110 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



To the mountaineer the wild reindeer is of in- 

 estimable value, its flesh, hide, antlers, marrow, fat, &c., 

 all being employed in several branches of domestic 

 economy. When dried in the wind, the flesh is often 

 used as a substitute for bread. The learned but not 

 very trustworthy bishop, Pontoppidan, speaks of a use to 

 which the antlers are put : " When the reindeer shed 

 their antlers, and the new ones begin to appear, 

 they are covered with a sort of skin, and are so soft 

 that they can be cut with a knife like a sausage, and 

 are considered a great delicacy. Hunters eat them raw 

 for lack of provision when on the high fjelds." This is 

 not very improbable (as at this period the antlers 

 consist of a web of small blood-vessels and stringy 

 fibres), especially when it is borne in mind that hunters 

 will not unfrequently take a draught of the blood from 

 the fresh killed animal in lack of better nourishment. 

 But the following remark of the worthy prelate is not 

 quite so easily to be swallowed. He says : " There-is 

 a worm generated under the outer skin of the antlers, 

 which it eats off when they have attained their full 

 size ;" and that " they have a peculiar hole in the 

 eyelid to peep out of when they cannot hold their eyes 

 open on account of the drifting snow ; a proof," adds 

 his reverence, " of the wise providence of the Creator." 



Reindeer venison is an extremely wholesome and nu- 

 tritious food. In flavour it very much resembles that 



