DEER KIND. 355 



sert, fearless and at ease, ignorant of any higher 

 luxury than what their milk and smoke-dried 

 flesh afford him. Hardened to the climate, he 

 sleeps in the midst of ice ; or awaking, dozes 

 away his time with tobacco, while his faithful 

 dogs supply his place, and keep the herd from 

 wandering. The deer, in the mean time, with 

 instincts adapted to the soil, pursue their food, 

 though covered in the deepest snow. They turn 

 it up with their noses like swine ; and even 

 though its surface be frozen and stiff, yet the 

 hide is so hardened in that part, that they easily 

 overcome the difficulty. It sometimes, however, 

 happens, though but rarely, that the winter com- 

 mences with rain, and a frost ensuing, covers the 

 whole country with a glazed erust of ice. Then, 

 indeed, both the rein-deer and the Laplander are 

 undone ; they have no provisions laid up in case 

 of accident, and the only resource is to cut down 

 the large pine trees that are covered with moss, 

 which furnishes but a scanty supply ; so that the 

 greatest part of the herd is then seen to perish 

 without a possibility of assistance. It sometimes 

 also happens that even this supply is wanting; 

 for the Laplander often burns down his woods, 

 in order to improve and fertilize the soil which 

 produces the moss upon which he feeds his cattle. 

 In this manner the pastoral life is still continued 

 near the pole : neither the coldness of the winter 

 nor the length of the nights, neither the wildness 

 of the forest nor the vagrant disposition of the 

 herd, interrupt the even tenor of the Laplander's 

 life. By night and day he is seen attending his 



