DEER KIND. 347 



hardy race of mankind that live near the pole. 

 As these would find it impossible to subsist 

 among their barren snowy mountains without its 

 aid, so this animal can live only there, where 'its 

 assistance is most absolutely necessary. From it 

 alone the natives of Lapland and Greenland sup- 

 ply most of their wants ; it answers the purposes 

 of a horse, to convey them and their scanty fur- 

 niture from one mountain to another ; it answers 

 the purposes of a cow, in giving milk ; and it 

 answers the purposes of the sheep, in furnishing 

 them with a warm, though a homely kind of 

 clothing. From this quadruped alone, therefore, 

 they receive as many advantages as we derive 

 from three of our most useful creatures ; so that 

 Providence does not leave these poor outcasts 

 entirely destitute, but gives them a faithful do- 

 mestic, more patient and serviceable than any 

 other in nature. 



The rein-deer resembles the American elk in 

 the fashion of its horns. It is not easy in words 

 to describe these minute differences ; nor will 

 the reader, perhaps, have a distinct idea of the 

 similitude, when told that both have brow-ant- 

 lers, very large, and hanging over their eyes, 

 palmated towards the top, and bending forward, 

 like a bow. But here the similitude between 

 these two animals ends ; for as the elk is much 

 larger than the stag, so the rein-deer is much 

 smaller. It is lower and stronger built than the 

 stag; its legs are shorter and thicker, and its 

 hoofs much broader than in that animal ; its hair 

 is much thicker and wanner, its horns much 



