672 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



it forward with tremendous force, though to little purpose, as 

 the dogs were too quick dodging the blows. /Shoo-she-arJc-nook 

 at last cut a gash in the neck with his pelong (long knife) and 

 thrust the point into the very marrow of the spine. 



A fresh opening was now made in the ice, and to this the car- 

 cass was towed. Then the line, made fast to the tough skin on 

 the nose, was taken to the point of a small hummock five fathoms 

 distant, and back again through a hole in the same tough skin. 

 With this purchase, five of the party pulled away on the line, 

 gradually sliding the carcass upon the ice. It weighed about 

 2,200 pounds. 



THE REINDEER. 



THE reindeer, though an Arctic animal, is confined chiefly to 

 Labrador and Northern Siberia, where it roams in vast herds, 

 both wild and domestic. In Northern America it is called " Cari- 

 bou," but they are not nearly so numerous there as in Lapland, 

 Norway and Siberia, where they are used extensively for draught 

 purposes, and also ridden, though it never m *kes an easy 

 riding animal. When it walks a peculiar clattering noise is 

 heard a considerable distance, the cause of which is a matter 

 about which travelers and naturalists are not agreed. 



Its antlers are very different from those of the stag, having 

 broad, palmated summits, and branching back to the length of 

 three or four feet, and frequently weighingas much as twenty-five 

 pounds. It is remarkable that both sexes have horns, while in 

 all other deer species the male alone possesses these weapons. 



The female brings forth in May a single calf, rarely two. The 

 offspring is small and very weak for the first few days, but devel- 

 ops strength so rapidly that in a month it has even ceased nursing 

 and finds its own food. 



The reindeer gives very little milk at the very utmost, after the 

 young has been weaned, a bottleful daily ; but the quality is excel- 

 lent, for it is uncommonly thick and nutritious. It consists almost 

 entirely of cream, so that a great deal of water can be added !><- 

 fore it becomes inferior to the best cow-milk. Its taste is excel- 

 lent, but the butter made from it is rancid, and hardly to beeateu 

 while the cheese is very good. 



