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VERTE13RATA. 



The wild reindeer exists in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, and also in the islands of Spitzbergen and 

 Nova Zembla, In summer they seek the high mountain lands, which are often covered with 

 snow even in summer, chiefly to avoid the gnats which torment them; in winter they descend to 

 the lower country. At this season they live chiefly on a kind of white moss which hangs in fes- 

 toons from the trees, though they also cat the twigs of trees. These animals unite in herds to mi- 

 grate. Many arc killed by hunters in autumn, when they are fat. Sometimes the flesh is pre- 

 served by salting, and sometimes by drying and smoking. The Laplander, whose country is too 



cold and barren for cultivation, except 





MILKING THE REINDEER. 



LAPLANDERS MIGRATING. 



LAPLANDERS TRAVELING IN REINDEER SLEDGES. 



to a very limited extent, has domestica- 

 ted this animal, and it is as necessary to 

 him as the camel is to the Arab of the 

 desert. Indeed, Lapland would be un- 

 inhabitable but for the reindeer. The 

 wealth of the people of this country is 

 computed from the number of their 

 herds. Some of them possess more 

 than a thousand, many several hundreds. 

 In the summer these animals are pas- 

 tured in the mountains, where they feci 

 upon ordinary herbage; at the approach 

 of winter they arc driven down into the 

 plains, and their food at this season con- 

 sists principally of moss, which they dig 

 up from beneath the snow by means of 

 their hoofs, and often by rooting for it 

 like hogs. When going on a journey, 

 the Laplanders take a supply of this 

 lichen with them, and four pounds of it 

 are said to be sufficient for a day ; in 

 some cases, however, the animals will 

 travel for two or three days without food, 

 without seeming to feel the want of it. 



The main necessities as well as com- 

 i'< .its of life are supplied to the Laplander 

 by his reindeer. The flesh of the ani- 

 mal is the most substantial part of his 

 food, and its milk serves him in various 

 ways. It is drunk; it is coagulated into 

 cheese; the whey is used for drink, and 

 in some instances fermented and dis- 

 tilled into a liquor analogous to that 

 which the Tartars make from the milk 

 of the mare. The skin of the reindeer, 

 which is warm, strong, and pliant, serves 

 for clothing, for blankets, for covering 

 the sledge, and for almost every purpose 

 to which wc apply cloth or leather. 

 The tendons, which are very tough, fur- 

 nish thread; the horns are manufac- < 

 tured into a variety of domestic uten- 

 sils; and even the intestines of the ani- 

 mal have their donfestie uses, while the 

 tongues, which are considered luxuries 



