 

 become impatient in this respect. Ordinarily (and it is extremely 

 interesting to watch) they arrange the relative positions of their horns 

 by mutual compromise. 



