346 ANIMALS OF THE 



which some have supposed to be a specific against 

 all epileptic disorders. This, however, may be 

 considered as a vulgar error, as weU as that of its 

 curing itself of this disorder by applying the hin- 

 der hoof behind the ear. After all, this animal 

 is but very indifferently and confusedly described 

 by travellers ; each mixing his account with some- 

 thing false or trivial, often mistaking some other 

 quadruped for the elk, and confounding its his- 

 tory. Thus, some have mistaken it for the rein- 

 deer, which in every thing but size it greatly re- 

 sembles ; some have supposed it to be the same 

 with the Tapurette,* from which it entirely dif- 

 fers ; some have described it as the common red 

 American stag, which scarcely differs from our, 

 own ; and, lastly, some have confounded it with 

 the Bubalus, which is more properly a gazelle of 

 Africa.t 



THE REIN-DEER. 



OF all animals of the deer kind, the Rein-deer 

 is the most extraordinary and the most useful. 

 It is a native of the icy regions of the north ; 

 and though many attempts have been made to 

 accustom it to a more southern climate, it short- 

 ly feels the influence of the change, and in a few 

 months declines and dies. Nature seems to have 

 fitted it entirely to answer the necessities of that 



* Condamine. f Dapper, Description de 1'Afrique, p. 17. 



