ARTIODACTYLA 321 



ground. Its food consists chiefly of browse, such as leaves and twigs 

 of willows, small birch trees and shrubs, but it will eat grass, hay, 

 etc., and in summer it is very fond of water lilies and other aquatic 

 plants, which it obtains by wading into the water. 65 



Far back in history the reindeer is mentioned as a domesticated 

 animal in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia and Siberia. Its flesh 

 has furnished food, its skin has furnished raiment and has been used 

 for various other purposes, its milk has been long used directly and 

 in the making of cheese by Laps and Finns, its antlers and sinews are 

 excellent material for various purposes, and it has been extensively used 

 in harness. All this, coupled with its ability to resist severe winter 

 weather and to subsist on the browse, "reindeer moss" and other food 

 obtainable when the ground is covered with snow, makes it an almost 

 indispensable animal in some localities. 66 



The rapid destruction of the walrus having deprived the natives of 

 northern Alaska of an important source of food and much needed 

 skins, reindeer were introduced for their benefit in several shipments 

 from 1892 to I9O2. 67 They thrived and multiplied. Although 100,000 

 had been killed in the meantime, for food and clothing, in 1902 there 

 were about 200,000 live ones in the various herds, divided as follows : 

 Belonging to the natives 162,000; government herds, 12,000; mission 

 herds, 24,000; others 52,ooo. 68 Reindeer meat is shipped to various 

 cities of the United States, but is said not to be meeting with much 

 favor. Recipes for preparing and cooking the meat have been pub- 

 lished by the government. 69 It is stated that Alaska would support 

 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 reindeer, 70 but that would be useless unless a good 

 market can be found for the meat. Reindeer meat is sometimes served 

 on passenger steamers plying Alaskan waters. Reindeer have also been 

 introduced into Labrador for the benefit of the natives. 71 



65 Stone and Cram, American animals, pp. 42-45, 1902. Lockhart, Notes on the 

 habits of the moose in the far north of British America in 1865, Proc. U. S. Natl. 

 Museum, xm, 305-308, 1890. 



66 Mason, Primitive travel and transportation, Ann. Rept. U. S. Natl. Museum for 

 1894, p. 548. Hatt, Notes on reindeer nomadism, Memoirs Amer. Anthrop. Assn., vi, 



75-133, 



87 Nelson, Reindeer in Alaska thrive and multiply, Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. 

 for 1926, pp. 631-633. 



68 McAllister, California's large game animals, California Fish and Game, ix, 

 11-15, 1923. 



69 Stanley and Yeatman, Reindeer recipes, U. S. Dept. Agric. Leaflet No. 48, 1929. 

 70 Hadwen and Palmer, Reindeer in Alaska, U. S. Dept Agric. Bull. No. 1089, 



p. 4 1922. 



71 Jones, Fur farming in Canada, pp. 92-95, 1913. Hewitt, The conservation of the 

 wild life of Canada, pp. 318-330, 1921. 



