152 REPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OP 



these on the Laplander can run over soft, new snow without sinking in. He is then 

 a dangerous enemy to the wolves. 



Although in my hoyhood the Laplanders were frequent, almost daily visitors in 

 our small town, I never heard it mentioned ithat they were punished for thefts or 

 other transgressions. It is true some thirty years ago there was, in the heart of 

 Lapland, a riot in which two persons (the one a clergyman) were murdered, hut 

 this was caused by religious fanaticism and superstition, and can not serve as a 

 characteristic. 



REINDEER IN NORWAY. 



The reindeer (cervus Tarandits) is domesticated with the Siberian tribes and with 

 the Laplanders. Its olfactory organs are strongly developed and it smells the 

 mosses lying beneath the snow, and off which it is feeding itself in the winter. It 

 is a very lively but rather shy animal. It lives in herds and in polygamy. The 

 raking season is in September and October, during which period the males are con- 

 tinually fighting each other; for this reason there are few males in the herd of tame 

 reindeer. Usually only one calf is born; the does are pregnant in thirty weeks, or 

 about eight months. A reindeer has a height of about 3£ feet and a length of 

 about 5J- feet; in the wild state it attains an age of 28 to 30 years; when domesti- 

 cated, 15 to 16 years; but it is usually slaughtered at an age of 8 to 9 years. 



The reindeer is not very strong; it can carry on its back only 40 to 50 pounds, and 

 draw a weight of 200 to 250 pounds. It is a very fast runner, but never used for 

 riding. 



It never transpires through the skin, but probably through the tongue, which is 

 hanging far out of the mouth when the animal is running. 



The cow is milked once per day, giving only about one-half pint of milk, which 

 in the fall is kept in dried reindeer stomachs; in the winter in open vessels, frozen. 

 This milk is chiefly used to the coffee and for making cheese; it has a very sharp 

 taste. 



All the domestic reindeer have the mark of the proprietor in the ear. In the 

 winter they are kept near the tents; the dogs drive them together in flocks 

 and they are caught by means of lassos. It is rather hard work to watch the 

 animals in the winter and to keep the wolves away, which frequently frighten the 

 reindeer, spreading them to all parts of the windrase ; this gives the Laplanders 

 many sleepless nights. In the summer they are mostly left to themselves, and in 

 the fall they are gathered again and driven toward the places where they get their 

 winter food. The reindeer prefers to run against the wind, probably as the hair 

 then lies more tight to the body. 



The reindeer provides its owner with clothing, food, bedclothes, shoes, gloves, 

 harness, even with twine (of sinews), and various household articles, made from 

 the horns — knife handles, spoons, boxes, pipe bowls, etc. 



The reindeer seeks the coast in the summer, to enjoy the cool air, and chiefly on 

 the reason of the hornets (vestrus), which are seldom found on the east side and 

 from which they are suffering terribly. 



There are two species of hornets, the reindeer hornet (vestrus Tarandi), which lays 

 its eggs on the back of the animals, where they slide down between the hairs to the 

 skin and are hatched through the animal warmth; the masks (larva') arc growing 

 themselves through the skin, remaining there the winter over, creeping out in July 

 the following year, being then full grown. Each mask forms a tumor in the back 

 of the reindeer, and the constant itching causes matter (pns), which troubles the 

 animal greatly. The other hornet is the nose hornet (vestrus nasalis), which lays its 

 eggs in the nostrils, where the hatching is favored by the breathing and the moist, 

 warm air. The larva creeps up in the nose and then in the frontal bone, which has 

 a cavity under the root of the horns and is connected with the passage of the nose 

 thiough an aperture on each side answering to each nostril. In this cavity it is 



