Reindeer 



recognized him as the same person. These men 

 had killed a great many reindeer, which actually 

 came down to the flat on which the men had 

 their hut. The carcasses they had piled in a 

 large heap, which can be seen in the photo- 

 graph, the whole lot freezing into a solid lump. 

 They were therefore sure of plenty of fresh meat 

 for food, whilst the skins were used as clothing 

 and bedding. What they suffered from was the 

 want of vegetable or green food. Everything 

 of this nature had been buried for months under 

 the snow, but now that spring was again upon 

 them the snow was melting fast, and the Alpine 

 flowers were already beginning to show signs of life. 

 These reindeer must be hard put to it 

 during the long winter to find a living. They 

 can scrape away the snow in the sheltered 

 valleys with their fore feet, but when the depth 

 is great they must find it difficult to exist 

 at all. Many of them have pieces or snicks 

 nipped out of their ears, and I have heard this 

 accounted for by a suggestion that the herds 

 were owned by men who had ear-marked them 

 in this way to distinguish their property. This 

 idea is, to my mind, so far-fetched as to be an 

 absurdity. No one lives on this most desolate 

 of islands, let alone owns reindeer. The solution 

 of the matter is obvious namely, that these 

 animals' ears are more often than not frost- 

 bitten by the intense cold. 



