DEER KIND. 363 



nothing. The Laplander's only cure in all these 

 disorders is to anoint the animal's back with tar ; 

 if this does not succeed, he considers the disease 

 as beyond the power of art, and with his natural 

 phlegm submits to the severities of fortune. 



Besides the internal maladies of this animal, 

 there are some external enemies which it has to 

 fear. The bears now and then make depredations 

 upon the herd ; but, of all their persecutors, the 

 creature called the glutton is the most dangerous, 

 and the most successful. The war between these 

 is carried on not less in Lapland than in North 

 America, where the rein-deer is called the cari- 

 bou, and the glutton the carcajou. This animal, 

 which is not above the size of a badger, waits 

 whole weeks together for its prey, hid in the 

 branches of some spreading tree ; and when the 

 wild rein-deer passes underneath, it instantly drops 

 down upon it, fixing its teeth and claws into the 

 neck, just behind the horns. It is in vain that 

 the wounded animal then flies for protection, that 

 it rustles among the branches of the forest ; the 

 glutton still holds its former position j and al- 

 though it often loses a part of its skin and flesh, 

 which are rubbed off against the trees, yet it still 

 keeps fast, until its prey drops with fatigue and 

 loss of blood. The deer has but one only method 

 of escape, which is by jumping into the water : 

 that element its enemy cannot endure ; for, as we 

 are told, it quits its hold immediately, and then 

 thinks only of providing for its own proper secu- 

 rity. 



