THE REINDEER 357 



present a sharp edge, is the knife that is used to remove the 

 hair in the process of making the leather. 



The undressed hide is cut into thongs of varying thick- 

 ness, which are twisted into deer-snares, bow-strings, net 

 lines, and, in fact, supply all the purposes of rope ; the finer 

 thongs are used in the manufacture of fishing-nets, or 

 in working snow-shoes, while the tendons of the dorsal 

 muscles are split into fine and excellent sewing thread. 

 Nor is the Reindeer less useful as food, but the Indians 

 never attempted its domestication, regarding it solely as 

 a beast of the chase. 



In Northern Asia the Reindeer is used as a beast of 

 burden, but it is in Lapland that the value of the animal 

 is most appreciated. On the Reindeer the Laplanders 

 depend almost wholly for their means of life. It is too 

 valuable for them to feed largely upon its flesh, but they 

 make much use of its milk, and, besides, it is beyond all 

 price as a beast of transport, either as carrying burdens or 

 as drawing the sledge. 



Among the Laps, the Reindeer is the only wealth, and 

 is to them what cattle are to the Kaffir tribes of South 

 Africa. Happy the man who possesses a herd of a thousand 

 Reindeer, as he thereby becomes a chief among his fellows, 

 very much as was the case in the old patriarchal times, with 

 the herds of camels and oxen and flocks of sheep. As 

 Reindeer do not thrive except in company, those who 

 possess only a few unite them into one herd, each marking 

 his own animals. A herd of five hundred antlered Reindeer 

 collected together at milking-time must present a striking 

 sight, in full accordance with the wild, romantic scenery; 

 nor can it fail to bring to mind scenes of a similar character 

 in the days when the patriarchs were shepherds, and Kings 

 were called from the fold. 



But for the Reindeer the Laplander would be cut off 

 from communication with other peoples during a great part 

 of the year. The sledge is a light vehicle, running not on 

 wheels, but on flat runners. The Reindeer is yoked to it by 

 a collar, and guided by reins attached to its antlers ; and 

 with a load of several hundred pounds the animal will trot 

 over the glazed snow at the rate of ten miles an hour, a 



