THE REIN-DEER. 69 



THE REIN DEER. 



OF all the animals in the Arctic regions, the Rein Deer 

 is the most useful, and the most worthy of our attention. 

 It is found as near the Pole as man can penetrate ; and, as 

 if it were intended for the solace of the natives in the 

 northern climates alone, it is incapable of existing under a 

 more genial sky. 



From the Rein Deer singly, the Greenlanders, the 

 Laplanders, and other denizens of the north frigid zone, 



that of the sheep in furnishing them with clothing ; while 

 the flesh serves for food, and the tendons for bow-strings ; 

 which last, when split, supp.y the want of thread. 



The horns of the Rein Deer are very large, but slender, 

 projecting forwards, and palmated towards the tops. The 

 height of a full grown animal of this kind is about four feet 

 and a half; it is very strongly built, has thick hair, and 

 invariably a black space round the eyes. Its pace, which 

 is rather a trot than a bounding motion, it will continue for 

 a long time without apparent fatigue ; particularly when 

 yoked to a sledge on the snow. 



A Laplander regards the Rein Deer as his principal 

 source of wealth; some individuals possess a thousand 

 head in a single herd. From the middle of May to the 

 middle of October, the herdsmen drive the females to the 

 cottages every morning and evening, to be milked, and 

 afterwards conduct them back to pastures. In winter, 

 however, they are left to shift for themselves, and chiefly 

 subsist on a species of moss or lichen, which they 

 instinctively discover and paw out from beneath the snow. 



There is scarcely any part of this animal that is not 

 converted to its peculiar uses. As soon as it begins to 

 grow old, it is killed, and the flesh dried in the air. It is 

 also sometimes hardened with smoke, and laid up for 

 travelling provision, when the natives migrate from one 

 part of the country to another. During the winter, the 

 rein-deers are slaughtered as sheep with us: and every 

 four persons in the family are allowed one rein-deer for 

 their week's subsistence. In spring, they spare the herd 

 as much as they can, and live upon fresh fish. In summer, 



