ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 173 



tastes like sponge." Whatever the reindeer moss 

 tastes like I cannot say, but that the reindeer 

 thrive on it is proved by the fact that no park- 

 fed deer in England can look fatter and sleeker 

 than the reindeer when they come down from the 

 fells at the end of summer ; in fact, " fat as a rein- 

 deer" is a common saying here. It is true they 

 have their enemies, and so has every other living 

 creature : not even man himself, the monarch 

 of all. But the reindeer has plenty of cunning 

 and ability to evade his persecutors. It is very 

 rarely that a bear attacks the reindeer, and, 

 though both the wolf and the glutton occasionally 

 make havoc among the herd, it is not half so often 

 as one might suppose. They escape the attacks 

 of the insects in the summer by moving on to the' 

 very highest fells. Certainly, the reindeer that 

 are used for draught are bullied enough ; but, for 

 all this, like the donkey at home, they do pretty 

 well as they please, and it does not seem to affect 

 their constitutions much. But a man must not 

 look at a herd of draught reindeer, tethered round 

 a Laplander's encampment, and take them as a 

 sample. He must go on to the fells in the middle 

 of summer, and watch a herd wandering free, and 

 if he does not see quite such magnificent animals 

 as the real " antlered monarch of the forest," he 

 will at least see very different creatures from what 



