434 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



or by the help of the dogs, to join their fellows trotting briskly 

 on ahead. Amid renewed general grunting, and loud barking 

 from the dogs, the reassembled herd surges onwards; a very forest 

 of antlers presses forwards, and something akin to sportsman's 

 joy stirs the heart of the spectator who is unfamiliar with the 

 sight. 



The sun is declining; the draught animals groan heavily, their 

 tongues hanging far out of their mouths; it is time to allow them 

 rest. At a short distance, beside one of the innumerable lakes, 

 there rises a low flat hill. Towards it the herdsman directs his 

 course, and on its summit he brings his antlered team to a stand. 

 One sledge after another arrives; the herd also soon comes up and 

 immediately betakes itself to the best grazing -ground, quickly 

 followed by the unharnessed draught animals. 



The women select a suitable spot for erecting the tshum, place 

 the poles upright in a circle, and cover them with the sheets of 

 bark; the herdsman in the meantime takes his already prepared 

 noose, and with experienced eye picks out a young, fat stag from 

 the herd. Quickly he casts the lasso over its horns and neck. In 

 vain the animal struggles for his freedom; the huntsman comes 

 nearer and nearer, and the reindeer follows him unresisting towards 

 the tshum, which has now been erected. An axe -stroke on the 

 back of the head fells the victim to the ground, and a knife is 

 plunged into his heart. In a couple of minutes the animal is 

 skinned and dexterously cut up. A minute later all the members 

 of the family, who have assembled hastily, are dipping strips of 

 <mt-up liver into the blood collected in the breast-cavity, and the 

 "bloody meal" begins. Crouching in a circle round the still warm 

 stag, each cuts himself a rib or a piece of the back or haunch; lips 

 become red as if they had been badly painted; drops of blood flow 

 down over chin and breast; the hands, too, are stained, and, dripping 

 with blood, they smear the nose and cheeks; and blood-stained 

 countenances meet the astonished stranger's gaze. The baby 

 leaves its mother's breast to share in the meal, and after he has 

 swallowed a piece of liver, and reddened face, hands, and whatever 

 -else he can reach, he crows with joy as his careful mother breaks 





